Opening Up the Heidelberg Catechism: Our Only Comfort in Life and in Death

What is your only comfort in life and in death? For more than 450 years the Heidelberg Catechism (1563) has taught Christians to answer: “That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.” In this series of fifty-seven sermons preached in the evening services of Oceanside United Reformed Church from September 2016–May 2018, Dr. Daniel Hyde opens up the Catechism Lord’s Day by Lord’s Day, expounding a passage of Scripture alongside each set of questions and answers.

The series follows the Catechism’s own outline of the Christian life: how great my sin and misery are; how I am delivered from all my sins and misery; and how I am to thank God for such deliverance. From our guilt, through God’s grace in Jesus Christ—confessed in the Apostles’ Creed and signed and sealed in baptism and the Lord’s Supper—to our gratitude expressed in the Ten Commandments and the Lord’s Prayer, these sermons are an invitation to live and die in the joy of belonging to Jesus Christ. Whether you grew up reciting the Heidelberg Catechism or have never heard of it, begin with the first question—and make its answer your own.

The old city of Heidelberg with the Castle in the background and the Old Bridge over the Neckar River.

Part One—Introduction & Our Only Comfort (Sermons 1–4)

1. How Healthy Is Your Diet? (1 Timothy 1:1–11) — Introduction
2. Calvinism Is Not Our Comfort (1 Corinthians 1:10–2:2) — Lord's Day 1
3. What I Tell the Devil (Romans 8:31–39) — Lord's Day 1
4. Learning to Live and Die in Joy (Ephesians 2:1–10) — Lord's Day 1

Part Two — Our Sin and Misery (Sermons 5–8)

5. A Spiritual CAT Scan (Luke 18:18–30) — Lord's Day 2
6. From the Heights to the Depths (Genesis 1:26–27) — Lord's Day 3
7. Being Born Again (John 3:1–8) — Lord's Day 3
8. Questions of Justice (Nahum 1:1–14) — Lord's Day 4

Part Three — Our Deliverance: The Mediator and Faith (Sermons 9–12)

9. I Need Satisfaction (Romans 8:1–8) — Lord's Day 5
10. Who May Lay His Hand On Us Both? (Job 9:1–33) — Lord's Day 6
11. Jesus Is the Gospel (Romans 1:1–4) — Lord's Day 6
12. You Gotta Have Faith (John 3:16) — Lord's Day 7

Part Four — Our Deliverance: Apostles’ Creed and Justification (Sermons 13–31)

13. Why the Trinity Matters (Matthew 28:19) — Lord's Day 8
14. I Believe in God (Jeremiah 10:1–16) — Lord's Day 9
15. The Father Almighty (Ephesians 1:11) — Lord's Day 10
16. I Believe in Jesus (Mark 2:1–12) — Lord's Day 11
17. Christ and the Christian (Psalm 45:7) — Lord's Day 12
18. His Son, Our Lord (Hebrews 1:1–13) — Lord's Day 13
19. Conceived by the Spirit, Born of Mary (John 10:22–39) — Lord's Day 14

Part Five — Our Deliverance: The Means of Grace (Sermons 32–38)

Part Six — Our Gratitude: Good Works (Sermons 39–43)

Part Seven — Our Gratitude: Ten Commandments (Sermons 44–54)

Part Eight — Our Gratitude: Lord’s Prayer (Sermons 55–57)

Dr. Hyde has preached through the Heidelberg Catechism several times over the years — learn more about the Catechism and this series here.