The Second Article.
My Lord Has Redeemed Me, A Lost And Condemned Creature.
Which is the Second Article?
_I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord._
What does this mean?
_I believe that Jesus Christ is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and
condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and
from the power of the devil._
1. We have learned that our Lord is true God and true man. We have heard
that the Son of God became man and humbled Himself even unto death for
our sake to become our Lord and Savior. Our Catechism furthermore tells
us _by what means Jesus Christ, true God and true man, became my Lord
and Savior._ That is the great work of our Lord: He came into this world
to save, to redeem us. His work is our _redemption._ Let us diligently
and prayerfully consider this great work of our Lord--our redemption.
2. _Christ has redeemed me,_ so I confess. We were in great need of such
a Lord and of the redemption which He was to bring. For without such a
Lord _we are lost and condemned creatures._ We are _lost_ creatures.
What does this mean? Remember the beautiful story of the _Prodigal Son._
The father in this story said of his son after his return that he had
been lost. Wilfully and sinfully the son had left his home and his
father and gone into a far country, where he spent all his goods with
riotous living. He was now far away from his father, separated from him
and his home. He was lost in that far-away country, where great misery
and distress soon overtook him. Without his father he would have
_perished_ with hunger. Thus we are lost without Christ. We have sinned
against our heavenly Father, we have transgressed His commandments. By
committing sins we have left our Father and are separated from Him. We
are in a far-away country, in this sinful world, where misery and
distress surround us. We are without God and without hope in the world.
Without our Lord we must perish, suffer eternal death. _Without Christ
we are indeed lost._ Every one of us must confess: I am a lost creature.
_"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his
own way."_ Is. 53,6.
3. I confess also that I am a _condemned_ creature. God, as you have
learned, is a righteous and jealous God. He _threatens to punish_ all
that transgress His commandments. When Adam and Eye transgressed God's
command, the threatened punishment came over them. _"In the day that
thou eatest thereof,"_ God had told Adam, _"thou shalt surely die."_
Gen. 2,17. _Death_ is the punishment of all sinners, not only death here
on earth, but _eternal death,_ that is, _eternal damnation._ That is the
sentence which God passed upon all that have sinned, that they should be
separated from Him in eternity, from Him in whom alone we find life and
true happiness.--It was the _devil_ that tempted Adam and Eve to sin.
They heard and obeyed his voice instead of the voice of their Father. He
became their Lord and master. _"He that committeth sin is of the
devil."_ 1 John 3,8. Because we have sinned, we are under the power of
the devil, we belong to his kingdom. Without Christ we are all lost and
condemned creatures, that is, _we are separated from God, our Father; we
are under God's judgment of damnation; we are under the powers of sin,
death, and the devil. They are our masters. "We were by nature the
children of wrath."_ Eph. 2,3.
4. I am a lost and condemned creature; I am in the power of sin, death,
and the devil. _Who can help me in this misery and redeem and save me?_
Surely not I myself. How could I deliver myself from these mighty
enemies? I have nothing with which I might atone for my sins or remove
God's wrath and curse. Neither can any other man help me, powerful and
wise though he may be. _All_ men are lost and condemned creatures, just
as helpless as I am. _There is only One who is able to help and redeem
us, Jesus Christ, our Lord._ He is the _God-man._ He could conquer these
fearful enemies, sin, death, and the devil. He is the _almighty God._ He
alone among men is without sin, and therefore not in the power of the
devil. He can redeem me, _and He has redeemed me._ In order to redeem
the world, the Son of God became man, humbled Himself, and suffered and
died. Thankfully I confess _that Christ has redeemed me, that He is my
Lord._
5. I confess that Christ, my Lord, has redeemed me. But not only me did
He redeem, but _all men,_ from Adam up to the last man that will be born
before the Day of Judgment. God loved the _world,_ all _mankind,_ and He
so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son to redeem and save
the world. All men are lost and condemned creatures, all are under God's
wrath and in the power of sin, and our Savior Himself said: _"The Son of
Man is come to save that which was lost."_ Matt. 18,11. John the Baptist
pointed to Him and said: _"Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the
sin of the world."_ John 1,29. _"He is the propitiation for our sins,
and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."_
1 John 2,2. Christ, my Lord, has redeemed all mankind, and therefore I
know that it is most certainly true: _He has redeemed also me._