The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1905, Page 34

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34 The Lutheran Pioneer.

Those who in unbelief reject the Gospel thereby
reject the peace offered to them, and remain rest-
less; for ‘‘the wicked are like the troubled sea;
there is no peace to the wicked,” says the Bible. If
they die in their unbelief, they cast themselves into
the everlasting torments of hell, ‘‘where peace and
rest can never dvell.’’

Those who believe the Gospel have peace. The
apostle says, ‘‘Being justified by faith, we -have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.’’

This peace is a settled and everlasting peace. It
rests not upon what we do or feel, but upon that
which Christ has done for us. Nothing can shake
the peace which rests upon the finished and perfect
work of Christ.

“©oTis everlasting peace,
Sure as Jehovah’s name;
’Tis stable as His steadfast throne,
Forevermore the same.
My love is ofttimes low;
My joy still ebbs and flows;
But peace with Him remains the same,
No change Jehovah knows.”’

The Good Shepherd.

What a beautiful, comforting Gospel that is in
which the Lord Jesus depicts Himself as the good
Shepherd, showing what a heart He has toward us
poor sinners, and how we can do nothing to save
ourselves.

The sheep cannot defend nor provide for itself,
nor keep itself from going astray, if the shepherd
did not continually guide it; and when it has gone
astray and is lost, it cannot find its way back again,
nor come to its shepherd; but the shepherd him-
self must go after it, and seek it until he finds it,
otherwise it would wander away and be lost for-
ever.

And when he has found it, he must carry it, lest

it should again be frightened away from himself,
and stray, or be devoured by the wolf.

So also it is with us. We can neither help nor
counsel ourselves, nor come to rest and peace of
conscience, nor escape the devil, death, and hell,
if Christ Himself, by His Word, did not fetch us
and call us to Himself. And even when we have
come to Him, and are in the faith, we cannot keep
ourselves in it, unless He lifts and carries us by
His Word and power, since the devil is everywhere,
and at all times on the watch todo us harm. But
Christ is a thousand times more willing and earnest

to do all for His sheep than the best shepherd.
Luther.

Precious Jesus.

He is very happy who is able to set his Saviour
above all. To every Christian He should be the
“‘precious”’ one, the one ‘‘altogether lovely.”? ‘‘To
you, therefore, which believe He is precious,’’ says
the apostle. You surely know what the word pre-
cious means.

A pastor was once visiting in a home where there
were several children, with whom he talked about
the Lord Jesus. He repeated to them that verse
from the Bible: ‘‘To you, therefore, which believe
He is precious,’’ 1 Pet. 2, 7. Then he asked them
what the word precious meant. None of the chil-
dren answered, until it came to the turn of the
youngest, who said very sweetly, ‘‘Mother is pre-
cious; we need her; we cannot do without her,’’
and then hid his face in his mother’s lap. This is
how Jesus is precious.

“T need Thee, precious Jesus,
For I am full of sin;
My soul is dark and guilty,
My heart is dead within;
I need the cleansing fountain
Where I can always flee,
The blood of Christ most precious,
The sinner’s perfect plea.
“J need Thee, precious Jesus,
For I am very poor;
A stranger and a pilgrim,
I have no earthly store;
I need the love of Jesus
To cheer me on my way,
To guide my doubting footsteps,
To be my strength and stay.’’

In the Day of Trial.

It is very difficult to rise above the gloom that
gathers around the soul in the day of trial. Even
Christians sometimes say in their troubles, they do
not know what they have done to deserve the pun-
ishment. But if it is a question of what they de-
serve, they deserve to be shut up in hell forever;
and they ought to know enough to understand that
Christ bore all the punishment in our stead, so that
‘*there is now no condemnation to them that are in
Christ Jesus.’? God’s children must look at their
trials and afflictions in the light of God’s Word,
which tells them: ‘‘Whom the Lord loveth He
chasteneth,”? Hebr. 12, 6. ‘‘Our light affliction,
which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far
more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while
we look not at the things which are seen: for the
things which are seen are temporal; but the things