The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1912, Page 41

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

_ human friend.

The Lutheran Pioneer,

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PvuBLisHED BY THE EvANGELIcAL LUTHERAN SyNopIcAL ConFERENCE OF NorTH AMERICA.
R. A. BISCHOFY, Eprror.

Entered at the Post Oflice at St. Lonis, Mo., as second-class matter.

Vol. XXXIV.

Jesus the Sinners’ Friend. —

One there is above all others

Well deserves the name of Friend!
His is love beyond a brother’s,
Costly, free, and knows no end;
They who once His kindness prove
Find it everlasting love.

Which of all our friends, to save us,
Could or would have shed their blood?
But our Jesus died to have us
Reconciled in Him to God.

This was boundless love indeed!

Jesus is a Friend in need.
J. Newton.
¢

Our Best Friend.

Jesus is our best Friend. He is unlike any
We are often disappointed in hu-
man friends; but there is no disappointment in
Jesus. He is a Friend who loved those whom He
knew to be entirely unworthy of His love. He ac-
tually died for sinners, for the vile and ungrateful,
suffering death in their stead that they’ might
escape cternal death and enjoy everlasting life.
This no earthly friend would do. “Greater love
hath no man than this, that a man lay down his
ue for his friends,” John 15, 18. “Christ died for

8,” Rom. 5, 8. “Christ died for our sins accord-
ae to the Scriptures,” 1 Cor. 15, 3. “Who gave
Himself for our sins,” Gal. 1, 4. The awful thing
that stood between God and us, and that made us
subject to God’s wrath and eternal punishment,
was sin, and in our guilt and ruin, Jesus “ap-
peared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself,”
‘Hebr. 9, 26. Such friendship as this was never
seen before and can never be seen again in the
history of the universe.

ST. LOUIS, MO., JUNE, 1912, No. 6.

Jesus is our best Friend. Not only did He lay
down His life and procure salvation for us, but
in the Gospel He, as the Good Shepherd, goes forth
seeking the lost for whom He died. It is He that
in the Gospel sends forth the sweetest invitation
that ever sounded throughout the lost world, “Come
unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest,” Matt. 11, 28. Those
who come unto Him He will “in no wise cast out,”
be they the greatest sinners, the despised outcasts
of society. He was called “a Friend of sinners
and publicans” (Matt. 11, 19), and it was said
of Him, “This man receiveth sinners and eateth
with them” (Luke 15, 2); and He showed that
it was the joy of His heart to do that very thing.
He invited Himself to be the guest of a man who
was “the chief among the publicans,” and who was
regarded as the chief of sinners. He did not mind
those who “murmured, saying that He was gone
to be a guest with a man that is a sinner.” He
said, “The Son of Man is come to seek and to save
that which was lost,” Luke 19, 2—10.

Jesus is the Friend of sinners, our best Friend.
He died for us; He in the Gospel seeks those who
are lost, rejoicing: over every lost one that is
found. He as the Good Shepherd also tenderly
cares for all that are brought into His fold, making
them to lie down in green pastures and leading
them beside the still waters. Though they walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, they
need fear no evil. Jesus, their best Friend, is with
them. It is His rod and His staff, His Word that
comforts them. It is He that leads them to the
home of everlasting joy and bliss.

Well may they who by faith know Jesus as
their best Friend and who share His unspeakable
love, joyfully sing, “What a Friend we have in

2