I'd like to read from Ephesians chapter 1, the first six verses. Ephesians 1, we'll read the first six verses. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved." This evening, our pastor, our own pastor and minister in our church here, Reverend Geigelar, will provide the presentation He was born and raised in southwestern Ontario, Canada and grew up on a dairy farm. He attended the University of Western Ontario and Calvin College before attending the Protestant Forum Theological School in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Reverend Geigler was ordained into the ministry in 2013. After the speech, there will be We'll sing a couple of numbers and there will be a time for you to ask questions and fill out a sheet of paper. If you have questions and someone will be collecting that, that announcement will be made later on. Pastor Guy Clark. Well, the reason I wanted that Psalter number sung and the reason I wanted that scripture passage read this evening. was because both the Psalter number and the Scripture passage emphasize the truth of election, sovereign predestination. That is a truth that is rare today. It's a truth that John Hus discovered 100 years before the Reformation. It was ultimately the truth that would bring about his martyrdom, as well as the truth the inspiration and the Scriptures as the only authority for doctrine in life. I want to begin this evening by giving you a few quotations. I want you to listen to these quotations. And I want you in your mind to guess who said these quotations. They were both said by the same man. The first was said to a friend or written to a friend. And the second was written to the Pope. The first quotation goes like this, Shamelessly, unawares, I both taught and held all the teachings of John Huss. In short, we were Hussites without knowing it. And the second quotation to the Pope says this, I was wrong. I retract the statement that certain articles of John Huss are evangelical. To your face, most holy vicar of God, I say freely that all the condemned articles of John Huss are evangelical and Christian, and yours are downright impious and diabolical." And here's a third quotation from the same man. that my name were worthy to be associated with such a name as John Hus." Who do you think said those words? It was none other than Martin Luther. Martin Luther said, in short, I was a Hussite without even knowing it. Well, we in the Reformed community know today affectionately as Reformation Day. On this day, October 31, 1517, almost 500 years ago, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the door of the castle church in Wittenberg. The nailing of those 95 theses is commonly seen as the beginning of the great Protestant Reformation. When we talk about the Protestant Reformation, we hear a lot about Martin Luther. and John Calvin, and rightly so. We hear about John Knox and Martin Busser. Yet, we should not think that the Reformation happened as a kind of random event. When Luther nailed his 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, there were, in fact, many who were complaining about the moral corruption and the bankruptcy in the Roman Catholic Church. And even before Martin Luther's time, there were a few who were not only upset about the immorality, the gross corruption in the church, but who also had doctrinal grievances against the Roman church. These were men who understood that the key doctrine was not, first of all, practice, but doctrine. They understood that the great wickedness that existed in the church at that time existed because the teachings of the Scriptures had been corrupted and compromised. These men, godly men who lived before the Reformation, we can call them pre-reformers or forerunners of the Reformation. They paved the way for the Reformation. not just by complaining about how people were living, but complaining about the false doctrines that the church was teaching. John Wycliffe was one of those pre-reformers. We will hear his name tonight. And John Hus was another. God would use these men, as well as others, to prepare the way for the Reformation and to encourage men like Martin Luther to stand up for the truth. Our focus this evening is on John Hus. who was born all the way back in 1369 and who was burnt at the stake and died a martyr's death in 1415. When John Huss died, there would still be over a hundred years, 102 years before the Protestant Reformation would take shape. In tonight's speech, I wanted to focus on three main things. First, I want us to look generally at the life and the times of John Huss, focusing on the person of John Huss. Second, I want to look briefly at two doctrinal positions that John Huss maintained. And then third, I want to look at the significance of John Huss for the Reformation and for today. John Huss was born in Huseynik, Bohemia, around 1369. Bohemia is the main part of the Czech Republic today. John Hus was born into a peasant family into very humble and poor circumstances. But before we take a look at the life of John Hus, let us get an idea of what was taking place in the world at this time. Back in 1369, you can imagine the Roman Catholic Church stood at the very center of almost everyone's life in Europe. Practically everything revolved around the Roman Catholic Church. If you were not part of the Roman Catholic Church, you would have been branded as a heretic and your very life would have been in danger. Because the Roman Catholic Church was at the center of nearly everyone's life in Europe, the Roman Catholic Church held a lot of power. In 1369, in the area in which John Hus was born and raised, and really throughout all of Europe, it is said that the Roman Catholic Church owned about one-third of the entire land. Imagine if the Roman Catholic Church owned one-third of the United States. That would make the Roman Catholic Church a very powerful and rich church. Well, in John Huss's day, it was. That kind of power and that kind of money ended up making the Roman Catholic Church very wicked and godless. Everything was about the money. Everyone wanted to get their hands on their share of the money. What would happen in the church was this. Roman Catholic priests would bribe the Pope with lots of money in order to become priests over rich churches and over rich areas of land. The richer the church, the greater the bribe had to be. What the Pope was doing, what everyone was doing was this. Selling the offices of the church to the highest bidder. But then those priests who purchased their office, in turn, who had the oversight of a certain area of the land, would tax the people on their land with very high taxes. That way, the priests themselves became rich. That was the point. And then what the priests would do was this. They would hire someone else to actually carry out the work of being a priest for them and to care for the people. And many priests didn't even bother doing that. And then the priest would also tell the people in their land if the people had any money left over, they could give the priest more money. And then the priest would pay for them and forgive their sins so that they would spend less time burning in purgatory. And then the priest would also appoint their own family members and their own friends to church offices so that their family and friends could become rich as well. Listen to this quotation from one of the books I read. I quote, Money, money, money. That was all the clerical leaders could be interested in. Everything had to be paid for. Baptism, marriage rites, confession, extreme unction, the funeral, and even afterwards. A certain individual complained that it seemed to him that paradise was locked for those who did not have money. This was, in fact, true. Salvation itself cost money." Needless to say, the result was utter corruption in the church. Many of the priests didn't even know how to read. And with all their free time and with all their money, what did they do? They ran their own businesses. What kind of businesses? Bars, whorehouses, gambling rooms. Most of the priests had a mistress or a concubine. And the priests would even brag to each other about their various exploits. Listen to this quotation. A certain bishop even boasted during a public dinner that he had, in the course of the preceding 22 months, begotten 14 children." He had begotten 14 children in the last 22 months, bragging about it. Yes, so corrupt was the church, so political, so greedy and so carnal, that in 1378, when John Huss was only around nine years old, there were two men claiming to be pope. because of all the riches of being pope. And at the end of John Huss' life when he was burnt at the stake, there were three men claiming to be pope. That's how corrupt and political everything was. Everything was motivated by money and power. That was the state of the church during the life of John Huss. And I might add, just as a side note, what was the preaching like? Well, there was very little in the way of preaching. No doctrine. No catechism instruction. The church didn't want that. The Scriptures weren't to be read and the preaching was boring. It was boring because the preachers didn't know anything. And instead, the church gave skits and theatrical presentations and they welcomed guest speakers to give their own slideshows. That's how it was, as it were, in that day. giving skits and giving theatrical presentations and speeches instead of the preaching. That's not contemporary worship. We should not call that contemporary worship. That was the kind of worship that was being practiced in the dark ages by the corrupt, the wicked, the greedy, and the unlearned men of the Roman Catholic Church. But as we will see, John Hus would change things. Because when John Hus became a priest, How often did he preach? And how often did the people come to church to listen to his preaching? That's right, twice every Sunday, except on special occasions. Mind you, this was all before the Reformation even began. Our tradition of preaching, of having the preaching twice each Sunday, was the practice of godly and upright Christians long before the Protestant Reformation. Well, this was the state of affairs during the life of John Hus. And remember, John Hus was born into a peasant's family. He was born into a family that saw the riches of the Roman Catholic Church and who themselves were being heavily taxed by the church. And he was born into a class of people that were growing more and more upset with the Roman Church and who were beginning a reform movement of their own. The people really began to hate and despise the wicked priests and the heavy taxes in the priests' openly despicable lives. And this kind of reform movement would grow and grow until when John Huss grew up, he would find himself to be at the head of such a reform movement. That's the times in which John Huss lived. Let's look at the life of John Huss. We do not know much about the childhood or the youth of John Huss. The suggestion is made that John Huss's parents encouraged him to seek out the priesthood in order to advance his earthly lot in life, in order to get out of poverty. And it seemed that John Huss in his younger days was not motivated to seek office in the church through pure motives, but only to better his living circumstances and be delivered from poverty. But John Huss was a gifted and a diligent and a hardworking individual. Around 1390, when Hus is about 20 years old, Hus goes to the University of Prague. He studies to be a priest. In 1393, John Hus earns his Bachelor of Arts. In the next year, he earns his Bachelor of Theology. At this point in his life, there is no real evidence that John Hus is a converted child of God. This is not to say that John Hus was a wicked man or that he wasn't a converted child of God. He did live a generally upright life, but as I said, his motives for studying and seeking the priesthood at this time only seemed to be earthly considerations. In 1396, Huss earned his master's degree, and two years later, he began to lecture at the University of Prague. John Huss proves himself to be a very popular lecturer. He's down to earth, he knows the common people, and he's very approachable by his students. And it appears that at this point in his life, Hus begins to start reading the writings of John Wycliffe. And in fact, he starts immersing himself in the writings of John Wycliffe. His friend, Jerome of Prague, went to Oxford and he brought back the writings of Wycliffe, and John starts to study them. In 1401, John Hus is ordained into the priesthood. In 1402, John Hus is appointed to the rectorship of the university. In 1402, John Huss also begins preaching at the Bethlehem Chapel. The Bethlehem Chapel was the church in Prague where there was a rare thing that was taking place. The preaching was being done in the native language of the Czechs. And Huss proved himself to be a very popular preacher, preaching in the ordinary language of the people so that the people understood. And many of the people were hungry for a true preaching. The Roman Catholic Church did not like what it saw. And it's now at this point in Hus' life that we see clear evidence that John Hus has a true love for the Scriptures, for the Gospel, and for Jesus Christ. In his preaching, his love for the Gospel comes out. That's why John Hus took the call to preach at Bethlehem Chapel. He saw the need for the people to understand the Scriptures clearly. John Hus is not motivated by money any longer. He is motivated by a love for Christ. John Hus wants to preach because he knows that the preaching is the power of God unto salvation. And as a result of his lively preaching and God's blessing, that Bethlehem Chapel became the second biggest church in the capital city of Bohemia in Prague. When you look at the situation of John Hus at this time, you see the kind of significance he's beginning to have in the city. He's a very popular preacher, preaching the gospel truths. He's a very popular lecturer at the university. He is even the rector, you might say the leader, at the University of Prague. And now as there is a reform movement that has been taking place throughout John Huss' life and even earlier, as he's growing up, now John Huss finds himself at the head of that reform movement. But it's exactly at this time in his life, when it seems everything is going well, that the events in his life begin quickly to change for the worse. Around 1402 to 1405, circumstances change. At this point in Hus' life, the details become somewhat complicated and they become very political. I will give you only the broad strokes. There are two main events that take place that quickly shape how John Hus is going to die. First, there was a push in the theological school in Prague to ban all the writings of John Wycliffe from being read or taught. You see, the Roman Catholic Church had already banned the writings of John Wycliffe as being heretical, but now there was a backlash against the writings of John Wycliffe at the University of Prague itself. And that was no doubt due to the fact that John Hus was reading John Wycliffe and was starting to teach what Wycliffe had taught and starting to defend it and even preach what Wycliffe had taught. Well, who was John Wycliffe? Well, John Wycliffe was, you might say, the generation before John Hus who lived in England. He lived from 1320 to 1384. He was a pre-reformer and he taught at the Oxford University in England. And he wrote numerous things. Well, one of the things that Wycliffe taught was this. The church of Jesus Christ, the true church, is made up of the elect people of God. Those whom God Himself has chosen in sovereign, particular, irresistible grace from all eternity to be His children Those are the ones whom God has chosen to be His own to save. Christ is the head of the church and all those whom God has elected in Christ make up that church. Wycliffe emphasized sovereign predestination. It is the grace of God alone that is determinative in salvation, not the choice or the decision or the so-called free will of man. Man does not have a free will by nature. He lost it in the fall. But man is in bondage to sin. It's only through the grace of God shown in Jesus Christ, and it's only through the gift of faith worked by the Holy Spirit that a man is delivered from his sins, even despite his own enmity and his own hatred against God. Wycliffe emphasized this beautiful truth, just as the Apostle Paul had emphasized, just as St. Augustine had emphasized, just as Godshock of Orbay had emphasized in the Middle Ages and was persecuted for it, and just as Wycliffe's own teacher at Oxford had emphasized, Thomas Bradwardine. Well, the Roman Catholic Church hated this teaching. And it still does today. Because the Roman Catholic Church wants people to believe that simply by being a member in the Roman Catholic Church is what saves you. The Roman Catholic Church essentially wants you to believe that it's the Roman Catholic Church that saves you. And you can really save yourself by being a member in good standing in the Roman Catholic Church. But that's not true at all. It's only the free gift of grace The free gift of faith given to God's elect in Jesus Christ, given to those whom God desires to give it to, that saves. But with Wycliffe's teachings becoming more and more popular, and his books going from Oxford to Prague, the theological faculty at Prague decided in 1403 that the writings of Wycliffe should be banned. No longer must they be read or taught. Well, John Huss protested this. He defended Wycliffe's teachings, but to no avail. And what John Huss did next really set the course for the rest of his life, changed the rest of his life. What did John Huss do? As a true servant of God, John Huss said to himself, What is scriptural needs to be preached. The people need to hear the truth. And we ought to obey God rather than men. So in 1404 and 1405, John Huss started preaching on and focusing on the doctrine of the church. He started preaching that the church is the company of the elect, the company of the predestinated, And the people loved him for it because it was that truth that gave them the comfort and assurance of salvation. But the Roman Catholic Church hated Hus for it. Alongside this preaching, Hus also preached very strongly against the moral corruptions of the clergy. The clergy were horribly wicked, as we have seen. Hus himself showed himself to be a morally upright man. No one could lay anything against his charge, to his charge. John Huss preached that the church needed to be holy. Well, then the attacks came. In 1407, Huss was prohibited from preaching against the corruptions of the clergy. And soon enough, in 1410, Huss's church, the Bethlehem Chapel, was forced to close down, at least for a time. All the books and the tracts of the Wycliffe had to be handed in to the church so that they could burn them. And two days after that happened, The Roman Catholic Church in Prague excommunicated Hus. That was the first main thing that shaped John Hus' life. John Hus ignored this excommunication and soon the Pope himself excommunicated Hus. The people loved him for preaching the truth, but the church hierarchy hated him. He became labeled as a heretic and the church needed to get rid of him. John Hus would live only five more years. The second main thing that shaped the life of John Hus was this. In 1412, the king of Bohemia and the pope worked out a deal with each other. You see, the king of Bohemia wanted his physician, he wanted his doctor to become a cardinal, to have a high office in the church. But that appointment needed to be confirmed by the pope. And so what the pope said to the king was this, your doctor, your physician can become a cardinal if you allow me to sell indulgences in your land, because I need more money to fight against this other pope and the people of France who are defending this other pope. Well, the king agreed to that. You can understand that John Hus, a godly man, could not allow these things to take place in his beloved country. From off the pulpit at Bethlehem Chapel, the excommunicated Hus began preaching to the people that indulgences were wrong. No way can a little piece of paper, that's what indulgence is, no way can a little piece of paper tell you that because you paid the church so much money, so many of your sins are forgiven, and so many years, of purgatory are cancelled from your sentence, you might say. Well, here we can see that John Huss was truly a pre-reformer. Because over a hundred years before Martin Luther was nailing that poster of 95 feces to the castle church door in Wittenberg, John Huss was nailing posters on doors in Prague challenging anyone to debate him on the issue of indulgences. And that's exactly why Martin Luther had nailed those 95 theses on the door in Wittenberg. Well, debate did take place over indulgences. And in the course of that debate, chaos ensued. The crowd of people marched throughout the town, declaring that indulgences were wrong. And at the center of the town square, in a great chaotic event, the people took a copy of the papal bull on indulgences and burnt it. Of course, the king, who wanted his physician to be a cardinal, could not tolerate such actions and such unrest in his city. He issued a decree that anyone opposed to the selling of indulgences should be put to death. Well, the rulers that were in power made the decision that this man, John Huss, and this reform movement in Bohemia had to be put down. Soon enough, the ban was placed on John Huss. What's the ban? Well, here I quote from someone. The ban involved the following, amongst others, that everyone had to avoid contact with the cursed individual. that they could not offer him food or drink, that he could not be offered sanctuary. Each church visited by him would be regarded as being unconsecrated for three days and he could not be buried in consecrated ground. Furthermore, a reward was offered to anyone delivering the heretic, dead or alive. John Hus was a wanted man, dead or alive. Because of this ban, Don Hus went into exile. He didn't want to go into exile, but his friends and his church said that it would be best for both of them if he went into exile. So from 1412 to 1414, he goes into exile, hiding in castles, just as Martin Luther would do a hundred years later, hiding in castles. And what did Don Hus do while he hid in those castles? He worked on a translation of the Scriptures. just as Martin Luther would do when he was hiding in castles. And John Huss also wrote his most important work on the church. Well, in the year 1414, the Roman Catholic Church summoned a council in Constance, Germany. This council, this gathering of Roman clergy officials would be one of the most significant councils in history. This council had to deal with three important matters. First, how are we going to deal with the fact that there are three men claiming to be Pope, making a mockery of the entire Roman Catholic hierarchy and system? Second, how are we going to deal with the gross immorality that everyone can see in the church? And third, how are we going to take care of this so-called heretic, take action against this heretic John Hus. Well, John Hus, although he was deemed as a heretic, was invited to this council. And John Hus went. He went really for two reasons. Because he thought he needed to stand up for the truth that he believed in. And to give a witness so that all might see and so that the godly and the true Christians might see that Hus was willing to stand for the truth and suffer for the truth. Not that John Hus wanted to make himself a martyr, but that he wanted to stand for the truth. And that's clear that he didn't want to be a martyr because of the second reason he went. He went because the king, King Sigismund, the king of the Holy Roman Empire, promised Hus a safe journey to the council and a safe journey back home from the council. Well, that promise was broken. The fact is, John Hus would never make it back home from that council. He would be taken to his heavenly home in glory. John Hus went to this council in 1414. But soon after his arrival, on November 28th, John Hus was taken prisoner. For the next six months, until June 5th, 1415, John Hus was held in prison. A filthy, utterly gross, a stinking prison in which he was treated so poorly that his friends were concerned John Huss would die simply because of the gross circumstances he had to face in prison. On June 5, Huss was moved to another prison and at that time he was given the option, either repeal your errors, they said, recant what you have taught and be locked up in a monastery for the rest of your life, or don't repeal what you have taught or recant and be burnt at the stake." And what did John Huss say? He said, I will repeal anything and everything that I have taught so long as the counsel first demonstrates that what I have taught is contrary to the Scriptures. Then Hus asked whether he could give a defense of what he had taught from the Scriptures. But the council wouldn't even give him the opportunity to speak and give a defense. He was thrown back in prison and given another four weeks to think of whether he would recant his teachings or not. A month went and passed. On Saturday, July 5th, a month later, Hus was asked whether he would repeal his teachings. He insisted. that if he was shown from the Scriptures that what he had taught and written was wrong, he would gladly change his position so that it would be in harmony with the Scriptures. The next day, Sunday, July 6th, the sentence was passed that John Huss should be executed the same day, the same afternoon. So what happened? A ceremony was held. Ironically, a sermon was preached. The sentence was declared. and the Mass was celebrated. Then, Hus was led outside of the city. Almost the entire city in Constance came out to watch John Hus because John Hus was, to the people, a very beloved man. As he walked through the city, he saw a bonfire made up of his own writings that the clergy and the Council of Constance hadn't even bothered to read. Once outside the city, Huss was bound to a high stake that had been surrounded with firewood and with ropes that had been thoroughly soaked in water. He was fastened to that stake and the wood was set on fire. Confessing and singing the name of Jesus Christ, Huss died in the flames. His breath was taken away from him so he could not sing any longer. He prayed and he died a martyr's death at the age of around 46. Though I must be brief, I want to look at this question. Why? Why was John Hus burnt at the stake? Why was he willing to die? Why did the Roman Catholic Church want him dead? The short answer is this. Because John Hus was convicted of the truth of the Scriptures. And John Hus preached that truth. Here I want to look at just two doctrinal positions that John Hus maintained. One of the reasons John Huss was put to death was this, his teaching on the church. This is perhaps the one thing that John Huss is best known for. We mentioned it already a bit. This is how John Huss defined the church, and I quote, The holy catholic, that is universal, church is the totality of the predestinate, or all the predestinate, present, past and future. This definition follows St. Augustine." End quote from John Huss. And listen to this definition. After quoting Augustine, Huss says this, quote, From this statement, it appears that the holy universal church is one, the church which is the totality of the predestinate, including all from the first righteous man to the last one to be saved in the future. And it includes all who are to be saved who make up the number. Now listen to this. For the omniscient God, the all-knowing God, who has given to all things their weight, measure, and number, has foredetermined how many shall ultimately be saved." End quote. You see how John Huss defined the church. It's how Reformed churches today define the church. The complete, exact number of the elect. All those whom God has chosen in grace to be saved, to be His children in Christ. This is called unconditional election. It's one of the pillars of the Reformed faith as set forth in the beautiful canons of Dort. But you see, that very definition attacked the very foundations of the Roman Church. Because the Roman Church teaches that simply by being a member in good standing in its church, you are going to heaven. But that to be outside of the Roman Catholic Church, outside of the good favour and the good graces of the Roman Catholic Church, means that you are automatically not going to heaven, you are going to hell. And so that's how they kept the people in bondage to the Roman Catholic hierarchy and the whole system of the Roman Catholic Church. And the Roman Catholic Church had to put John Huss to death, you might say, lest their entire system of power and hierarchy be overturned. But the chief reason John Huss was put to death, and the reason why John Huss defined the Church as the company or the totality of the predestinated, is because of this other main doctrinal position that John Huss maintained. The absolute authority of the Scriptures alone as the Word of God. John Huss emphasized the Scriptures are the supreme rule of faith and conduct. Whatever decisions men might make, whatever decisions the church fathers might have come to, whatever decisions the councils might have made, Whatever decisions the Pope might have declared, it is the Scriptures. And it is the Scriptures alone which are the infallible, authoritative, sacred rule for all thinking and all living. And only what is in harmony with the Scriptures and rooted in the Scriptures may then be maintained as authoritative. I'll synthesize this over and over again. In his preaching, and when he was being threatened with death, he said, I will bow to the authority of Scriptures. Show me where I am wrong, not based on the traditions of men, not based on the so-called infallibility of the Pope. Show me where I am wrong on the Scriptures. And in this way, John Huss was truly a pre-Reformer. Because that's exactly what Martin Luther would do a hundred years later, and what the rest of the Reformers emphasized. And besides this, what Huss emphasized was this. These scriptures must be preached. They must be put into the hands of the people. The people must know the scriptures. They must read the scriptures. And that's why John Huss loved the preaching. That's why he made a point of it to maintain preaching twice each Sunday, because the preaching is salvation to God's people. What we see today with the lack of knowledge in the Scriptures is exactly what John Haas was struggling against. What we see today is an ignorance of the Scriptures. So that people don't even know that the Scriptures teach sovereign, particular grace. So that they don't know the Scriptures teach double predestination, election, reprobation, and they are destroyed because they don't know the Scriptures. Now what I should add is this. John Huss did not have the time to develop or see the full significance of what he was discovering. John Huss still had many weaknesses by the time he was put to death. He was incomplete, you might say. Gradual but incomplete enlightenment at this time. Because when you look at John Huss, you see that he still maintained purgatory. Even though at the very end of his life he was very uncomfortable with purgatory, he did not deny it. John Hus still, at the end of his life, maintained transubstantiation. That's understandable, considering what John Hus was coming from and the darkness of the age in which he lived. Well, John Hus certainly was a pre-Reformer. As one man said, if John Hus had the time, he would have seen more, he would have developed more, just what his teachings would include. This is what the Reformation discovered and where the Reformation would keep taking these things that the pre-reformers had discovered and taught and take them and develop them so that they would truly be according to the Scripture's full enlightenment, you might say. But John Huss had great significance for the Reformation and even up to today. Martin Luther himself came into contact with Huss's writings when he was yet a student. He almost didn't dare look at Huss's writings because of the reputation that John Huss had for being a heretic. But in Luther's debates with John Eck, if you know this history of the Reformation, Martin Luther debated with John Eck over the sale of indulgences at the Leipzig debate in 1519, two years after he nailed his Ninety-Five Thesis on the Wittenberg door. And Eck, at that debate, began accusing Martin Luther of sounding a whole lot like John Huss. For Luther, just like Huss, was rejecting the sale of indulgences and he was declaring something very dangerous, that the Pope and the councils were capable of error. Well, the story goes that during the lunch break in this debate, Luther, having heard that he sounded like Huss, he went to the university library And he took out the book that recorded the actions at the Council of Constance when Haas was condemned as a heretic. And here I quote now from another person. To his amazement, when he was looking at the book, he discovered among the reproved articles the following. The one holy universal church is the company of the predestined. And again, the universal holy church is one as the number of the elect is one. The second of these statements, he, Luther, recognized as deriving directly from St. Augustine. When the assembly reconvened after lunch at two o'clock, Luther declared, among the articles of John Huss, I find many which are plainly Christian and evangelical, which the universal church cannot condemn, end quote. And we also learn that during that debate, over the sale of indulgences at the very beginning of the Reformation, there were two theologians who were present at that debate, who were from Prague, who were from Bohemia. They were Hussite theologians. And at that debate, at one of the breaks in the debate, those two theologians came to John Huss, came to Martin Luther, and they handed him a book. It was John Huss's work on the church. And what those two theologians said to Martin Luther was this, what John Hus was once in Bohemia, you, Martin, are in Saxony, Germany. Stand firm. You have the prayers of the Hussites. By February of 1520, Luther was ready to say this, as I quoted at the beginning, we were all Hussites without knowing it. Well, there are other ways in which John Huss would have an influence on Martin Luther and on the Reformation. Interesting how God in his providence works all these things together. A beautiful story of how Martin Luther's own life was preserved by the king. The king promised Martin Luther that he would have a safe travel to the Diet of Worms. to defend what he was teaching before the Pope and the Council at the Diet of Worms. He promised him a safe travel to the Diet and back home from the Diet of Worms. And at the Diet of Worms, the Roman Catholic Church wanted to kill Martin Luther right there on the spot. Well, not right there on the spot. They wanted to execute him and sentence him to death. But the king would not allow it because he had promised Martin Luther a safe passage to the Diet and back home from the Diet. And they said, why are you maintaining your promise so strongly? He said, I remember the story of 100 years ago when John Huss was promised that same promise and the king broke his promise and he blushed terribly when John Huss was put to death. I don't want to experience that same shame. I will keep my promise to Martin Luther. John Huss was a pre-reformer. God used him to save His people, and God would use him to be an encouragement to Luther as he stood for the truths of the Gospel. And the significance of John Hus for us today is simply this. Don't take the truths of Scripture for granted. Don't take biblical preaching twice each week for granted. Don't take the comfort of the Gospel for granted. And if you don't have biblical preaching, If you don't have biblical preaching that emphasizes the beautiful, comforting truths of sovereign particular grace and of sovereign predestination, and if you don't have proper biblical discipline and a pursuit of holiness in your church, just as John Huss emphasized in his church that we must be a holy congregation, then the calling comes. Find a church that takes this preaching seriously. And that takes the call to holiness seriously. Love the Word. Stand on the truth of God's Word no matter the cost. Buy the truth and sell it not. And be ready even to deny yourself. To deny yourself friendships, your own interests, your own earthly comforts for the sake of pursuing after the truth and living according to the truth. John Hus lost his life because he stood for the truth. But in the 10 years, 15 years leading up to his death, John Hus lost many other things as well. Many friends, because he stood for the truth. This is how John Hus lived and died. This is the great heritage that has been given to us in the Protestant Reformation. Let us not forget it. Thank you.