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.
REMEMBER:—
1. Through His sufferings and death, Christ has become my Lord, and therefore I am His own. I am living in His kingdom, under Him, my King, being delivered from the hands of all my enemies. He cares for me and protects me.
2. In His kingdom I am serving my King in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, which He bestows on me. For my Lord's sake God forgives me all my sins and accepts my poor sinful service.
3. Our Lord's kingdom is a twofold kingdom, the Kingdom of Grace here on earth, in which our King reigns with His grace, with forgiveness of sins, and the Kingdom of Glory in heaven, in which we shall reign with our King, freed from all evil, in His glory forever and ever.