Lessons in the Small Catechism of Dr. Martin Luther For the Senior Department of Lutheran Sunday-Schools and for General Use · George Mezger
LESSON 22.
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._ 1. _Without Christ, my Lord, I am a lost and condemned creature. I am without God and hope in this world, separated from God and under the sentence of damnation._ 2. _By nature I am in the power of sin, death, and the devil. I belong to Satan's kingdom. Sin, death, and the devil were my masters._
3. _In this dreadful distress no man was able to help me. Only Christ could redeem me, for He is the God-man; and He has redeemed me and all the world._ _He that committeth sin is of the devil._ 1 John 3,8. _The Son of Man is come to save that which was lost._ Matt. 18,11. _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.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.