The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1907, Page 33

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Che Lutheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PUBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL Lurneran SynNopIcaL CONFERENCE OF Nortu AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

Vol. XXIX.

“St. Louis, Mo. May, 1907.

No. 5D.

Title Clear.

That I might read my title clear
Unto the home above,

The Father sent His only Son,
The Gift of His great love.

That I might read my title clear
The Savior in my stead,

To bear the penalty of sin,

Was numbered with the dead.

That I might read my title clear
In triumph did He rise

And prove the full sufficiency

Of Love’s great sacrifice.

That I might read my title clear
Unto the title deed

Has God affixed the Spirit’s scal,
My Comforter in need.

That I might read my title clear
To mansions in the skies
Unto the Savior’s dying love

He opened my blind eyes.
s 4 L. CG. W.

The Holy Spirit’s Work.

Christ took our place under the Law and bore
the curse and the punishment due to our sins. He
thus redeemed’ us from sin, death, and damnation,
and secured for all men forgiveness of sins and
life everlasting. his is Christ’s work for us, on
which our salvation rests. But there must be a
work done in us.if we are to enjoy the benefits of
the work done for us by the Savior of sinners. The
salvation which is in Christ Jesus for all men must
become our own, if we are to enjoy its blessings.

“ This is the Holy Spimts work. It is not man’s
work and cannot be man’s work, for the Bible tells

us that man is “dead in trespasses and sin.” Not
merely weakened or somewhat injured by sin, but
“dead in trespasses-and sin.” ‘There is no life in
a dead man, and there is no strength in a dead
man to bring himself to life. So there is no
spiritual life in man as he is by nature, and there
is no strength whatever in him to bring himself to
spiritual life or to assist in any wise in this work.
It is altogether the work of the Holy Spirit. “The
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither
can he know them, because they are spiritually dis-
cerned,” says the Bible. And again it is written:
“No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the
Holy Ghost.” No man can have a saving knowl-
edge of Jesus as his Savior and Lord, unless the
Holy Spirit works this knowledge in him. There-
fore we confess in our Catechism: “I believe that
I cannot by my own reason-or strength believe in
Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him, but the
Holy Spirit hath called me through the Gospel,
enlightened me by His gifts, ane sanctified and
preserved me in the true faith.

The Holy Spirit’s work is done through the
Gospel which comes to us in the reading and preach-
ing of God’s Word and in the holy Sacraments.
The Holy Spirit works true faith in the sinner’s
heart through this Gospel, which is “the power of
God unto salvation to every one that believeth.”
With the hand of faith the sinner takes the sal-
vation of Christ offered to us in the Gospel. Thus
we, by the Spirit’s work in us, are made partakers
of Christ’s work for us, and enjoy all the blessings
of the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. And
He who works faith in the heart of man also pre-
serves it unto the end, that the crown of life may