The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1920, Sheet 59

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The Lutheran Pioneer,

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PuBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LuTHERAN SyNopIcAL CoNFERENCE OF NortH AMERICA.

REV. F. J. LANKENAU, EDITOR.

Published monthly by Concordia Publishing House, St. Louls, Mo.
Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office at St. Louls, Mo., under the Act of March 3, 1

Subscription price, 25 cts. per annum, payable strictly In advance.
879.

Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for In section 1103, Act of October 3; 1917, authorized on ‘July 5, 1918,

Vol. XLII.

ST. LOUIS, MO., AUGUST, 1920.

No. 8.

When Jesus Reigneth in Our Heart.

When Jesus reigneth in our heart
Faith casteth out all fear,
Despondency must then depart
And sorrow disappear.

’Tis good for us His voice to hear
And on His breast to lean;
The Bible’s leaves are never sear,
But always fresh and green.

*Tis good to keep our Lord’s commands,
Who oft our wish fulfilled,

And work and give with ready hands
And thus His Zion build.

.’Tis good for us to be sustained

In danger by His might,

To render thanks and praise unfeigned,
And walk as in His sight.

’Tis good to trust this faithful Friend,
Who bought us with a price,

And when our life has reached an end,

To dwell in paradise. H. OSTErnvUs.

-- —~e—e ——

Our Faith Is the Victory that Over-
cometh the World.
1 Joun 5, 4—6.

How insignificant our earthly lives are in the
- light of eternity! Yet we cannot overestimate the
infinite importance which attaches to our temporal
lives just when we view them in their relation to
eternity, our lives being given us for the great pur-
pose of finding and holding fast to the end the one
thing needful which mankind had lost by the fall.
Tt is our foremost duty in this life to care for our
immortal souls and those of others. How then may
man obtain the grace and favor of God? Not by
the works of the Law, but by faith alone. Again,

what enables us to remain faithful? Not might of
ours, but divine strength which we apprehend and
hold by faith. In our present verses John makes
the assertion that our faith is the victory that over-
comes the world and also shows how well grounded
this faith ts.

St. John writes in verse 3: \God’s command-
ments are not grievous. They are not hard for
Christians. But does not the world within us and
without us ever strive to make their fulfilment dif-
ficult, yea, impossible for us? What then is the
reason that they are nevertheless not grievous? Be-
cause Christians are born of God and thus endued
with divine strength and fully able, not only to fight
against, but even to overcome. the ungodly world:
for “greater is He that is in you than he that is
in the world.” — But we are born of God by faith
which is of His operation. Hence John exultantly
exclaims in verse 4: For whatsoever is born of God
overcometh the world: and this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith. Not any kind
of faith possesses this power and has this effect, but
only our faith, that is, the faith in Jesus Christ,
the Son of God and Savior of the world: Who ts
he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth
that Jesus ts the Son of God, verse 5.

Then John mentions some credentials which at-
test that He who came in the flesh is truly Jesus,
the world’s Savior, and Christ, God’s Anointed, our
Prophet, Priest, and King. Verse 6a: This is He
that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ.
The first proof is, that He came by water. By being
baptized with water by John the Baptist in the
wilderness, for the express purpose of “fulfilling all
righteousness” in our stead, He manifested Himself