The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1905, Page 57

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Che Lutheran Pioneer,

A MISSIONARY

MOONTHLY.

PuBLIsHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN SyNODICAL CONFERENCE OF NorTH AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

t. Loui

s, Mo., August, 1905.

No. 8.

"Tis Jesus Makes Me Whole.

Lord, at Thy feet I now lie down,
And pour out all my soul;

For there I find relief, and own
‘Tis Jesus makes me whole.

This wayward, willful, sinning heart,
Beyond my own control,

Is quieted as faith beholds,
*Tis Jesus makes me whole.

Thy blood I own—Thy precious blood,
And love so free and full,

Have met my need, and made me cry,
Tis Jesus makes me whole.

Lord, I adore Thy blessed grace,
Which gave me faith to roll
The burden of my sins on Thee:

’Tis Jesus makes me whole.
Sel.
————oo-e—____—_

Trust in Christ’s Righteousness.

How can a man trust in his own righteousness?
It is like seeking shelter under one’s own shadow.
A man may stoop to the very ground, and the
lower he bends he still finds that his shadow is be-
neath him. But if a man flees to the shadow of a
great rock or of a wide-spreading tree, he will find
shelter from the hot summer sun. So human mer-
its cannot give salvation, human righteousness can-
not shelter us from the wrath of God. Do you know
what the Bible says of our own righteousness? The
prophet says, ‘‘We are all as an unclean thing, and
all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.’’ Wesurely
cannot expect to stand before God clothed in a lot
of dirty rags. His wrath would hurl us with our
dirty rags into everlasting damnation; for He is
pure and holy, and hates and punishes all impurity.
Of Him the psalmist says, ‘‘Thou art not a God

that hath pleasure in wickedness; neither shall evil
dwell with Thee.” There is only one righteousness
which is acceptable unto God and in which we can
stand before Him. It is the righteousness which
God’s own Son procured for us by His life, suffer-
ings, and death. He who knew no sin was made to
be sin for us, that we might be made the righteous-
ness of God in Him. This righteousness which
Christ procured for us is perfectly pure, without the
least spot or stain. Clothed by faith in this right-
eousness, we are acceptable unto God, and can
stand before Him as His beloved children; for He
sees us clothed in the righteousness of His own Son
with whom He is well pleased.
“Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness
My beauty are, my glorious dress;

*Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed,
_ With joy shall I lift up my head.’’

Trust in Christ’s righteousness only. How can
a man trust partly in Christ’s righteousness and
partly in his own? It is like trying to cross a river
by walking partly on a sound plank and partly on
a rotten plank. He that does this will as surely
fall into the water as if he walked on the rotten
plank only. He cannot cross the water with one
foot on the sound plank and the other on the rotten
plank. He will fall through and perish. So he that
trusts partly in the righteousness of Christ and
partly in his own righteousness will surely fail of
eternal life. It is not the work of Christ and some-
thing added that saves us, but the work of Christ
alone, apart from anything and everything we can
do or feel. Christ’s righteousness is the only sound
plank on which sinners can cross the dark river of
death and enter everlasting life. Don’t try to walk
at the same time on the rotten plank of your own
righteousness, lest you fall through and perish for-