# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1938_S6
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

8 President’s Address

that the sinner might be assured of forgiveness, life, and salvation
as a free gift of God.

1. Jesus wants the Gospel preached, not any and every kind of
gospel but the Gospel of Christ. In fact, it is necessary to be even
more specific. We must preach that Gospel which proclaims Christ
as the only Substitute for the sinner, that Gospel which speaks of
a vicarious atonement, that Gospel which proclaims a free salva-
tion for an undeserving sinner. Christ is interested in the Gospel:
“He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” The thing of
importance to Him is that the greatest need of life be supplied,
that the forgiveness of sins be conveyed to the sinner, that the
prodigal be restored to God’s favor and become a member of God’s
family.

Such a Gospel has ever been the strength of the Christian
Church. It is the preaching which has made the Church founded
by our fathers in America a truly great Church. It is the only
kind of preaching which we should consider for the second cen-
tury of our sound Lutheran activity. May God grant us the grace
to recognize this specific Gospel as the trust committed to us! May
He graciously preserve us from drifting to the fringes where mod-
ern human philosophies, with their warped conception of religion
and church activity, will ensnare us! May He rather continue to
keep our Synod ever near the heart of the Christian religion, where
the very life-blood of truth pulsates! In short, may we cling
earnestly to the preaching of the justification of the sinner by God’s
grace, for Christ’s sake, through faith, and permit nothing to turn
us away from it!

2. The Great Commission centers our attention also upon the
vast field for our activity. Jesus stated expressly: “Teach all
nations,” “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to
every creature,” “Ye shall be witnesses unto Me . . . unto the
uttermost part of the earth.” The early Church took Jesus at His
word and carried the saving Gospel-message to the remote parts
of the earth. Christ’s instructions are equally true today. Jesus
did not specify any certain continent or country, nor did He limit
the work of His Church to any particular circumstances, form of
government, etc. The early Christians went out into a hostile
world. They faced dangers and persecutions. In America our
Ghurch has carried on her work “in peace and quietness.” This
holds true also of our activity in other lands. But what about
countries where Gospel-preaching is greeted by physical violence?
Do not they need the message of salvation? Is not this also a part
of the vast field? ,

In this connection let us ask also, What about China with its
teeming millions of blood-bought souls still steeped in idolatry