The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1908, Page 3

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

The Lutheran ioncen —6S
SSSCaSSS—nawaouw_ON—sSoo

joices over his hellish success; for let a poor victim
once believe that there is no help for him, as did
Cain and Judas, then Satan feels almost positively
certain of his prey.

But if our enemies do not succeed in casting
a man into despair, they yet’ will try to keep him
in their power by further seducing him into all
kinds of shames and vices: adultery, fornication,
uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft,
hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, sedi-
tions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness,
revelings, and such like.. These are works which
the flesh of man delights in, and it will do its ut-
most to cause the Christian to succumb and become
guilty of these vices. And certain it is, were we
left to ourselves to withstand our foes, not one of
us would escape. Therefore, then, we go to our
heavenly Father for help and pray, “Lead us not
into temptation,” that is, “Do not permit the devil,
the world, and the flesh to succeed in their evil de-
signs.” We do not ask God to keep all temptations
from us; for we know that were we to be free from
all attacks of devil, world, and flesh, we should soon
grow secure and indifferent and forget our God.
What we do ask is, that God permit not the tempta-
tions to be greater than we can bear, or, in other
words, that God would guard and keep us in the
day of temptation, preserve us steadfast in His
Word and faith, and help us finally to overcome
and obtain the victory. And such prayer God will
hear. He will give us strength to battle with our
enemies; He will open our eyes to see the dangers
encompassing us, He will give us His Word, the
sword of the Spirit, and by His Holy Spirit grant
us. grace to wield it successfully and to ward off
all the attacks of our foes. And finally, after the
heat of the battle, He will place upon our brows the
crown of victory and take us home in triumph.

Into temptation lead us not;

And when the Foe doth war and plot
Against our souls on every hand,

Then armed with faith, O may we stand
Against him as a valiant host,

rough ‘comfort of the Holy Ghost.

F. J. L.
Justification Before God.

(A paper read before Immanuel Lutheran Conference, and
published by its request.)

: I.
Our justification before God is. the reverse of
condemnation, and consists tn the forgiveness of all
our sins.

2.

_If we are justified, we are not condemned, we
are not declared guilty. As a consequence, we need
fear no penalty, for punishment is the execution of
the sentence of condemnation. While the fact of
not being condemned is worth a great deal to a
prisoner before the bar of justice, yet we should
desire more if brought into court. Sometimes a
man is not condemned, because the case had to be
dismissed for want of evidence; the “Not guilty”
of the jury often means: We do not say the ac-
cused acted right, but we have not sufficient proof
to say he did wrong, and therefore we cannot: de-
clare him guilty. We ought to wish the “Not

guilty” to truly mean that we actually are not
guilty, and not merely that we cannot be con-

demned. Our justification in the sight of God
means that we are pronounced just, righteous.

That God’s “Not guilty” always means that we
are righteous in His sight, may be seen from Rom.
+, 6—8, where St. Paul says: “Even as David also
describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom
God imputeth the righteousness without works,
saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are for-
given, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the
man to whom the Lord will not impute sin” Our
English Bible explains what “impute” means
when, instead of it, it uses the words “counted”
(vv. 3. 5) and “reckoned” (vv. 4. 9. 10). If sin is
not put to a man’s account, he is not condemned.

But mark how St. Paul introduces David’s -
words. David says: “Blessed is the man to whom
the Lord will not impute sin.” St. Paul says: “Even
as David also describeth the blessedness of the man
unto whom God imputeth righteousness without
works.” Hence, according to St. Paul, when God
does not impute sin, He does impute righteousness.
If God does not condemn us, He declares us just.
In God’s court it is not possible, as in human courts,
that there.should be a lack of evidence; there all
the facts of a case are known. Since, as we lear
from St. Paul, God’s “Not guilty” means, “You are
SEN “justify,” the word Scripture opposes to

“condemn,” denotes that act of God whereby we are
not only not condemned, but declared to be just in
His sight.

Our explanation of the word “justify” is further
sustained, and we are assisted in understanding this
doctrine if we notice that our justification is the
imputation of righteousness. This is clearly seen
from the fourth chapter of Romans. ‘There St. Paul
proves his doctrine of justification from the Old

N