The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1907, Page 41

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Che Lutheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY

MOONTHLY.

PuBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LuTHERAN SyNopDICAL CONFERENCE oF Nortit AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

Vol. XXIX.

RUG, IMDS Om SOOT

No. 6.

Yet There Is Room.

Ye dying sons of men,

Immerged in sin and woe,

The Gospel’s voice attend

Which Jesus sends to you:

Ye perishing and guilty, come;
In Jesus’ arms there yet is room.

No longer now delay,

Nor vain excuses frame;

He bids you come to-day,

Though poor, and blind, and lame;
All things are ready; sinner, come;
For every trembling soul there’s room.

Believe the heavenly Word

His messengers proclaim;

He is‘a gracious Lord,

And faithful is His name;

Backsliding souls, return and come;

Cast off despair, there yet is room!
Selected.

—————_—_>- 2-2 ——_—___—__

The Gospel Invitation.

The Gospel invitation invites men, not to hard
work, but to a great Supper. Christ says: “A cer-
tain man made a great supper, and bade many;
and sent his servant at supper time to say to them
that were bidden, Come; for all things are now
ready,” Luke 14, 16. 17%. He who prepared the
supper is God. He prepared it by sending His Son
into this world to suffer and to die for sinners. His
Son bore our sins and procured for all men forgive-
ness of sins, life, and salvation. ‘These blessings
are the food on that great supper table prepared
by God Himself and to be enjoyed by man. The
Gospel invitation is, “Come; for all things are now
ready.” We are not to make things ready; but all
things are ready. God Himself has made all things

ready. Redemption is finished, salvation is pre-
pared. We are simply to enjoy these things that
are now ready. The Gospel invitation calls upon
us to come and partake of the great Gospel feast,
prepared by the sufferings and death of God’s
own Son.

Since the Supper has been prepared for all, the
invitation is extended to all. Man may exclude
himself, but God does not exclude him. When
many excluded themselves, and made excuses, and
would not come, the master said to his servant:
“Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the
city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed,
and the halt, and the blind.” And when this had
been done and the servant said, “Yet there is room,”
the master said, “Go out into the highways and
hedges, and compel them to come in that my house
may be filled.” The great Supper is for all, and
the invitation should be brought to all. No nation,
no age, no class of men is excluded. The greatest
sinners, the worst of men, poor and degraded though
they be, the outcasts along the highways and hedges
—they all are invited, earnestly invited: “Come;
for all things are now ready.” And though a large
number make excuses and will not come, still there
are many that are brought in to the Gospel feast
by God’s grace, and His house is being filled. But
yet there is room, and therefore the Church carries
on mission work, and her servants go forth with the
Gospel invitation: “Come; for all things are now
ready.”

“Yet there is room! The many ransomed there
Suffice not for His love;

He longs that every one His grace should share,
His saving mercy prove;

For still He stands with sinners pleading,

His voice in heaven still interceding,

Yet there is room!”