The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1896, Page 9

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Che Autheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

Pusiisuep BY THE EvANGELICAL LutnEeran Synopicat ConFERENCE oF NortH AMERIOA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

Entered at the Post Oflice at St. Lonis, Mo., as second-class matter.

Vol. XVIII. S

t. Louis, Mo., March, 1896.

Lamb of God.

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

Who didst sutfer grief and pain,
On the tree;

I 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.
Selected.

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The Lamb of God.

Jesus is the Lamb of God. Of Him it is
said, ‘‘Behold the Lamb of God; which taketh
away the sin of the world,’”’ John 1, 29. Jesus
came into the world to become a sacrifice for
our sin. In the season of Lent we go with
Him on His way of sorrow to the altar of the
cross. We behold Him suffering and dying
for the sin of the world. He took upon Him-

self all our sins and the sin-hating God poured | -

upon His sin-bearing Son all the wrath we
deserved.

Behold the Lamb of God in the darkness
of Gethsemane, bowed down under the burden
of the world’s sin and sweating great drops
of blood in the unspeakable agony of His soul!

Behold the Lamb of God, bound and dragged
from one tribunal to the other, scourged with
the cruel whips of Roman soldiers, crowned
with a crown of thorns, and led forth by
Pontius Pilate into the presence of the mur-
derous rabble that cried out, Crucify Him!
Crucify Him!

Behold the Lamb of God nailed to the cross
and suffering that great anguish which pressed
from His lips that ery of woe, ‘‘My God, my
God, why hast Thou forsaken me??’? All the
wrath due to sinners was put into one dread-
ful cup of suffering, and Jesus drank it all,
crying, “It is finishea 1)?

Thus the Lamb of God taketh away the sin

of the world by bearing all sin and all punish-
“The Lord hath laid upon

ment due to sin.
Him the iniquity of us all,’’ says the prophet.

And St. Peter says, ‘‘He Himself bare our
Our sins
caused ‘that deep agony in the garden; our
sins scourged His holy body ; our sins crowned
His holy brow with a crown of thorns; our
sins nailed Him to the cross; our sins drove
Him into awful abyss of wrath and woe, out
of which rose such a cry of distress as never

sins in His own body on the tree.’’

shook the earth before: ‘‘My God, my God,
why hast Thou forsaken me?’’

gressions, He was bruised for our iniquities.”’

And the apostle says, ‘‘Christ died for our

sins.’’

The Lamb of God taketh away the sin of

the world. Not only the sins of a favored
few. No.
world. Not only the sins of certain holy
people like St. Paul and St. Peter and others.
No. He taketh away the sin of the world.
The Gospel, which brings us all the blessings
won by the sacrifice of Christ, points every
sinner, even the vilest sinner, to Jesus as to
the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of
the world, the sins of every sinner.

If you would enjoy what Christ has won for
all sinners by the sacrifice of Himself, you
must see in Him your Saviour; you must with
the eye of faith behold in Him the Lamb of
God that taketh away your sins; you must
believe in your heart that He suffered and
died for you, the poor, lost, and condemned
sinner, and that by His sufferings and death
you are saved. By this faith you will enter

into the gladness of knowing that ‘‘there is)

therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus,’ Rom. 8, 1.

Do not neglect your Salvation.

Just think what has been done in order that
you might be saved. God gave His beloved
Son into sufferings and death; Jesus died on
the cross—the Just for the unjust, the Holy
One for the sinner. His blood was shed, and
His blood it is which cleanseth us from all

The prophet
Isaiah says, ‘‘He was wounded for our trans-

He taketh away the sin of the

sin, 1 John 1, 7. What a price has been paid!
And this salvation, your salvation, is offered
to you in the Gospel. How will you escape if
you reject the Gospel and neglect this great
salvation? Do you think that God, who spared
not His own Son, will spare you if you reject
the Son of His love and despise the salvation
gained by His bitter sufferings and death?
One day an aged Christian was pressing on
some unbelieving neighbors the danger of
neglecting their souls’ salvation, and in doing
so set before them the terrors of the hell that
awaits the impenitent. One of them turned
on him and said, ‘*You are a father; could
you make one of your children unhappy, even
if he had offended you ever so deeply? ~ And
will God be less merciful to us than an earthly
parent would be to his children? If we have
been so unfortunate as to offend Him, still
will He not spare us?’ ‘Spare you!’ ex-
claimed the old Christian; ‘thow could He do
that, when He spared not His own Son!’”
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The Compassion of Jesus for the People.

When Jesus saw the multitudes, He was
moved with compassion on them. Every.
suffering one brought to Him, or who called
to Him, found a ready response to their
plea for mercy. ‘The eyes of the blind were
opened, the ears of the deaf were unstopped,
the tongue of the dumb was loosed, the limbs
of the palsied were strengthened. It is the
will of Christ that every member of the body
be freed from the power of Satan, and made
free to serve and praise God. He called the
attention of the disciples to the distressed and
dying condition of the people, and reminded
them that they were called to bring life,
health, freedom and happiness to enslaved,
suffering, and dying multitudes. He urged
them to pray that the number of faithful
laborers be increased. The conditions are
the same to-day. Multitudes are perishing,
the laborers are few, alas, so very few.

—_—_—— oo oe

We must work and watch, but never be full
of care or anxious. Commit our all to Him
with a quiet heart, as one who is sleeping
safely. —Martin Luther. .