Brick making in 1998, near Dolvi, Maharashtra, India, done the same way for thousands of years. These gypsies will make bricks and then sell them, all work by hand. Then trucks arrive to haul the bricks to the market.

August 19, 2026 / 0 comments

Vespers – Heidelberg Catechism – How to Live in this Comfort?

What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin.

  • Romans 3:9

Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

  • John 17:3

In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

  • Matthew 5:16

“Q. What do you need to know in order to live and die in the joy of this comfort?

First, how great my sins and misery are; second, how I am delivered from all my sins and misery; third, how I am to be thankful to God for such deliverance.

  • Rom 3:9, 10; 1 Jn 1:10.
  • Jn 17:3; Acts 4:12; 10:43.
  • Mt 5:16; Rom 6:13; Eph 5:8-10; 1 Pet 2:9, 10”
  • Heidelberg Catechism, Question 2

The Message

I only provided a few of the Scriptures, but the Bible references are provided, if you care to look them up.

I do not like the wording of this question.  The question makes it sound like we can know something to obtain some spiritual knowledge.

We must be born-again.  Once born-again, the Holy Spirit will indwell us.  The Holy Spirit will guide and direct us to this knowledge.

But as for the answer, all three parts of the answer come from the Holy Spirit.

First, we are convicted of our sins.  This can manifest itself as intellectual knowledge, but it is the spiritual presence of the Holy Spirit that allows us to see our sin for what it is.

When this is only an intellectual exercise, you could have someone say that if they ever did anything wrong, they meant no harm and if harm was done, it was the other person’s fault.  Before you get upset, I have heard this said.

Someone else could intellectually say that they were a good person and they never harmed another person.  If this were true, there are thousands, possibly millions of sins where no one was physically harmed but they coveted one thing, called people harsh names but not to their face, and they never recognized God as being God.

You must be convicted of your sins to be made low.  You need to know in a spiritual sense how far you have fallen.

Then, once convicted of the sins and the weight of those sins, through an acceptance of, or surrender to, God, we realize that Jesus paid that price and we owe Him everything, not just the tithe.  We repay in many ways, but being grateful is a great first step.

While I have heartburn over this question, and not the answer, it may have been lost in translation from the German language of the 1500s to the present day English.

And now let us sing.

Here is Amazing Grace sung by Peter Hollens with Home Free.

 

Closing Prayer

Dear Lord,
We believe in You.  We must stand humbly before You.  We cannot do that with earthly intellectual knowledge.  You must convict us of our sins to remove all traces of our pride and arrogance.  We are not worthy, but Christ died for our sins.  We believe and trust that Jesus is working on our behalf and His sacrifice saved us from our sins.  Lord, we owe every breath that we take from now on to You.  Please help us focus on Your plan for our lives.  Give us the strength to serve You.  And praise Your Name for everything.  Praise Your Holy Name.
In Thy name we pray,
Amen

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.

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