The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1907, Page 10

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10

The Lutheran Pioneer.

How important, then, is readiness for death!
How necessary to be always ready, and how foolish
to speak of getting ready at some future time!
That time may never come. :

“Lord, grant that ever prepared I be,
That naught from Thee me sever.
And when I die, let me with Thee
In glory live forever;

Come quickly to deliver me,
Lord, by Thy death and agony,
Yea, come, Lord Jesus! Amen.”

——-_—# ee ---

Predestination, or Election.

“May I be sure that I also shall enter into
eternal life? I am God’s child now; I know my
sins are forgiven, and that, if I were to die at this
moment, I would be saved. But what has the
future in store for me? Perhaps I shall succumb
to the wiles of Satan and the temptations of the
world, and not regain the state of grace before
I am called to judgment. Oh, that I could be cer-
tain of my salvation! Oh, that I could comfort
myself with this blessed thought that I, too, shall
have my portion with the saints in light!” Thus
speaks the faint-hearted child of God. And what
comfort does Scripture give him? It gives him the
certainty he longs for; for according to the Scrip-
tures he is firmly to believe that as God has in time
called him by the Gospel, enlightened, sanctified,
and kept him in the true faith, even so He has
from eternity chosen him unto the adoption of
children and unto life everlasting, and no one shall
pluck him out of His hand.

The whole human race is truly redeemed and
reconciled to God through Christ, who has merited
for all the righteousness of God and eternal life by
His perfect obedience, innocent suffering and Ueath.
It is God’s gracious will that these merits and benec-
fits of Christ be proclaimed, offered, and given to
all men by the Word and the Sacraments. When-
ever and wherever the Gospel of Christ is preached,

heard, and considered, there and then God the Holy ©

Spirit is active and effectual through such Word
and has the earnest purpose to convert men to true
repentance and keep them in the true faith. All
those who in true repentance and faith accept
Christ, God justifies; that is, He forgives their
sins and thus justifies them, graciously accepts and
adopts them as His children and heirs of life eter-
nal. Those so justified, God also sanctifies in love
to Himself and their neighbor. God also protects
them in their great weakness against devil, world,

and flesh, governs and leads them in His ways;
when they fall, He lifts them up; and He comforts
and upholds them in crosses and trials. God also
desires to strengthen and increase the good work
He has begun in them, and to keep them unto the
end, if they cling to His Word, diligently pray,
and faithfully use His gifts. Such faithful be-
lievers God will finally make eternally happy and
give them life everlasting.

This is .the way in which, according to Holy
Scripture, God leads us to salvation. But this gra-
cious work which God does in us here in time He—
already decided to do from eternity. In eternity
He chose us unto the adoption of children and unto
life everlasting, and having done so, no man shall
pluck us out of His mighty hand. ‘That we have
been called by the Gospel, enlightened, sanctified,
and kept in the true faith is the fruit of our eternal
election by God in Christ Jesus. For God chose
us unto salvation not because He saw anything in
us that made us better than other people; nor did
He choose us before others because He saw that we
would accept the Gospel which others would reject:
nay, He chose us only because of His grace which
was given us in Christ Jesus. Jesus’ blood and
righteousness induced the gracious God to predesti-
nate us to life eternal. While our election to life
took place in eternity, yet it could only take place
in view of Christ’s work of redemption, wherefore
we must look upon our clection as a fruit and con-
sequence of Christ’s suffering and death. Only
for Christ’s sake did God in His boundless grace
elect us unto His children and heirs of heaven.
And the causes of our election and salvation thus
lying wholly with God and in no way with us, we
may and shall be sure that heaven is ours.

All this we find explicitly stated by St. Paul
Eph. 1, 3—6: “Blessed be the God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places [or, heav-
enly gifts] in Christ.” With these words the apostle
reminds the Ephesians of their riches in spiritual
blessings, those same blessings which have been re-
ferred to above: the preaching of the Gospel, re-
generation, faith, forgiveness of sin, and the like.
Then he continues: “According as He hath chosen
us in Him before the foundation of the world, that
we should be holy and without blame before Him
in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to Himself.” Here it
is plainly said that that which God does with us
in time to bring us to heaven He purposed to do -