The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1895, Page 9

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~The Antheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PuBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LuTHERAN SyNnopIcaL CONFERENCE OF NortH AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

Vol. XVII.

The Robber Saved.

In the twenty-third chapter of the Gospel
according to St. Luke we read that when Christ
was crucified, two malefactors, or criminals,
were crucified with Him, one on the left hand,,.
and the other on the right. The one rejected
the Saviour, died in his sin, and received the
wages of sin—everlasting death. The other,
by the grace of God, was brought to repent-
ance and faith in the Saviour and received the
gift of God, which is eternal life. Let us see
how this robber was saved.

He was, like his comrade, a malefactor, a
criminal, sentenced to death by the govern-
ment for his:many crimes. But God’s mercy
plucked him as a brand out of the fire. The
Holy Spirit wrought in his heart true knowl-
‘edge of his sin and sorrow over sin. When
he heard his comrade railing at Christ, he re-
buked him, saying: ‘‘Dost thou not fear God,
seeing that thou art in the same condemna-
tion? And we indeed justly, for we receive
the true reward of our deeds.”” The light of
God’s holy law had flashed in upon his con-
science and he took the place of a confessed
sinner, crying out: ‘‘We indeed justly.’? He
did not assert his innocence, he did not try to
cover up his offences, he did not complain of
his hard fate, he did not find fault with those
that had testified against him, nor with those
that had condemned him, he did not say that
the world was guilty and that others were
sinners, but his confession was: I am guilty,
I am a sinner and have deserved the wrath of
a just and holy God. Thus the robber con-
demns himself and admits the justice of God
in the punishment of his sin. :

This is the lesson to be learned by every
sinner that would be saved. Christ says:
“The whole need not a physician, but they
that are sick.’’ ‘I am not come to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance.”? He
that would be saved must come to the knowl-
edge of his sin and to the sense of God’s
wrath over sin. Let the light of God’s law
flash in upon your conscience, and you will
see that you are a robber, a thief, a lost and
condemned sinner. Haye you not robbed
God? Does He not in His law require you to

St. Louis, Mo., March, 1895.

be holy as He is holy? And are you not un-
holy, and vile, and sinful, and rotten to the
core? Have you not transgressed every com-
mandment and robbed God of His due? Boast
not that you have paid every man his own,
when you have robbed God of what is due to
Him. If you, in the light of God’s holy law,
examine your life, search your heart, your
thoughts, your words, your deeds, you must
cry out: “I am guilty, guilty!’’ Yes, the
law condemns you as guilty in the sight of
God, and you are so utterly lost, that there
is only One that can help you. And who is
He? It is Jesus, the Lamb of God, that

beareth the sins of the world. He bore your.

sins, and suffered and.died in your stead.
He comes to you in the Gospel with forgive-
ness of sins and life everlasting. To Him
you must flee as did the penitent robber when
he cried for mercy.

The robber had seen the meekness of the
suffering Saviour, he had heard His warning
words spoken to the weeping women on His
way to Calvary: ‘‘Weep not for me, but weep
for yourselves and for your children. For if
they do these things in a green tree, what shall
be done in a dry?’’ He had heard the Say-
iour’s loving prayer: ‘‘Kather, forgive them ;
for they know not what they do.”’ By all that
he saw and heard the Holy Spirit wrought in
him true faith in that Saviour. This wonder-
ful faith is seen from his confession of Christ
and from his prayer to Christ.

The robber saw in Christ the sinless One,
and therefore one who could be a Saviour, a
divine Saviour. ‘This man hath done nothing
amiss,’? he says. It was a wonderful con-
fession under the circumstances. The disci-
ples of Christ had betrayed, and denied, and
forsaken Him; the rulers of the Jews had
condemned Him asa blasphemer; the Roman
goverment had crucified Him as a vile male-
factor; all had deserted Him in the hour of
His unspeakable woe. But in the face of
the scofling world the dying robber boldly af-
firmed: ‘This man hath done nothing amiss.”
And then he confesses Him as his Lord and
King, saying: ‘‘Lord, remember me when
Thou comest into Thy kingdom.””

He calls Christ Lord, and the Bible says:

-No. 3.

‘*No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but
by the Holy Ghost.’’ He owns him also as a
king, though there was no sign to show/that
He who hung upon the cross, crowned with a
crown of thorns and bleeding from many
wounds, had a kingdom. ‘But by faith the
penitent thief saw in that suffering and bleed-
ing Saviour his Lord, his King, his Saviour,
and turning to Him, he prayed: ‘*Remember
me!’’

It was a prayer of humble faith: ‘‘Remem-
ber me!”? He did not say: Give me some
high position of honor in Thy kingdom. He
simply prays: ‘‘Remember me!’’ It was also
a prayer of trusting faith. He did not doubt
that. he, the poor sinner, would find a place
in Christ’s kingdom, and confidingly he com-
mits his soul to the Saviour.

Such is faith by which sinners are saved.
‘Remember me!’’ is the cry of faith. The
believing sinner looks only to Christ for sal-
vation; and knows of no other saviour. His
only cry is: Remember me, O my Saviour,
remember me!

“Nothing in my hands I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling.’
Such a sinner is accepted and receives salva-
tion; for Jesus says: “Him that cometh to
me I will in no wise cast out.”? Yes, ‘‘Jesus
sinners doth receive.’’ He received the pen-
itent-robber and met his faith with the as-
surance of a present and certain salvation:
‘Verily, I say unto thee, to-day thou shall:
be with me in paradise.’’ Sweet and gracious
promise, full of bliss for the penitent sinner!
In the morning he was posting to hell, and in
the evening he is to be with Christ in heaven.
He is snatched from the very borders of hell,
out of the very jaws of damnation. From the
cross he is taken to the crown, from the wild
tumult and mocking cries of the multitude.
around Calvary he is taken to join the song
of the redeemed in heaven. He had been a
robber condemned, he is now a robber saved.
—___—~> 0

A HEATHEN chief, when he became a Chris-
tian, spoke of God’s Word as ‘‘a quenchless
torch that God has given to lighten this dark
world.”