The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1914, Page 34

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34

The Lutheran Pioneer.

Word and the Sacraments. By these means of grace
the Holy Ghost works faith in us, by which we lay
hold upon salvation in Christ. Neither you nor I
would ever have known anything of Christ, or have
learned to believe in Him, if the Holy Ghost had
not brought us the good news by the Gospel, and
worked faith in its tidings in our hearts by the
same Gospel. The work of redemption is done;
Christ has fully and perfectly redeemed us by His
suffering and death. But if the work of redemption
would remain hidden and no one were told of it,
‘Christ would have died in vain, and His glorious
resurrection on the third day would also have no
practical value. In order, therefore, that the fact
of our redemption might be known, God has sent
forth the message by the Gospel, and through the
same blessed Gospel message the Holy Spirit works
upon our hearts and induces us to appropriate
Christ’s redemption.

The natural man is “dead in trespasses and
sins’; “no man can say that Jesus is the Lord
but by the Holy Ghost.” How important and
necessary, therefore, is the work of the Holy Spirit.
How thankful we should be that we may not only
celebrate Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter, but
also Pentecost. God’s gift of love to the world,
Jesus’ death for our sins, and His resurrection for our
justification, could not help us in the least if the
Holy Ghost did not by the Gospel work faith in
Christ the Savior in our hearts. Only through
faith in Christ can we receive forgiveness of sin,
life, and salvation. But this faith is wholly the
work of the Holy Ghost. Let us, therefore, be
diligent in the use of the means of grace, through
which alone the Holy Spirit works, so that the
good work which He has begun in us may be fully
carried out.

Yes, and let us see to it that this same Gos-
pel through which the Holy Ghost has brought us
to Christ may also be proclaimed to our fellow-
men. As little as it was possible for the early
Christians on the first day of Pentecost to hide
the glorious message of salvation, so little should
at be possible for us to withhold the tidings of
- igrace from our fellow-men. As much as they felt
themselves constrained to be instrumental in bring-

ing Pentecost to the hearts of others, so should ’

we be filled with an overpowering ‘desire to have

‘many of our fellow-men experience the gracious in-

dwelling of the Holy Spirit, and to this end bring

= the Gospel through which this alone is pos-
le.

Christ’s Last Command.

In view of the empty tomb and in the presence
of the opened gates glory, Jesus said to His dis-
ciples, Go ye and make disciples of all nations.
This command stands out strong and clear among
all the utterances of the Lord spoken during the
forty days after His resurrection. It is a command
and not a mere advice; not a mere suggestion,
but a plain and positive order. It comes with the
precision of a military command, — Go ye! “Look
at your marching orders; how do they read?” the
Duke of Wellington once said to a chaplain, who
could not see the need of preaching the Gospel to
the heathen. And, surely, the orders which the
Lord gave His Church are explicit and not to be
misunderstood.

Before the great sea-fight at T'rafalgar, Nelson
signaled to his fleet the words, “England expects
every man to do his duty.” But what is the com-
mand of an admiral, what the expectation of a
whole people and nation to the word of the Lord!

This order of the Lord, spoken before His
ascension, has never been repealed; it has never
been modified; no exceptions have ever been made
to it. No one has any authority to exempt any
one from its obedience. It is as binding as are
the Ten Commandments.

The faithful soldier complies with the orders
of his superior. It is not for him to argue about
the wisdom of any particular march or campaign;
his sole duty is to obey. Unquestioningly he obeys
and discharges the duties imposed upon him. When
the first missionary of the Moravians to the West
Indies was told. that all his endeavors in behalf
of the colored slaves of those islands would be fruit-
less, he replied, “Even if no one should be bene-
fited, and no fruits follow my efforts, yet I will
go, for I must obey the call of the Savior.”

Some years ago, Ko-Chat-Thing, a Karen con-
vert from Burmah, was visiting in this country.
He was at the time requested to speak to a cer-
tain congregation concerning their duty to send
missionaries to the heathen. After deliberating for

a few moments, he asked those who put the request,

“Has not Christ told them to do it?” “Oh yes,”
was the rejoinder, “but it would be a good thing
to have you remind them of their duty.” “Oh no,”
said the Karen convert, “if they will not obey Jesus
Christ, they will surely not obey me.”

As a certain writer has well said: “Other con-
siderations have their place. Temporal advantages

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