The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1906, Page 10

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10 The Lutheran Pioneer.

This salvation has been prepared also for you;
for it is prepared for all sinners. Simeon plainly
says of this salvation: “Which Thou hast prepared
before the face of all people; a light to lighten the
Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel.” God
“will have all men to be saved.” He therefore has
prepared salvation for all people, for Jews and Gen-
tiles; for they all need this salvation. It is the
sinner’s only help from sin, death, and hell. Let
us therefore take heed that we do not exclude our-
selves by our unbelief from the salvation which God
in His great love has prepared in His Son Jesus,
and which He faithfully offers to us all in the
Gospel. Let us also help to bring the Gospel to
those who still sit in the darkness of sin and in the
shadow of death and know. not the salvation pre-
pared in Christ Jesus for all people.

Sins Forgiven.

The moment the sinner believes in Jesus he has
forgiveness of all sins; for of Jesus it is written:
“In whom we have redemption through His blood,
the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of
His grace,” Eph. 1, 7.

God has removed the believer’s sins entirely.
“As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He
removed our transgressions from us,” Ps. 103, 12.

He has cast them behind His back. “Thou hast
cast all my sins behind Thy back,” Is. 38, 17.

They are cast into the depths of the sea. “Thou
wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea,”
Micah 7, 19.

They are all forgiven. “Having forgiven you
all trespasses,” Col. 2, 13.

They shall be remembered no more. “Their sins
and iniquities will I remember no more,” Hebr.
10, 17.

The believer is cleansed from sins so completely
as if they never existed. “The blood of Jesus Christ
His Son cleanseth us from all sin,” 1 John 1, 7.

“Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to
whom the Lord will not impute sin,” Rom. 4, 7. 8.
The happy believer may joyfully sing:

“*Clean every whit’ — Thou said’st it, Lord;
Shall one suspicion lurk?

Thine, surely, is a perfect word
And Thine a finished work.”

WE are not to cling to the gifts, but to Him
alone who gave them. — Luther.

Of the Church.

The Holy Ghost has called, enlightened, sancti-
fied, and kept me in the true faith. But not only
in me has the Holy Ghost wrought this gracious
work; for “He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanc-
tifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and
keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.”
That which the Holy Ghost has wrought in me He
has also effected in others. The whole number of
those whom the Holy Ghost calls, gathers, en-
lightens, sanctifies, and keeps with Jesus Christ in
the one true faith constitutes the Christian Church,
of which we confess: “I believe in the holy Chris-
tian Church, the communion of saints.”

Wuat tue Cuurcit Is.

The word Church is not always used in the same
sense. Often it is used to designate a building
where people gather for divine worship; sometimes
it designates the divine worship itself; and at other
times it is used to name the congregation of people
that gather in‘ a certain building for divine service.
If I should say, “St. Paul’s Church is in Annette
Street,” I would be referring to a certain building
used for divine service. Were I to ask you, “Did
you go to church this morning?” my purpose in so
asking would be to find out whether you had at-
tended divine worship. If I heard somebody say,
“Trinity Church is very rich,” I would know that
reference was made to a certain congregation, or
Teligious organization, having its own pastor and
meeting together for divine worship. A large num-
ber of congregations having the same faith is also
collectively called a church; as for example, the
Lutheran Church, the Methodist Church, the Pres-
byterian Church, ete. Then, again, the whole num-
ber of people belonging to all the different Christian
church denominations, all people claiming to be
Christians, are spoken of as the Church.

In none of these senses, however, is the word
Church used in the Third Article. This is plainly
to be seen from the explanation which the Article
itself gives when it defines the Church as “the com-
munion of saints.” The Church is composed of
saints. And who is a saint? A saint is one whom
the Holy Ghost through the Gospel has called from
darkness to light, who believes in Christ, and by
such faith is sanctified and embodied in Christ; in
short, a saint is a true believer. The Church is
“the congregation of saints; that is, all Christen-
dom, the whole number of all believers; for only
believers, and all believers are members of the