The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1916, Page 9

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Che Lutheran Pioneer. —

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

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Pusiisuep BY THE Evancenican Lurueran Synopicat CoxreReENcE oF Norru AMERICA.

Rev. F. J. LANKENAU, EDITOR.

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

Vol. XXXVIII.

Savior, We Delight in Thee.

Savior, Thou art always near us,
We delight in Thee; -

No one else could ever: clear us
Of iniquity.

Neither men nor angels sought us
And redeemed our bitter loss;
Thou alone hast dearly bought us
On the shameful cross.

Thou hast called us to inherit
Heaven’s blissful land,

And wilt keep us by Thy Spirit

Safely in Thy hand.

Lord, though we grow weak, and falter
In our faith and love,

Thou art strong, and dost not alter,—
Thow art from above.

Neither high nor lowly station,
Neither friend nor foe,

Neither sin’s abomination

Nor a world of woe,

Neither pleasure nor disaster,
Neither heav’n nor earth and sea, —
Nothing, nothing, dearest Master,
Severs us from Thee.

‘ H. Osteruus.

oe ot

Christ’s Work of Redemption.

I dearly love to tell the glad tidings concerning
the Lamb of God that was slain for the sin of
the world.

Our first parents sinned sorely against God.
They were banished from Paradise, ‘Their chil-
dren and descendants, however, were also sinful,
being born in the image of their sinful parents.
We all are conceived and born in sin. By evil
thoughts, words, and deeds the human race shame-
fully insults its Creator, Benefactor, and supreme

ST. LOUIS, MO., FEBRUARY, 1916.

Lord, thus provoking Him to righteous anger and
to mete out well-deserved punishment to all trans-
gressors: Sin is a short word, it has only three
letters; but its meaning is weighty and very fear-
ful, for the divine curse and everlasting damnation
must naturally follow the transgression. Indeed,
we all would have to despair if the Lamb of God
had not come and rescued us. Surely, it is “a faith-
ful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”;
it is a truth which “seems, each time we hear it,
more wonderfully sweet, and satisfies our longings
as nothing else can do.” Hear what the apostle
writes: “There is no difference [between Jews and
Gentiles]; for all have sinned and come short of
the glory of God; being justified freely \by His
grace, through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus.” (Rom. 3, 23. 24.)

When Jesus, the God-man, appeared publicly
in Judea, John the Baptist, His forerunner, pointed
to Him, saying, “Behold the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world.” In order that
Christ might take away the sin of the world, it
was necessary that He should be the Lamb of God,
that is, the spotless, living sacrifice, offered to the
heavenly Judge of all men on the holy altar of the
cross in the stead of the sinful world. In this way
He could expiate our guilt, satisfy God’s righteous-
ness, appease His wrath, regain His good pleasure
for us, make atonement as the propitiation for our
sin, reconciling God and the world, earning for us
His grace and forgiveness, life and salvation ;/ for
where there is forgiveness of sin, there is also life
and salvation. All this the Lamb of God has
really accomplished for us by His vicarious obe-
dience and self-sacrifice. “God hath reconciled us
to Himself by Jesus Christ.” (2 Cor. 5, 18.)