The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1903, Page 17

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

a

ee ee a...

Che Autheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PusuisHep BY THE EvaANGELIcAL Lutmeran SynopicaL ConFERENCE or NortH AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

Vol. XXYV.

St. Louis, Mo., May, 19038.

No. 5.

“It Is Finished.”

hast led captivity captive; Thou hast received
gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also,”

“When He had by [Himself purged our sins, He sat down| pg. 68 1S
. 68, 18.

on the right hand of the Majesty on high,” Hebr. 1, 3.

In the work of redemption He labored alone;
The judgment was His, be the glory His own.
The work of salvation is finished —complete —
And Christ in the glory has taken His seat;
And that’s where a sinner, believing, gets rest,
Where sin cannot hinder, nor Satan molest.
As trophies of grace, we are left on the earth
To show forth His grace and infinite worth,
And all through the journeyare kept by His power,
Yea, kept by our God to that marvelous hour
When the Lord, our Redeemer, descends in the air,
And we, His redeemed ones, shall meet Him up
there. Z

Be this, then, our glory, wheresoever we £0,
To tell of His goodness to sinners below,
To bear on our banner, wherever we run:

“The work of redemption by Jesus is done” —
Done, once and forever, by Jesus alone.
In proof ‘‘it is finished,’’ He is now on the throne,
And sinners, believing, though by sin once en-

slaved,

God declareth are free—everlastingly saved.
«inon,

———+ +o or oe _

Captivity is Led Captive.

‘

After His resurrection from the dead our
Lord, for forty days, showed Himself alive to
His disciples at different times and in differ-
ent places, and spoke to them of the things
pertaining to the kingdom of God. But when
the fortieth day came He ascended visibly
into heaven and seated Himself at the right
hand of God as the Conqueror over all our
enemies. He had come into this world to re-
deem us from the power of sin, death, devil,
and hell. This work of redemption was fin-
ished, perfectly finished. It was completed,
fully completed; and so He returned to the
Father in glory and majesty.

When Christ had done and suffered all
that was necessary for our salvation, He cried
out upon the cross, ‘‘It is finished !’? His vic-
torious resurrection from the dead clearly
_ Proved that all is finished, and His trium-
phant ascension into heaven also assures us
that the work of our redemption is finished,
Therefore the psalmist says of th
Saviour: ‘Thou hast ascended on

It was our captivity which Christ, in His
ascension, led captive. This captivity was
the captivity in which we were held as pris-
oners and slaves by sin, death, devil, and
hell. By conquering these our enemies Christ
redeemed us from their power and made them
prisoners and captives. Christ destroyed the
works of the devil, He imprisoned our prison,
He put to death our death, He buried our
grave, He closed the gates of hell, and opened
the gates of heaven for us: He finished the
work of our redemption. This is the Gospel,
the glad news, which is to be preached to all
men throughout this world of sin and sorrow.
They that by true faith accept this Gospel en-
joy all the blessed fruits of Christ’s redemp-
tion, and shall live with Him in everlasting
glory in that place of joy and bliss which He
has gone to prepare for them in the mansions
of His Father’s house. But they that will not
believe this Gospel thereby reject their only
salvation, and shall be lost in everlasting dam-
nation. For Christ, just before His ascension,
said to His disciples: ‘‘Go ye into all the
world, and preach the Gospel to every crea-
ture. He that believeth and is baptized shall
be saved; but he tbat believeth not shall be
damned,”’ Mark 16, 15. 16.

Oh, trust in Christ, your Lord and God,
Who hath redeemed you by His blood;
He captive led captivity,

From bitter death to set you free.

—_ o-oo

Pentecost.

The day of Pentecost was a day of joy to
the disciples. After beholding their Lord’s
ascension, ‘‘they returned to Jerusalem with
great joy.’ What cheered their hearts was
the Saviour’s promise of the Comforter, the

Holy Spirit. Confidently awaiting the fulfill-
ment of this promise, they tarried at Jeru-
salem.

On the day of Pentecost—fitty days after

e ascended | the resurrection of Jesus— the promise was
high, Thou fulfilled; the Holy Ghost was poured out

upon the disciples, and they were made the
infallible witnesses of Jesus, and were filled
with courage to make His salvation known
unto the uttermost parts of the earth. The
day of Pentecost was indeed a day of com-
fort and joy to the disciples. It is still so to
the Church.

We need the Spirit’s work, and the assur-
ance that He still comes in the means of grace
should give us comfort and joy.

Without the Holy Spirit no one is brought
to Christ and the salvation prepared by Him.
“No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but
by the Holy Ghost,’’ 1 Cor. 12,3. In these
words St. Paul declares that no man can know
Jesus to be God over all, trust in Him as his
Saviour, and obey Him as His Lord, unless
the Holy Spirit give him power. It is only
by the grace of the Holy Spirit that the sav-
ing truth can be rightly known and taken by
faith unto salvation; as we confess in our
Catechism: ‘‘I believe that I cannot by my
own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ,
my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Ghost
has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me
with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the
true faith, even as He calls, gathers, enlightens,
and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on
earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the
one true faith.”” :

The Holy Spirit must not only bring us to
Christ, but must also keep us with Christ; He
must not only work faith in our hearts, but
must also preserve us in the faith unto ever-
lasting life. ‘‘He that endureth to the end
shall be saved.”? But we cannot endure by
our own strength. Only by the power of the
Spirit can we be preserved blameless unto the
great day of the Lord. The Apostle says,
‘tYe are kept by the power of God through
faith unto salvation,” 1 Pet. 1, 5.

All this work the Holy Spirit does through
the means of grace—the Word and Sacra-
ments of God. In these means of grace He
still comes and works in the hearts of sinners.
This should make us diligent in the use of
these means for the salvation of our own souls
and also zealous in bringing these means of
grace to others, that they also might be saved
by the work of the Holy Spirit.