The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1884, Page 9

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The Lutheran Pioneer,

A MISSIONARY

MONTHLY.

PuBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LurneraAN SyNnopIcAL CoNFERENCE OF NortH AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

Entered at the Post Office at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter.

Vol. VI.

No. 3.

St. Louis, Mo., March, 1884.

The Price of our Redemption.

Christ ‘has redeemed me, a lost and con-
demned creature, purchased and won me from
all sins, from death and from the power of the
devil, not with gold or silver, but with His
holy precious blood and with His innocent
suffering and death.’’ With these words of
Luther's Catechism we confess that the price
of our redemption is Christ’s holy precious blood
and Mis innocent suffering and death. And in
the holy time of Lent we see our Saviour lay
down this price of our redemption. Amid un-
told sufferings and agony He shed His holy
precious blood and died in our stead. We are
redeemed with a great price. The Bible says,
“Ye know that ye were not redeemed with
corruptible things, as silver and gold. . ., but
with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb
without blemish and without spot,’’ 1 Pet.
1, 18. 19.

The blood of Christ is holy blood, because
He Himself is ‘‘holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners.’’ There is no sin in
Him. He is the ‘‘Lamb without blemish and
without spot.’’ Therefore also His suffering
and death were innocent. He was not guilty,
but we were guilty. He did not suffer and die
for His own sins, but for our sins and our
transgressions. God “made Him to be sin for
us, who knew no sin; that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him,” 2 Cor. 5, 21.
The sins of the world were Jaid on Him, and
the righteousness which He procured by His
holy precious blood and by His.innocent suffer-
ing and death was procured for all sinners.

The blood of Christ is precious blood, because
it is the blood of the Son of God. A drop of
that blood is far more worth than all the treas-
ures of heaven and earth. The blood of God’s
Son is of such great value as to be a full pay-
ment for all the sins of all sinners. The sinner
who under the conviction of his many sins cries
out for pardon and peace can find pardon and
peace in the blood of God’s Son; for ‘‘the blood
of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all
sin,” 1 John 1, 7.

Reader, what will you do with that- holy
precious blood which is the price of your re-
demption? Many reject it, and trample it un-

der foot, and count it an unholy thing, and | animal kingdom, she paused and colored deeply,
thereby reject their own salvation. They reject | not knowing what to say.
the only way to heaven. Thesaints in heaven| Then remembering the words in the Bible,
who stand before the throne of the Lamb must| where it says that ‘‘God created man in His
know how they got there. And their song| own image,’’ she looked up quickly and said,
comes down to us in the Book of Revelations: | “To God’s kingdom, sir.”’
“Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God} The king stooped down and placed his hand
by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, | upon her head. A tear stood in his eye as he
and people, and nation,’’ Rev. 5, 9. Oh, dear} devoutly answered: ‘‘God grant that-I may he
reader, if you wish to be among those in heaven | counted worthy of that kingdom.”
who have been washed in the blood of the
Lamb, do not reject that redemption which
has been procured for you at so great a price.
Confess from the bottom of your heart: ‘I be-
lieve that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of
the Father from eternity, and also true man,
born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has
redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature,
purchased and won me from all sins, from death
and from the power of the devil, not with gold
or silver, but with His holy precious blood and
with His innocent suffering and death.”
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God’s Kingdom.

How to be a true Pastor.

By Dr. Martin LuTHER.

To be a true pastor and preacher is a great
thing; and if our Lord God himself did not
give strength, the thing could not be.

It needs a great soul to serve the people with
body and soul, goods and honor, and to suffer
for it the greatest peril and ingratitude.

Therefore it was that Christ said to Peter,
“Peter, lovest thou Me?’’ and repeats it three
times, and then says ‘Feed My sheep.’’ It is
as if He said: ‘If thou wilt bea true shepherd
and friend of souls, thou must be so from love
to Me.’’ In no other way is this possible. For
who will and can suffer ingratitude, spend his
health and substance in study, and, for a
reward, stand in the greatest peril? Therefore
He says: ‘‘It is a necessity that thou shouldst
love Me.’”

The king of Prussia was once travelling in
his dominions, and he passed through a pretty
village, where he was to remain an hour or
two. The villagers were delighted to see their
king. ‘The school children strewed flowers be-
fore him, and one little girl had a pretty verse
of welcome to say to him. He listened kindly,
and told her, she had performed her task well,
which pleased her very much. He then turned
to the school-master, and said he would like to
ask the classes a few questions. Now there
happened to be a large dish of oranges on the
table close by. The king took up one of these
saying: “To what kingdom does this belong,
children?” A

“To the vegetable kingdom,”’ replied one of
the little girls.

“And to what kingdom this?’’ continued
he, as he took from his pocket a gold coin.

“To the mineral kingdom,”’ she answered.

“And to what kingdom do I belong, my
child??? he inquired, expecting, of course, that
she would answer, ‘To the animal kingdom.”’
But, fearing that it would not sound respectful
to answer to a king that he belonged to the

2-9

From Luther’s Letter to a Friend.

“Wearied at length with your own righteous-
ness, rejoice and confide in the righteousness
of Christ. Learn, my dear brother, to know
Christ, and Christ crucified; and learn to de-
spair of thyself, and sing to the Lord this song,
‘Lord Jesus, Thou art my righteousness, but I
am Thy sin. Thou hast taken what belonged
tome; Thou hast given me what was Thine.
Thou becamest what Thou wast not, in order
that I might become what I was not myself.””’

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TRUE obedience to God is the obedience of
faith and good works; that is, he is truly obe-
dient to God who trusts Him and does what
He commands.—Luther. 7

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