God’s Weapons for the Confounding of Enemies (John 9:24-34 Jeff Kliewer)

Good morning everyone. Thank you so much for coming to Cornerstone today. We'd love to hear the chatter and the fellowship that's going on. As you grab your seats, I just want to make sure that everyone is aware that if you do not get any communication throughout the week from Cornerstone, you are missing out.

There is a great email that we send out Thursday, Friday time frame. It has all kinds of announcements. It has a note from Pastor Jeff, his sermon notes, everything is there. So if you're not getting that, please make sure that you get that.

You can get that by going to contact .cornerstonesj .org. That will give you a spot to check off a box for getting the newsletter every week. It's great to have you here again. John, you're going to have some announcements for us.

Quite a few I hear.

I'm looking to see if my wife's out there. Anyway, it's good to have everybody here. I want to put two words out and I'd like you in your heart and in your mind to let these two words soak in and how does it impact you?

The sovereignty of God, the eternal nature of God. How do those two thoughts impact you? The sovereignty of God, the eternal nature of God. We know that the world is being led by Satan has so many things.

If you listen to the news, if you're aware of what's going on in our school systems, there are so many opportunities to be, to feel overwhelmed or distressed, but you know what? We have a God who is sovereign and we have a God who is eternal.

Psalm 145 verse 13 says, your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and your dominion endures throughout all generations. Whatever is going on is not beyond the power of God. You think of the beginning of Job where it says that Satan was in the realms of heaven.

That one blows my mind in the first place, but God says, have you considered my servant Job? And what goes on in that dialogue is that Satan is going to attempt to prove that Job is not all that faithful.

And so God enables him, allows him to go after Job within limits. And the important message there is that what happens is not outside of the sovereign authority of God. And what is going to happen today, he can't be changed.

He is eternal. The sovereignty of God, he is, and he rules over all. And there is nothing in this world that can change that, that fact. And I want you to know, and I want you to rest confident in the fact that God can be trusted.

Now I got news for you women, and I got news for your men. Your spouse is fallible. We are all, as people, we're fallen. But God is trustworthy, he is sovereign, he is eternal, and his dominion will last forever.

I want us to look at some announcements because there's some things coming up and I want you to be excited about them. We have, we have a, we have a congregational meeting, not tomorrow, but a week from tomorrow.

If you are a member, I encourage you to come. And if you're not a member, I encourage you to come there. We're going to be talking about some things. We have, we're going to affirm our new board, the deacons and elders.

We're going to talk about our budget. We have a lot of people that are seeking membership. We're going to get to vote on them. We're going to hear a lot of what's, we're going to hear an update on our building project.

Please, please come to that meeting. So in preparation of that, the budget is going to be approved at that meeting today and next Sunday after second service. If you are curious about the details of the budget, there will be an availability in one of the rooms for you to listen to what's the details of the budget so that you can be prepared and you can be aware.

Also today, next, this coming summer, we're going to be doing a VBS in together with The Rock. So there is a planning meeting for that is going to be taking place as well today. So have those things on your mind.

Tomorrow morning, gentlemen, it's time to set our clocks very early. We have our six o 'clock men's fellowship breakfast here. We're going to be doing something slightly different. We've been reading a book about the great reset, things that are going on in the world culture.

But tomorrow, what we're going to do is we're going to take the last chapter of Pastor Jeff's most recent book, Blood Red Church. There's some very appropriate things for us to consider and to talk about.

If you don't have a copy of Blood Red Church, see us. We have a few extra copies we could hand out, but that's what we'll be talking about so you can prepare for that tomorrow. Speaking of men, I'd like you to put on your calendar and wives, I would like you to tell your husbands to put it on their calendar.

The men's retreat is at the end of April. It's a little bit away, but it's time to be planning. Set that time aside. It will be a Friday and a Saturday, so we'll be able to check in somewhere around 3 .30.

Dinner will be at 5 .30, and we will be leaving in mid-afternoon on Saturday to return home. Gentlemen, you are all invited, please, and your sons. This isn't going to be just an old guy's gathering.

If you have sons and if, in your opinion, your sons are old enough to participate in a men's retreat, they are invited. There is no age determination. It isn't like they have to be 12 years old or over.

It is up to you. You know your children. If you believe your son would benefit from and be able to participate in a men's retreat, please have them come. We also recognize that times are tough. Difficult finances can be tough.

There are a number of scholarships that can be made available. If somebody wants to come, can't come because they don't think they can afford it, we want you there, so contact us. We do have a level of scholarships that will be made available for that.

At the congregational meeting next week, we will be affirming the new board, as I said, the elders and deacons. Jeff's pastor, Graham, last week included the slate that will be presented. Michael said he's going to put that out tomorrow sometime, so everybody will have a chance to see that in advance.

This is the second Wednesday week of the month, and on the second Wednesday week of the month, on Wednesday, we have a game night here, a time of fellowship, just enjoying each other's company. The fourth Wednesday is a movie night, but this week will be the game night.

There is going to be a small group for the high school starting in a couple of weeks. It'll be on Tuesday night at the Meyer House, so they will be teaching a Bible study for the high school students.

In addition to that, we have future events that are going to be going on during the Sunday school class. We're thinking about having a middle school class, a basics in faith class, but in May, we're going to hold a baptism class, so this is another look ahead.

We're going to plan two baptismal opportunities. If you're here and you have not yet had Believer's Baptism, you're interested in it, contact us if you would like to participate in it. In June, we're going to have a baptismal service out on the lawn, and in September, we're going to have a baptismal service down the shore like we had last year.

If you're at all interested in that, contact us. We would love to have you there. We'd love to have you be baptized. If you've been baptized, we would love to have you there to share in the experience, to encourage, to be encouraged, and to be able to witness and to be part of that.

On Easter, we are going to have a sunrise service this year on our property. We recently have been joining in with The Rock on their sunrise service. We're going to do one here out on our property and then have the regular service that will be a Good Friday service in preparation for that.

I'm looking to see if my wife is here. She might be outside. I will do this one for her. We want to say thank you for everybody that participated in the Women's Tea that was held yesterday. An incredible event.

We had a tremendous amount of help on Wednesday turning this into a tea room. The men that came and helped serve the women that prepared. There was some really good food there, and there still is a little bit of food I think left over.

The speaker, Terry Camlin, all of the people that were involved in staying after turning this tea room back into a sanctuary. Thank you so much to everybody that provided, and we give the glory to God because it was all for his kingdom.

Let's turn to prayer. Father, we come to you this morning with praise, surrendering, confessing, and with hope. Lord, we praise you because of your everlasting wonder. We praise you for your sovereignty and for the love that you give to us.

We praise you because we don't deserve it, but yet in your infinite love from eternity past you called. We surrender to you, dear Lord, confessing that we are weak and that the world with all of its offering is insufficient, so we surrender to you.

And we confess to you, Lord, because we are sinners, unworthy but yet made clean by the blood of Christ. Jesus, who prayed in the garden, not my will but thine be done, even surrendering to God, went to the cross taking my sins, taking the sins of the world.

We confess our unworthiness and our sin. We abide in the hope, Lord, that in eternity future we will be with you. We will be able to share with you and to be part with you. We live in that hope, Father.

Lord, we pray for the strength to boldly proclaim and to lead generations to come, our neighbors, our friends, our family, that we would be bold to speak in truth as even the sighted man spoke boldly against the attacks of the religious leaders.

We seek your power through the Holy Spirit. With the psalmist, we proclaim your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. Your dominion endures throughout all generations. Father, be with those in our midst in need, we pray.

Father, provide the grace that we can only come from you so that our family can be drawn to you, friends can be drawn to you, loved ones can know a relationship with you. And be with us this morning as Pastor Jeff brings us your message.

Prepare his words and our hearts, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.

Will you stand with me?

In Jesus' name, amen.

We prepare for communion shortly. We want to focus in on the cross, the death and resurrection of our Savior. In Colossians 2, 13 through 14, it says, you were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away.

Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all of our sins. He canceled the records of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. Let's continue to sing about the cross this morning.

In retrospect, after the fall, we know that before the fall, it was God's nature, it was his.

Normal course of events, to walk with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day in the garden. That fellowship which would have been pure and sweet at his initiative, but then the fall. So we fast forward into the book of Exodus.

A family had gone down to Egypt, saved from the famine because of God's provision through Joseph. And this family came down and for hundreds of years, they existed in Egypt to millions and became enslaved to the point where their freedom to worship and to experience God would have been suppressed by the slavery of the Pharaoh and the Egyptian.

But then God said, take a lamb, an innocent lamb, slaughter it, put the blood of that lamb on the lentil on the doorpost, spread it on the threshold in front of your house, so that when the angel of death comes, he will pass by your house and you will not die.

God's initiative reached out and provided that escape for man, for people. And so then they were left, they were allowed to leave Egypt. God worked in Pharaoh's heart and they were out in the desert. And once again, they could express, and God gave them their commands, and God started to speak to them again at his initiative.

But then they sinned again. Kadesh Barnea was horrible. That entire generation died. So now let's fast forward to the Gospels. And as the time approached, Jesus told his disciples, go into the village and prepare the upper room that we could have Passover together.

And John chapters 13 through 16 described that wonderful time that they spent together. Then 17, his priestly prayer to the Father, and that they could have enjoyed this fellowship together at his initiative.

And then the cross. But you see, he told them in the upper room that this must happen. And as he is in the garden and he prayed, if there is any way, let this pass for me, not my will, but thine be done, the sovereign will of the Father on display.

And so Jesus goes to the cross. People did not put him there. He allowed them to put him there. And so the way for fellowship is once again restored. Now let's fast forward to the end of the book of Revelation.

And we know that there is going to be the marriage feast of the Lamb. And for all of us brothers and sisters who have bowed our knee to the Lord, we will be at that immense wedding feast of the Lamb, sharing fellowship once again, pure and clean at the initiative of the Father.

As he approached the cross and he told his disciples what was going to happen. At that meal, he took bread and broke it and said, this is my body broken for you, and passed it around. And then he took the cup and he said, this is my blood shed for you, and then passed it around.

The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Corinthians expressed to us what happened there, who expressed to us what is available for us because of that. You see, this is not a ritual. This is not just something that we decide to do on the first Sunday of every month.

This isn't something we should just casually come before. This is a celebration. This is a remembrance. This is a reminder of that body that had to be broken and that blood that had to be shed because Jesus said, not my will, but thine be done.

We are going to partake in this this morning. And we need to be partaking in it in a way that reflects hearts that seek after God and are not harboring things that we should not be harboring. And so Paul told us that we must examine ourselves, confess our sins, don't take this.

Unworthily. I'm going to ask the men to come forward, please. It says in 1 Corinthians 11,.

Wherefore, whoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself. And so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup.

Before we take these elements, let's take a moment in silent prayer and prepare our hearts for what we're about to experience.

Let's pray. It's recorded that God said, let us make man in our own image. And so he made man,.

He made woman in his image, in the nature of him to have fellowship with him. Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount said, blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. And there is that time when those individuals whose name is written in the book of life will share in the marriage feast of the Lamb together.

This morning in front of us are these elements that represent the broken body, the bloodshed. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. Father, I confess my sins to you. I need you, Lord.

By the power of your Holy Spirit, I desire to repent and to turn away from sin, to take this remembrance of you.

In rejoicing, we pray these things in Jesus' name. For I have received of the Lord that which I also.

Delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

Let's join together after everybody has.

Received. That pure and spotless body hanging on the cross, nailed to the cross, broken for my sin, for our sins. Take, eat, and it's recorded. After the same manner, he also took.

The cup when he had supped, saying, this cup is the New Testament in my blood. This do ye, as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me. Again, receive it, and we'll take it.

Together. The blood obediently applied to the lintel, to the doorposts, the threshold, allowed.

The angel of death to pass by. The bloodshed on the cross enables you and me to be in a situation where our sins are washed as white as snow. And so when the accuser stands in front of God and says, what a scoundrel God was, Jesus can say, I had that one on the cross.

His blood shed for us.

Take, drink in remembrance of him. Let's sing together.

For us, we bring nothing to the table, but you brought your own body and blood for the forgiveness of our sin. And we say, thank you. Lord, your word says, the wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.

It is our prayer this morning, God, that you would make us bold as a lion, bold like the lion of Judah, Christ our King, who endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the father.

We pray that you would make us more like Christ today as defenders of the truth. Help us to be clear in how we speak and to be taught by the spirit words that do not come from us in the flesh, but spiritual words that come from you.

As we uphold the name of Jesus, the name that is above every name, that we would not be found ashamed or silent, but bold like lions. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. John Hus was born in 1380 AD. He was a Bible professor in Bohemia.

Bohemia is close to Poland, Ukraine, that Eastern European area, and he was a professor of theology. But as he studied the scripture more and more, he recognized that the tradition of the Roman Catholic Church had departed from the pure teaching of God's word, and he began to speak clearly about the gospel, justification by faith alone and not by the sacraments.

He spoke against the papacy, which had claimed for itself authority that actually belongs only to Jesus Christ as the head of the church. Well, you can imagine that he was kicked out of his post for this, but he continued to write and he continued to speak, even though he was no longer a professor at the university.

Finally, he was called to a council in Konstanz, Germany to stand for the things that he was teaching. He was examined and found guilty, and then a bishop of Lodi preached a sermon on the destruction of heretics.

And by that, he meant the physical execution of anyone who stood against the Roman Catholic Church. After that sermon, John Hus spoke. With courage and with clarity, with a commitment to the truth, he said these words, praying to God, may thy infinite mercy, oh my God, pardon this injustice of my enemies.

He prayed for the very people who were persecuting him. He was then led away to where he would be executed, and as he came to that place, he fell down on his knees at the arrival of his place of execution, and he prayed, into thy hands, oh Lord, do I commit my spirit.

Thou hast redeemed me, oh most good and merciful God. With this, they lifted him and they shackled him with chains, and once again, John Hus spoke, saying these words, my Lord Jesus Christ was bound with a harder chain than this is for my sake, and why then should I be ashamed of this rusty one?

His friend, the Duke of Bavaria, pled with him to recant and spare his own life, but John Hus said, no, I never preached any doctrine of any evil tendency, and what I taught with my lips, I now seal with my blood.

Then a very interesting thing happened at his execution. Remember, he was indwelt by the Holy Spirit of the living God, and he had the true word of God. They took a chain, he was fastened now to the chain, and they tied him up to the pole where he would be burned, but he said to the executioner something very unexpected.

You are now going to burn a goose, but in a century, you will have a swan who you can neither roast nor boil. Did anybody here expect him to say that? You're gonna burn a goose, but there will arise a swan in one century that you cannot roast or boil.

What did he mean by that? Well, you'd have to understand that in the Bohemian language, hus meant goose, so he's referring to himself as the goose, but he says to the executioner and all those listening, in one century, there will arise a swan that you cannot boil, you cannot roast, and a hundred years later, one named Martin Luther arose, and he nailed 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg and stood and sparked the Protestant Reformation, and when they called him to the Diet of Worms, he made his stand like us.

He said, here I stand boldly for the word of God and the scripture against the tradition of men and bound to his own conscience and pure reason, and the word of God, he made his stand. Now, as he would have been taken to the place of execution, he was rescued by the Duke of Saxony and taken to a castle where from that castle, in a matter of weeks, he translated the entire New Testament from Latin into the German language, and by Gutenberg's press, now the Bible went out from that place to all of Europe, and the Reformation was afoot.

The swan proved unstoppable, and that's why Luther is referred to as the swan by Lutherans. It's with reference to this prophecy of sorts, but I bring it up, the story of John Huss and Martin Luther, for two reasons that each of us need to hear about this morning, and the first is evident, and that is courage.

Courage to speak against hostile forces. When you're being reviled for the sake of the gospel, to speak words for the glory of your king, for he is worthy. We need courage to do that. It cost John Huss's life and many other martyrs during the Protestant Reformation, but secondly, Matthew 10, 19, when they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour.

I have a question for you. Do you think John Huss planned to talk about the goose and the swan? I think that came to his mind, taught by the Spirit, and then the Bible, then he quotes here Matthew 10, 19.

He didn't quote it, but what Jesus said in Matthew 10, 19 comes true in his life. He was taught what to say in that hour of his trial. He sang hymns and quoted the Psalms as he burned in that flame, and it was told that he had a smile on his face as he vanquished the enemy by his obedience even unto death.

Turn with me to John chapter 9, where we will see a model of this courage, this clarity, and these words that are taught by the Spirit in verses 24 to 34. It is the words of the sighted man. He is speaking with courage and words taught by the Spirit that did not come from him, and in the same way, church, all of us will at some point be called to speak this way.

Now, I don't think it's likely that anybody here will be taken to the flame. It's very unlikely that any of us will die a martyr's death just because of the time and location where God has blessed us to live in a free country, where free speech is to some degree still protected.

But just across our northern border, a Canadian pastor was arrested this week for speaking and preaching the gospel at a quote-unquote drag queen story hour, and words will be given to him when he stands before the judge.

We may never stand before a judge, but you stand before the judge of your friends and your family and your co-workers and people on Facebook or Instagram or whatever the newest social media is these days, and my question to you is, will you have words taught by the Spirit?

Will you have courage to speak for the name that is above every name? Do you speak? This is a story for courage, and it will come from 24 to 34, but indulge me for five minutes to review where we were last week, because you can't really understand the confounding of these enemies until you see how they're blinding minds with their confusion and their tradition and their fear.

The miracle that happens in the first seven verses of John chapter 9 reveal that Jesus is in fact the Messiah. Even the Pharisees in their midrash tradition had identified three unmistakable marks of Messiah.

One, he opens the eyes of a blind man who was born blind. Two, he heals lepers. And three, he is able to deliver a demoniac without that demoniac speaking. Let me take those in reverse order. A demoniac, a Jewish exorcist, would require of the demon that he share its name.

Remember Legion when Jesus did the same thing, what is your name? Well, the problem with a mute demoniac is you can't tell the mute man to speak. His vocal cords don't work. So the Jewish midrash said when Messiah comes, he won't require a demon to speak.

He can exorcise demons by his own power without the demon's name. Make sense? Jesus did that very thing, identifying him as the Messiah, healing lepers. When he healed the 10 lepers, we're told he then sent them to the priest to vindicate that this is in fact the healing of lepers, indicating that he is Messiah.

Remember, only one of them came back to say, thank you Jesus. But in John 9, a man born blind is suddenly able to see. And this should be evidence enough to the leaders who even taught these traditions that he is in fact the Messiah.

However, there's a spiritual war going on and the devil blinds the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. First way he does that is by confusion. As soon as the story began to be told that the blind man was healed, someone came and sowed confusion and said, oh no, no, no.

That's not the guy from the gate. He only looks like him. He's a lookalike. You guys are mistaken. No healing happened here. And the whole crowd, the neighbors, were thrown into confusion. Finally they asked the guy and he's like, I am the man.

And the confusion was cleared up a little, but they said, well who healed you? Where is he? And the final matter was settled with, I don't know. In other words, everybody was confused. What happened? There was once an Ethiopian riding in a chariot coming from Jerusalem and he was reading Isaiah chapter 53.

He grew up before him like a tender shoot and he thought, who is this that grew up before God? And he was led like a lamb to the slaughter and like a sheep before the shearers was silent. He did not open his mouth and the Ethiopian was confused.

Who is this talking about that was led to the slaughter? He was buried in a rich man's tomb. Who's the rich man? Where's the tomb? The Ethiopian was thoroughly confused by Isaiah 53. He sees the light of life and is satisfied.

It's the will of the father to crush him. What is this talking about? Until Philip the evangelist came along and jumping up on that chariot, he began in Isaiah 53 from that very place to explain that the prophecy spoke of Jesus the Christ.

And he showed him that it was Jesus who did not open his mouth on trial. It was Jesus who laid down his life, not for his own sins, but for the sins of others. Buried in the rich man, Joseph of Arimathea's tomb in the garden.

And he rose from the dead and saw the light of life. And it was the will of the father to crush him because Jesus was a sacrifice for sins. And just like this, boom, his eyes were open. The blind Ethiopian was not physically blind, he was spiritually blind.

And his eyes were opened by the preaching of the word. Guys, as we look out into the world around us, people are confused. Who is Jesus? They don't know. What are these prophecies? They don't know what they mean.

Although there's hundreds of these prophecies, they don't know them. And they need you to be a Philip, an evangelist to go and clear up the confusion and point them to Christ, Jesus, the Messiah. The first blinding force in the world is simply confusion.

People don't know. The second is tradition. Because as soon as it was shown that Jesus healed, some Pharisees said, he must be of the devil, not of God, because he healed on the Sabbath. Now, they didn't get that from the word of God, they got that from their own tradition.

From the Jewish midrash, and as recorded by Maimonides, this obsession with leveling crevices, as we looked at last week, that in order for Jesus to have made the mud, he would have spit on the ground, which would have changed the earth, which is like plowing a field by their reasoning.

And by their tradition, if they disturb the earth and make mud that way, he's working on the Sabbath. Now, this was not a reasonable interpretation of the law. This was their tradition, blinding them from the truth of who Jesus was.

Now, for those of you in school, you probably don't have anybody at your school who's worried about leveling crevices when they spit, right? But you probably have a lot of people who are convinced that there's no such thing as absolute truth, that all gods and all paths to God are equally valid, and nobody can falsify the beliefs of anybody else.

This postmodernism is the tradition in our culture, and pluralism, that there are many ways to God, and many gods, and it really is a matter of personal private opinion. These are the traditions of our culture, and these are the things that blind people from seeing the light of the truth of God's word, whose mind is sharp, who understands and is able to disambiguate tradition from truth, and help people to see their own presuppositions and overcome those with the truth of God's word.

In other words, tradition blinds people, but truth opens eyes. Now, lastly, there was one other thing that kept people from seeing the light. In the case of the parents, you can't tell me that they didn't see what was happening.

Their boy was born blind. When that boy opened the womb, and they looked into his eyes, and they tried to get his attention, it wouldn't have been but a matter of days before they realized he wasn't responding.

He was blind, and born blind, and they raised him, and they led him by the hand, and they wept for him because he couldn't participate in sports with his friends, and they were very sad when they put him out as a beggar because their family must have been impoverished in order to do that.

If they could have provided for him, he wouldn't be begging on the streets in Jerusalem, and so here come these parents seeing this very boy that they raised now jumping and delighted and seeing the light of day.

You can't tell me that those parents didn't know that Jesus is the Messiah, and according to verse 22 of chapter 9, his parents actually refused to answer the question not because they didn't know, but because of fear.

Fear blinds minds. They were afraid of being desynagogued, put out of the synagogue, which would have separated them from their economic opportunity and their life, their social life. Everything would have been disrupted, but because of fear, they refused to make the good confession that Jesus is the Christ.

So here are the three devices of Satan. Confusion, tradition, and fear. These three keep people from coming into the light. Jesus is the light of the world, but people refuse to come to him for fear that their deeds would be exposed, confused, blinded by tradition, and afraid.

Afraid. So let's read the story now, and we'll move quickly today. 24 to 34. So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, said to him, give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.

He answered, whether he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see. That's a good answer. They said to him, what did he do to you? How did he open your eyes? He answered them, I have told you already, and you would not listen.

Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples? And they reviled him saying, you are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. Notice they didn't say of God, but of Moses.

It's part of their deception. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from. The man answered, why this is an amazing thing. You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes.

We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind.

If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. Great answer. They answered him, you were born in utter sin, and would you teach us? And they cast him out. Now I wish the story ended with the opening of their blind eyes, but that was not God's will in this case.

It was rather God's will to confound his enemies by the weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left, by the preaching of truth. He glorified Christ by the testimony, and he here glorifies Christ in his suffering.

God allowed John Hus to go to the flame, and he allowed this sighted man now to be kicked out of Jewish life. No longer part of the synagogue, no longer able to worship or to participate economically.

He suffers greatly, and yet as we read the rest of the story next week, you'll see that his reward far surpasses everything that was stripped from him. This week, just three quick points from the three responses.

As truth warriors, we need to be relentlessly committed to objectivity, to the facts. We cannot be like those who think arbitrarily, who are subjective in thinking, and unclear in conclusions. Number one, we must be committed to truth.

Verses 24 and 25. In 26 and 27, we're going to talk about listening. Being able to listen well and hear what people say, and by the Spirit answer words that are appropriate to the moment. And then lastly, that courage and application of the Word of God.

So in 24 and 25, what did they mean in verse 24 and 25 when they say, give glory to God? The implication here is that he's hiding something. As a matter of fact, this expression comes directly from Joshua 7 19.