On each Lord’s Day this year, we will display the 52 devotionals taken from the Heidelberg Catechism which are structured in the form of questions posed and answers given.
The Heidelberg Catechism was originally written in 1563. It originated in one of the few pockets of Calvinistic faith in the Lutheran and Catholic territories of Germany. Conceived originally as a teaching instrument to promote religious unity, the catechism soon became a guide for preaching as well.
Along with the Belgic Confession and the Canons of Dordt, it forms what is collectively referred to as the Three Forms of Unity.
The devotional for LORD’S DAY 32 is as follows. Please take note of the biblical references given in each answer. This morning’s devotional, like last week’s, addresses the subject of the believer’s gratitude to God for their salvation.
Q. What is involved in genuine repentance or conversion?
A. Two things: the dying-away of the old self, and the rising-to-life of the new.1
1 Romans 6:1-11; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 4:22-24; Colossians 3:5-10.
Q. What is the dying-away of the old self?
A. To be genuinely sorry for sin and more and more to hate and run away from it.1
1 Psalm 51:3-4, 17; Joel 2:12-13; Romans 8:12-13; 2 Corinthians 7:10.
Q. What is the rising-to-life of the new self?
A. Wholehearted joy in God through Christ1 and a love and delight to live according to the will of God by doing every kind of good work.2
1 Psalm 51:8, 12; Isaiah 57:15; Romans 5:1; 14:17; Romans 6:10-11; Galatians 2:20.
Q. What are good works?
A. Only those which are done out of true faith,1 conform to God’s law,2 and are done for God’s glory;3 and not those based on our own opinion or human tradition.4
1 John 15:5; Hebrews 11:6; 2 Leviticus 18:4; 1 Samuel 15:22; Ephesians 2:10.
3 1 Corinthians 10:31.
4 Deuteronomy 12:32; Isaiah 29:13; Ezekiel. 20:18-19; Matthew 15:7-9.
May God’s truth and grace reside here.
Soli deo Gloria!
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