The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1892, Page 13

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¢ Autheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY

MONTHLY.

PusiisHep BY THE EvanceLicaAL Lurueran SynopicaL ConrereNce oF Nort AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

Entered at the Post Ofiice at St. Louls, Mo., as second-class matter.

Vol. XIV.

St. Louis, Mo., April, 1892.

No. 4.

For Sinners Slain.

1 Peter 2, 24.

Lamb of God, for sinners slain,
Slain for me;

Who didst suffer grief and pain,
On the tree;

1 to Thee my all resign,
Bought with blood;

May I evermore be Thine,
Lamb of God!

All along the desert way
“ Be my guide;
May I never, never stray
From Thy side.
When the wilderness is past,
And the sea,
May I rest in peace at last,
Rest with Thee. HH.

— —> += >> e+ > —~O

Redemption Finished.

All men are sinners, no matter what their
standing in this world may be. ‘‘For there is
no difference; for all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God’’, says the Bible.
So all men need redemption from sin. No
mere human being, and no angel could do
this great work of redemption. But God in
His great wisdom and love found One who
could undertake’ and finish this work. He
‘*spared not His own Son, but delivered Him
up for us all’’, says the apostle. The Son of
God became man, and this God-Man is our
Redeemer. He took the place of sinners un-
der the law, and at every step of His sorrow-
ful path from Bethlehem to Calvary He, in
our stead, fulfilled all the demands of the law.

Christ took upon Himself also the punish-
ment of our sins. All our sins were laid on
Him, and in the darkness of Gethsemane, in

- the darkness that gathered around the cross,

the sin-hating God met His sin-bearing Son
and poured upon Him all the wrath that we
deserved. Our sins caused that deep agony
in the garden; our sins scourged His ss)
body; our sins crowned His holy brow wit!

a crown of thorns; our sins nailed Him to aa
cross; our sins drove Him into that Ely
abyss of wrath and woe, out of oe ae
such a cry of distress as never shook t : a
before: “‘My God, my God,. why has! rand
forsaken me?”’ ‘The prophet Isaiah says,

was wounded for our transgressions, He was
bruised for our iniquities.’"”, And when He
had borne all the punishment, when He had
taken the last drop out of the cup of God’s
wrath, He cried out, ‘‘It is finished,’’ and
commending His spirit into His Father’s hands
He gave up the ghost. And then the work of
our redemption was finished.

Our enemies indeed thought they had won
the victory. Christ’s body was laid into the
grave, alarge stone was placed over the mouth
of the tomb, the Roman seal was put upon the
stone, and Roman soldiers watched the sep-
ulchre, but in the early dawn of the third day
Christ rose triumphantly from the grave as the
great conqueror over sin, death, devil, and
hell. ‘This is the glad Easter news. Christ
won the victory over all our enemies. and He
being our representative, His victory is our
victory. He was ‘‘raised again for our justi-
fication,’”’ says the Bible.

By raising Christ from the dead God de-
clared the work of His Son, the work of the
sinners’ redemption, perfectly finished. Noth-
ing-can be added to make that finished work
more complete. No. Any attempt to add
something of our own is an insult to God, a
dishonor to our Saviour. The sinner must
trust for salvation entirely in the finished work
of Christ. Not in Christ’s work and in some
work of hisown. No. Not in Christ’s work
and in his feelings or in anything that he finds
in his own sinful self. No. But in Christ’s
finished work alone as it is offered to him in
the Gospel. Aunt Dinah was asked by an
aged Christian: ‘‘Are you saved?’’ ‘‘No,’’
said Aunt Dinah, ‘‘I have tried so hard to be,
but I can’t make it out.’”” She received the
sweet answer: ‘‘Of course you can’t make it
out, because it is already made out for you
and for every sinner. Since Christ made out
salvation, the poor sinner is not asked to make
out anything, but only to take the finished sal-
vation which is offered to him in the Gospel.’’

By raising Christ from the dead God sol-
emnly declared Himself perfectly satisfied with
the work of HisSon. These are the glad Easter
tidings. Accept these tidings in true faith and
you will enjoy the peace of that happy old saint
who was asked by an unhappy skeptic: ‘‘Can

you tell me just what is the Gospel you be-
lieve, and how you believe it?’’
said, ‘‘God is satisfied with the work of His
Son—this is the Gospel I believe; and I am
satisfied with it—this is how I believe it.’’

She quietly

<—--—_—-——

Blessed Hope.

The Easter tidings of a risen and living

Saviour assure us that there is life beyond the
grave in which those that fall asleep in Jesus
find a home of everlasting joy and bliss. When
we have laid the bodies of our beloved ones
into the dark and silent grave, it is indeed sad

to go home and leave them behind; but it is

not we that go home and leave them behind;
it is they who are gone to the better home
and left us behind.
blessed hope of meeting them in that eternal
home.

We, however, have the

The apostle Paul says, ‘‘I would not
have you be ignorant, brethren, concerning

them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not,
even as others, which have no hope.. For if we

believe that Jesus died and rose again, even

so them also which sleep in Jesus will God

bring with Him.’’ ‘There will come a day of

resurrection, when the shout of the living
Saviour shall be heard, and the dead in Him

shall gladly respond to His call; ‘‘then we

which are alive and remain shall be caught up

together with them in the clouds to meet the

Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with

the Lord,’’ 1 Thess. 4, 17.
No pen can describe the joys of that re-
surrection day. With patience we now wait

for it. Its cloudless morn will ere long break

upon our vision, and our blessed hope will be
fulfilled. Now we can but long for it, then
our voices shall unite with those of the saints
of all ages, and we will join our praises with
theirs. Now the mere hope lightens the heavy
burden, makes easy the hard road; then there
will begin an eternity of love, and joy, and
peace, and rest. May none of our readers be
among those that will rise to enter eternal
damnation, but may each reader of the PIONEER

-be among those. that rise to enter eternal life.

This blessed resurrection will surely come to
every soul which simply trusts in Jesus and
relies upon Him for salvation. ; :

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