The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1904, Page 36

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36 The Lutheran Pioneer.

Christ Has Redeemed Me from All Sins.

We are sinners. We have transgressed every
one of God’s commandments. We must plead
guilty to every count, for by sins of commission
and omission we have broken every one of God’s
laws. From this our guilt Christ has redeemed us
by keeping the laws which we had broken, by
keeping the commandments which we should have
kept. We owed God obedience to His laws. This
debt of obedience, however, we did not pay. Now
Christ took this debt upon Himeelf and paid it.for
us by His active obedience. Made of a woman,
made under the Law, Christ redeemed us that were
under the Law, and thus freed us from the con-
demnation of the Law and the guilt of our disobe-
dience.. Thus did Christ free us from the guilt of sin.

But the Law curses the sinner; for it is written,
“Cursed is every one that continueth not in all
things which are written in the book of the Law
to do them.’’ From this curse Christ has also re-
deemed us by taking it and the punishment upon
Himself. ‘‘Christ has redeemed us from the curse
of the Law, being made a curse for us; for it is
written: Cursed is every one that hangeth on a
tree,’”? Gal. 3,18. Christ suffered the punishment
of our sins, He bore our griefs and carriéd our sor-
rows, and, being chastised for us, He brought us
peace. The righteous God having punished our
sins in Christ, we now stand acquitted and need no
longer fear the curse of the Law nor the punish-
ment of an insulted God.

And Christ has also redeemed us from the do-
minion and power of sin. By nature we were the
slaves of sin. :

Enchained by sin, and bound in chains,
Beneath its dreadful tyrant sway,

_ And doomed to everlasting pains,
We wretched, guilty captives lay.

From this awful slavery Christ has also freed
us, a8 Peter says: ‘Ye know that ye were not re-
deemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold,
from your vain conversation received by tradition
from your fathers; but with the precious blood of
Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without
spot.’” Being flesh born of flesh, we were born in
sin. By inheritance we received from our fathers

. the ‘‘yain conversation,” that is, the chains and

shackles of sin. From this awful tyranny Christ

‘has liberated us, so that we need no longer serve
sin, but may victoriously fight against our former
master.

Christ has redeemed us from all sins, great and
small. He bore all our sins, suffered all pains in _

all His members, in body and soul. Though our
sins should outnumber the grains of sand by the
seashore, though they should be more than are the
stars that stud the firmamént— Christ has redeemed
us from them all. There is no sin so great, no sin
so awful, that Christ should not have atoned for it.
Though a man had denied his Lord, as did Peter,
or persecuted Christ’s followers, as did Saul,—
Christ has atoned for it. Were you to put all your
sins in one balance of the scales and Christ’s merits
in the other, your sins would fly up as though they
were nothing.

Thou, ah! Thou, hast taken on Thee
Bonds and stripes, a cruel rod;
Pain and scorn were heaped upon Thee,
O Thou sinless Son of God!
Thus didst Thou my soul deliver
From the bonds of sin forever.
Thousand, thousand thanks shall be,
Dearest Jesus, unto Thee.
F.J.L.

Si atk on

Heaven Sealed to the Christian.

Heaven is given to me freely and is my gift, and
I have letters and seals for it; that is, I am bap-
tized and go to the Sacrament. Therefore I take
care of the letter, that the devil may not tear it in
pieces; that is, I live and abide in the fear of God,
and pray the Lord’s Prayer. God could not have
given me salvation and the Gospel save through the
death, the suffering, and dying of His dear Son.
And when I believe that He has overcome death
and died for me, and I look at the promise of the
Father, then I have the letter complete, and the seal
of Baptism and of the Sacrament of the Altar (the
true essential body and blood of our Lord Christ)
affixed to it; thus I am well provided for. We
should hold it certain that Baptism is God’s ordi-
nance, which He has appointed that we may know
where we may surely find Him. He seeks us; He

comes to us; we cannot come to Him of ourselves.
Luther.

No Puzzle.

An infidel tried to confuse an old Christian col-
ored man by telling him that there were contra-
dictory passages in the Bible. : ‘‘For example,’ said
he, ‘‘how can it be that we are in the Spirit and at
the same time the Spirit is in us???

The old Christian replied, ‘‘Oh, dar’s no puzzle
*bout dat. It’s like dat poker. I put it in de fire
till it gets red-hot. Now, de poker’s in de fire, and
de fire’s in de poker.”

The infidel had no more to say. |