The Second Article.
My Lord Has Won Me That I May Be His Own.
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 won me, that I may be
His own, and live under Him in His kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting
righteousness, innocence, and blessedness._
1. Christ, my Lord, has redeemed and purchased me, and we add: _He has
won me._ He has won me after a hard fight with sin, death, and the
devil. In the first prophecy of the promised Messiah, God said to the
serpent, to Satan: _"I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and
between thy seed and her Seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt
bruise His heel."_ Gen. 3,15. This prophecy has been fulfilled in the
coming of Christ, our Lord. He is the _Seed of the woman._ The serpent,
Satan, indeed, bruised His heel. Christ had to suffer and die for us.
But through His death on the cross our Lord has gained the victory He
has bruised the serpent's head and destroyed his works. He has delivered
us out of the hand of our enemies. Sin, death, and the devil no longer
have any power over us. Christ has won us for Himself. _He has become my
Lord. I now am His own,_ I belong to Him, to Him alone, who has bought
me and won me. _Christ has won me in order that He may be my Lord and I
His own._
2. Christ, my Lord, has won me that I may _live in His kingdom._ Without
Christ we are all in Satan's kingdom, living under him. He is our evil
master, who rules over us But Christ has delivered us out of the hand of
our enemies that we should live in His kingdom.--_Our Lord has a
kingdom here on earth._ For the purpose of founding this His kingdom, He
came into the world and humbled Himself, and suffered and died for us.
Our Lord, truly, is a King. He Himself told us so. When Pontius Pilate
asked Him, _"Art Thou a king, then?"_ He answered: _"Thou sayest that I
am a King."_ To His kingdom all those belong who believe and trust in
Him and accept Him as their Lord and King. For this purpose my Lord
redeemed and won me, that I, too, may belong to His kingdom and live
under Him.
3. The kingdom of our Lord and King is a _most glorious kingdom._ The
Lord Himself reigns and rules in His kingdom with His grace and love. In
His kingdom we live _under Him._ He rules and governs my whole life.
Under His rule and care I shall not want. I live under Him, under His
protection. He protects me from the temptations of sin, the godless
world, and the devil. My Lord and King is always with me. Under His care
and protection I am _safe;_ for my King is _the almighty God, whom
nothing can withstand._ All power is given unto Him in heaven and in
earth. Matt. 28,18. _This kingdom of our Lord we call the Kingdom of
Grace;_ for with grace and love our King governs all who accept Him
as their Lord and King.
4. For this purpose Christ has redeemed and won me, that I may be His
own and live under Him in His kingdom and _serve Him,_ who has become my
Lord. Before Christ became our Lord, we had other masters. We served our
enemies, sin and the devil. We could not but serve them, and we served
them willingly, even joyfully. How miserable to be a servant of Satan
and sin, to do their will, to obey them! _The wages of sin is death,_
eternal, death and damnation. Our Lord has delivered us from sin and
Satan, He has won us as His own. _"That we, delivered out of the hand of
our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness
before Him, all the days of our life."_ Luke 1, 74.75. We live in the
kingdom of our Lord under His care; we need not fear our enemies if we
do not serve them. We serve Him who has delivered us. In His kingdom our
Lord gives us strength to serve Him by living according to His
commandments, by doing His good and gracious will. To serve this Lord is
a _noble_ service. Can there be a nobler service than to serve God, the
highest Lord, to serve the highest King, who has bought and won us out
of the hands of our enemies, of sin and Satan? _Gladly_ and _joyfully_
will we serve Him, our Savior and our Lord.
5. We serve our Lord _in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and
blessedness._ The kingdom of our Lord is, indeed, a glorious kingdom. In
His kingdom we serve Him in _righteousness._ We are not righteous in
ourselves, but our Lord has gained a perfect righteousness for us. He
has fulfilled the Law in our stead. Clothed in Christ's blood and
righteousness, we serve our Lord, and therefore our poor service is
_well-pleasing_ to God.--We serve our Lord in _innocence._ We are free
from the guilt of our sins. Sad to say, we daily sin in the service of
our Lord, we deserve nothing but punishment; but God forgives us our
sins_ daily and richly for Christ's sake, and so we are _innocent_ in
His sight. In holiness and righteousness we will serve Him all the days
of our life.--We serve Him in _blessedness._ It is blessedness to
serve this our Lord. He blesses His servants with all His rich gifts. He
blesses them here on earth and leads them to eternal blessedness in
heaven. It is _everlasting righteousness and innocence and blessedness
that our Lord gives us. He leads His servants to _His kingdom in
heaven._ Here in this world His kingdom is a _Kingdom of Grace;_ in
heaven it is the _Kingdom of Glory. "The Lord shall deliver me from
every evil work, and will preserve me unto His heavenly kingdom; to whom
be glory forever and ever! Amen."_ 2 Tim. 4,18.