It's wonderful. So, thanks. Thanks for leading us, guys. Welcome here. I see as Bryce, Pastor Bryce mentioned, there's lots of regulars, but there's also some of some visitors. Among the visitors are my sister and my youngest sister and her husband, my brother-in-law. They're here from Manitoba. And when I say my youngest sister, of course, I mean 11 years older than me. So, she's pretty good. Like, she she's she's pretty good. A few years into her childhood though, my parents thought, you know, she's pretty good, but I think we could do better.
So, the results speak for themselves. We looked we've been looking at mostly of these characters that we read about in Hebrews 11 interspersed with a few figures from church history which we'll look at today. Then we'll get back next week will be a bit of a standalone sermon and then after that we're going to get back into our series in Nehemiah which we will Lord willing finish by Christmas.
After Christmas we're going to begin a series through First and Second Thessalonians. We look forward to that. And then Lord willing a year from now after next summer in the fall of 2026 we plan to start a series through the book of Revelation. So we look forward that's the most requested sermon series that that I have had in 22 years here and we're going to get to it. And we trust that that that will encourage the hearts too.
Today we're going to look at my favorite figure from church history. I've done about 10 of these church history sermons over my years here and I've for whatever reason I've kept this fella till now. I just marvel at God's work through him. Four years before his death, Augustine, who that's not who we're looking at today, but I just want to tell the story. Augustine handed the the leadership duties of the church he was leading in Hippo, which is a the northern part of of Africa and the northern coast.
He handed those duties over to Araus. And at a ceremony to commemorate this transition of leadership, Heraclus was preaching and Augustine was sitting on the stage right behind him. And so overcome by his sense of unworthiness and the presence of Augustine, Araus said this, "The cricket chirps while the swan is silent." Well, today we're going to hear about another swan and also a goose. And if that doesn't make sense to you now, I hope by the end of the sermon it will.
Yan Hus is who we'll look at today. Yan Hus was born, let me give you a bit of his backstory before we get into some of the things we can learn from him from the scriptures. He was born in Bohemia, which is the westernmost region of the Czech Republic, around 1369. In 1393, he earned a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Prague. And then three years later, he earned his master's degree in 1396. And in 1400, he was ordained as a priest.
Shortly thereafter, he came in contact with the writings of John Wickliffe, and this became transformative in his life. John Wickliffe had passed away when Yon Hus was but a youth. But having read his writings, it set his heart ablaze with an understanding of the true biblical gospel. And so in 1402, as he was serving as the director of the University of Prague, he began to preach for the need of reformation in that city. And very shortly after that, he became the preacher at Bethlehem Chapel.
And Bethlehem means house of bread. And truly in that place, the bread of the gospel was nourishing the people as he preached there in Bethlehem Chapel. He preached for all the people. He was preaching to their hearts. They were eager to hear him. In fact, so eager were they to hear him that the place was overflowing. You think you're full here today, it was jammed. In fact, we often use the says the phrase, it's full to the rafters.
Well, literally there are records of people climbing up into the rafters so that they could hear Yon Hus preach. Unlike the Roman Catholic Church of that day that was requiring their their priests to preach in Latin, he chose to preach the gospel of Christ in the Czech language so that the people could hear the gospel in their native tongue and understand it. And so the people felt loved by him because they were loved by him. But his preach his his fierce preaching of the gospel put him squarely in the crosshairs of the Roman Catholic Church of that day.
By this point, John Wickliff's books and writings had been banned by the Roman Catholic Church. And the fact that Hus was reading them and quoting John Wickliffe regularly drew the eye of the pope and the archbishops. And so, Archbishop Zein commission was commissioned to excommunicate Yan Hus. It was at this point that Yon Hus went on to openly attack the Pope's sale of indulgences.
What are indulgences? If you're not familiar with that, the indulgences are what you would purchase from the Roman Catholic Church. You would pay money in order to have redemption and to have reconciliation, so they would say, or to redeem your dead loved one. Unless you think this is an old practice that doesn't happen anymore. There's a few of us that went to St. John's Newfoundland a few years ago. We were there at the big Roman Catholic Cathedral. We were touring through it and while we were there, there were people coming in doing confession and we could hear them physically putting coins in the coffers, paying indulgences while we were there.
So, this is a practice that still goes on. And at this time the pope was selling indulgences in an effort to increase their their capacity in their battle against Naples. And so Yon Hus spoke out and said this is wrong. This is not the biblical gospel. Well, when he did this, he lost the support of King Weslless. Yes, it's that King Weslless. He had previously been favorable to him, but now he was against him.
So at this point, Yon Hus fled back to Bohemia to his homeland where he would intensively study the scriptures. He would continue to read the writings of John Wickliffe and he began to write. Most of his major works were written in that period of exile while he was in Bohemia. Now, King Weslus had a brother named Sigisman. And Sigisman was the heir to the Bohemian throne. And he was very concerned about these tensions that were existing between his brother, King Wentless, and Yan Hus, and all how that was fracturing the kingdom.
And so he urged Yan Hus to attend a council that was going to take place in Prague, the Council of Constants. Yan Hus accepted that invitation partly because he wanted to end the tension but mostly so that he could go and preach the gospel freely in Prague. He wanted to return to do that. He had been promised by Sigusman that he would have safe travels to the council and during his time at the council and that would prove to be untrue.
He arrived in November of 1414 and quickly realized that this council was an inquisition into his life. If sufficient witnesses were brought forward and testify to the guilt of Yan Hust, he would be required to confess and recant or face life in prison or death. To show how vehemently opposed they were to Yon Hus, they postumously excommunicated John Wickliffe.
They dug up his remains, burned those remains, and cast them into the river. That was a signal to Yonhus that he was in trouble. So, the witnesses brought many accusations, many of them false. But one of the things they did do is they brought forth the writings of Yan Hus to show him here's what you wrote and they demanded him to recant. And this is what he said.
I have said that I would not for a chapel full of gold recede from the truth. I know that the truth stands and is mighty forever and abides eternally with whom there is no respect of persons. And then he would say, "What I taught with my lips, I now seal with my blood." He knew he was about to die. At this, they ripped a chalice out of his hand. You see, they would put a chalice in the hands of these men that were being accused in the hopes that they would recant.
And upon recanting, that they would immediately partake of the Roman Catholic mass. And because he wouldn't recant, they ripped the chalice out of his hand. And when they did so, he said to them, "I trust in the Lord God Almighty that he will not take away from me the cup of his redemption, but firmly hope to drink from it today in his kingdom." And so on this day, July 6th of 1415, he was led to the stake to be burned. And upon being led to the stake, he made two incredible statements.
He was given one more chance to recent as he was walking to the stake. And this is what he said. God is my witness that the evidence against me is false. I have never thought nor preached except with except with the one intention of winning men if possible from their sins. In the truth of the gospel I have written, taught and preached today. I will gladly die.
What a moment. And then because his name Hus in the Czech language actually literally is translated goose, he said this. Today you are burning a goose, but out of my ashes in a hundred years will be born a swan whom you cannot burn. 102 years later in 1517, Martin Luther nailed the 95 thesis to the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg and lit the Reformation ablaze.
What a moment. In fact, Martin Luther was an avid reader of the writings of John of Yon Hus and would say to his followers at that time, "We are all Hussites." This is but a brief thumbnail sketch an overview of his life but from it we can learn a few things because we've been looking at this series in Hebrews 11 and 12 and in Hebrews 12 there we read that we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses that spur us on as we examine their life and faith.
Certainly those witnesses we read about in scripture, but then also these many witnesses throughout church history who have lived faithfully and have died faithfully. We can glean much from them. And from the life of Yon Hus, we can glean this that faith requires standing alone at times. By the time Yon Hus emerged on the scene, as I mentioned, John Wickliffe had passed away. At that time in the Czech Republic, there was no other champions for the gospel. Yan Hus was standing by himself.
Now certainly many came to faith under his ministry and would form what we now know today as the Moravian church but in terms of championing the gospel in the midst of incredible pressure to back down he was standing by himself. Savonorola was ministering in Italy at the same time, but they didn't have email folks. They didn't have FaceTime. And not only that, they didn't speak the same language. So, communication would have been very difficult. There was no one to strengthen Yon Hus on this earth.
He was by himself in this battle. Can you imagine standing for the gospel against the machine that is the Roman Catholic Church in that era? That required enormous courage. CS Lewis was quoted in John MacArthur's sermon from the Screw Tape Letters. And this quote was given, "Courage is not simply one of one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality."
There's truth to that. We can say we have virtue all we want. The moment when we have the greatest pressure upon us will prove whether that virtue exists and courage is the bedrock beneath that. And we see that certainly in Yon Hus's life. Truly the one who stands for Christ will have opponents. Now we don't go looking for opponents. We the believer should live our life with a sense of the love of Christ and the kindness of our Lord, the grace of our Lord, the mercy of our Lord.
Absolutely. But we must stand for the gospel of Christ without compromise. We must stand for righteousness and holiness. And that will mean that we will have opponents. In second Timothy chapter 3, listen to what we read here. In verse 12, Paul is speaking to Timothy, who is clearly, if you read through the letter of both first and second Timothy, there's there's a timidity in Timothy. And so, he's trying to urge him to stand firm and to not be ashamed of the gospel and all that goes with that.
And he says here in verse 12, indeed all, notice he doesn't say some, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. He does not say might be. They will be. Those who desire zealously to follow Christ will face persecution. Now, of course, we want to do this in concert with one another, shoulderto-shoulder with fellow believers.
That is why the church exists. Ecclesia, the Greek word for church, literally means the gathered ones. Those people who would say, you know, I can be a Christian, but I don't need to go to church. That person is a fool. They are not being edified. They're not being built up in their faith. They're not being strengthened. The church is meant for God's glory and our good. We we need to gather together. But there may come a time when you have to stand for the Lord alone.
And what will matter? What will matter when we have to stand alone? And I would say to you, the fear of the Lord will matter most. Jesus said in the upper room in John chapter 15, "If they hated me, they will hate you." Again, we don't go looking for that. We're not looking for opponents. We're not looking for people to hate us. But when you are living for the gospel, you are being put in the crosshairs of a culture that hates Jesus, that is darkened.
So, these pressures will come. And so what are we going to need to fortify us in the moment of greatest testing? Matthew chapter 10 in verse 26. This is Jesus speaking as he's about to send out his disciples to go and minister and serve. And he's giving them some teaching here as he's sending them out. And in verse 26, he says this. So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.
What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. That's the crux of the matter. Will I fear man or will I fear God? You know, it's sometimes said, boy, the most wonderful testimony at a funeral is that this man had no enemies.
And while that does sound lovely, gospel living will mean that there are swaths of the world that will hate you if you are living out your faith. Again, we're not looking for that, but it's simply a reality of a righteous life without compromise. If you have no enemies, if you have zero opponents, you may have compromised. We see this throughout the scriptures.
Go back with me to Joshua 24. Peter read this for us earlier. And here is Joshua talking to the people there. They have come into the promised land. They came from a pagan worshshiping place. And now they've entered the promised land. They were supposed to drive out all of the evil pagan worshippers. Kill them all so that the people of God would be protected from faulty worship. And they didn't quite finish the job. But here is Joshua in verse 14 speaking to them, challenging them.
And I love what he says here. Therefore, fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the river and in Egypt and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. And listen to what he says here. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
Joshua says, you all can go and walk away that choose who you're going to serve. But I'm telling you this, I'm going to serve the Lord. I'm going to lead my family to serve the Lord. And Joshua is sending the signal he will do this on his own with his family even if no one else will. Go to Daniel book of Daniel chapter 6. If you remember the story, they were looking men who were jealous of Daniel, who did not want him to have ascended to the position that he was now in.
They wanted to trap him in some way, to get rid of him. And yet, he was living so above reproach, there was nothing that they could trap him with. And so they thought, we're going to have to get him in some way related to the worship of his God because he's so zealous in worshiping his God. That this is the only way we're going to be able to to to to get rid of him. And so they came to the king and they said, "Listen, we're going to establish, we need you to establish a law that says that no one can petition any god or any man for 30 days except for you."
And it's signed according to the law of the Mes and the Persians, which is irrevocable. And the king signs this document. Daniel hears about it. In fact, verse 10 of Daniel 6, when Daniel knew that the document had been signed, do you hear that? He knew it. He's aware of the document. He's aware of this new law. He knows what will potentially happen should he break the law. When he knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had his windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem.
He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he had done previously. Here's a man willing to stand alone, knowing he could be he could be killed for it. But so precious was his God to him. So so desiring of worship was he that he no matter what the pressure was even from the government, I will continue to serve my God. Go with me to second Timothy chapter 4.
Here we have Paul speaking and listen to what he says here in 2 Timothy 4 starting at verse 14. Al Alexander the copper smith did me great harm. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds. Beware of him yourself for he strongly opposed our message. At my first defense, no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them. But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it.
So I was rescued from the lion's mouth. An echo of Daniel here. And here he is saying, "Everyone deserted me, but the Lord, he did not desert me, and I stood firm." Go with me to Mark 14. The greatest example of standing alone for what is righteous, for what is holy, for what is the gospel, of course, is found in our Lord Jesus Christ in Mark 14.
Picking it up in verse 48, we read this. And Jesus said to them, "Have you come out against pardon?" Yeah. Have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs to capture me? Day after day, I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But let the scriptures be fulfilled. And they all left him and fled. And a young man followed him with nothing but a linen cloth about his body. And they seized him and he left the linen cloth and ran away naked.
Here he is now. Everyone has fled from him. And now drop down to verse 60 of that same chapter. The high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, "Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?" But he remained silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, "Are you the Christ, the son of the blessed?" And Jesus said,"I am, and you will see the son of man seated at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven."
And the high priest tore his garments and said, "What further witnesses do we need?" And from here Jesus would go on to be crucified. He suffered and bled and died atoning for the sin of his people. And he did that alone. But this was in order to accomplish the will of God the father in dealing with the sins of his people. And so enslaved was he to the will of God that he was going to do this fully God, fully man, glorifying his father for the good of all those who would believe in him alone.
This is what he did in mystead and in yourstead. So when the pressure comes in the crucible, what will be your response? Will we stand for Christ even if it means standing alone? That could be with your family. Maybe you are the only Christian in your family. And your family speaks ill of you. They make it very difficult for you.
Every family interaction is hard. Well, you stand for Christ in that moment. Maybe it's in your workplace. Perhaps you are the only believer where you work and the pressure to capitulate is very real. The pressure to succumb to the various dark forces around you at the workplace is in your face every single day. Will you stand for Christ? Even if that might mean losing your job.
Perhaps it's in the locker room. We are here in Canada and we have become very aware in the last few years of the horrible goings on in hockey locker rooms. Maybe you're a hockey player and you are the only believer in that room. Are you willing to stand for Christ against the various things that are being said and joked about in that room? Maybe it's at school.
All of our students are heading back this week, whether it be to grade school or to university or college. And it very well could be that you are alone as a believer in your classroom, whether it be in your grade or first year university or whatever it may be, and all kinds of various things are being taught both explicitly and implicitly. Will you stand for righteousness? Will you stand for the glory of God in the face of enormous pressure to bow the knee?
And on and on and on it goes. Where whatever the situation may be, I trust that God will grant you strength to endure and stand firm. He alone is worthy. We sang today. Did we just sing it or do we believe that he alone is worthy and that should be all that we need to brace us and fortify us with the knowledge that he will hold us fast as the song says that we're going to sing later.
Now notice it's not just standing alone that we saw in Yon Hass's life. There was one other important thing and that is the passing of the torch. Yan Hus was directly impacted by the ministry of John Wickliffe. Martin Luther of course was struck by the ministry of Yon Hus. It went down the generational line like a chain link by link by link. And the point there is not to say I want to make a disciple of me. No, no, no. We want to make disciples of Christ. I trust that whenever the time comes that I'm done at this church, whether that's tomorrow or 20 years from now, that you would not say, "I'm a disciple of Matt because if you are, I have failed."
But rather that I am a disciple of Christ and Matt showed me Christ. That's what the way it should be for all of us that we would be. That's the kind of disciplemakers we are to be. You think about that shoe cobbler whose name we don't know. Who passed the faith on to Dwight Lyman Moody who then passed the faith on to countless people among whom are William J. Miller who then passed the faith on to Herbert W. Peeler and together they started a Bible college called Miller College of the Bible which has served to encourage and strengthen thousands over the years.
This is just one of many, many examples of passing the faith from generation to generation to generation. This is biblical. Deuteronomy chapter 6. Listen to what we read here. This chapter, this section is often referred to as the shama. Here, O Israel. But starting just before the shama begins in verse one, we read this. Now, this is the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over to possess it, that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son, and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. Do you see that there?
You, your son, your son's son. In other words, this is to be passed down. In fact, as we go on then to verses 4 through 7, listen to what we read here. O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today should be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children. And shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
So fittingly, we have a child dedication today and we are asking mom and dad to teach their children the ways of the Lord just as God commanded us to do. And we as a church fittingly were encouraged to come alongside that we too would help them in the teaching of the gospel to their children and their children's children etc etc etc. This is not merely here in Deuteronomy though we see this throughout the scriptures. 2 Timothy 2 verse 2.
I'm sure our men's ministry leader, Ron Legowski probably knows this verse off by heart. I I would imagine. I'm not going to pin him on that, but I'm sure he does. In 2 Timothy 2:2, it says, "What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also." So take this message of the gospel, entrust it to these men who then will teach other men who then will teach other men who then will teach other men.
This is how it is meant to work. We see this again throughout the scriptures. This is a pattern that is everywhere in the Bible. In Deuteronomy 34 and verse 9, we read this. Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom for Moses had laid his hands on him. So the people of Israel obeyed him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses. If you go back to Numbers, you can see how God had said to Moses, "Take Joshua, prepare him, equip him, make him ready.
He is going to be the successor." And now Moses has died. And Joshua was ready. He had been equipped and discipled such that now it had been passed down to him and he was going to pass it down to the next generation. Second Timothy, we read it in I'm flipping back and forth here, but in second Timothy, we read about Timothy with his mother and his grandmother. By the way, grandma, you have an important role to play.
Don't think that just because you're a grandma, you don't have any ministry anymore. That's not true. You have a tremendous ministry. Second Timothy 1 vers5 says this, "I am reminded of your sincere faith." So, he's talking to Timothy here. I'm reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Ununice. And now, I am sure dwells in you as well. So grandma passed it down to her daughter and they pass it down to the son and it's going down the chain.
And if you go on further actually in second Timothy in chapter 3 in verses 14 and 15 we read this. But as for you, Paul's speaking to Timothy now again, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. From childhood, Timothy was taught the scriptures from his grandmother and from his mother.
And now he was firm in his faith. Passing the torch is a big deal. In fact, in the great commission, what did what do we read? Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. That's Matthew 28. This is Jesus last words before he ascends. Go make disciples in your home, in your community, in your workplace, wherever you are. Go with the gospel and make disciples.
Pass the torch of faith on to the next generation. Friends, this is why the gospel of Jesus will continue to advance. It's why the church will never fail. The church will never cease to exist. It's funny. You see things on networks like MSNBC or CNN about how the church is in decline. To which I say, hogwash. Is the United Church in decline? Yes, because they don't preach the gospel. Is the Roman Catholic Church in decline? Yes, because they don't preach the true gospel.
But the churches where the gospel is preached, those churches are not in decline and they will never be in decline. Matthew chapter 16, listen to what Jesus says here in verse 18. So he's talking to Peter and he says, "I tell you, you are Peter and on this rock I will." Notice that Jesus doesn't say, "I might or I hope to." I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
We know that Mark Carney, our prime minister, is no friend of the gospel. He's no friend of the church. But if he was if he were to outlaw Christianity, the church would continue to flourish. Why? Because it is passed down generation to generation, person to person, word of mouth by word of mouth. Here is the gospel and the church will continue to advance because that will always happen until the Lord returns. This is the truth of the scriptures. Throughout the ages, people have told the old old story of Jesus and his love.
And throughout the ages to come, people will tell the old old story of Jesus and his love. May we here at Gateway Bible Church be among those who pass the torch of the gospel to the next generation with courage and with trust. And may God be pleased to keep the swans singing his great song until he returns. So, Father, I pray that you would help us to sing the song of the gospel without being silenced.
With courage, with faithfulness, and we pray that among us, you would be glorified here that we would be eager to pass to the next generation and to the generation after that and so forth and so on the good news of the hope that we have in Jesus Christ. Lord, I pray that you help us to stand firm and strong. Help us to have courage, we pray. And if we need to stand alone in a moment when no one else is around us to support us, may we never compromise.
May we understand what our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has done for us. And may we understand his worth and worthiness such that we continue to press on for the glory of God. We thank you that by your spirit you strengthen the believer and you continue to hold us fast. May we be a people with grateful thanks in our hearts for that. We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.
Transcribed automatically from YouTube captions, so names and words may be misheard.
