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00:22Let us pray.
00:25Praise, honour and glory be to you, O Christ, who, when standing before Pilate, kept silent
00:32at all the unjust accusations and slanders of the Jews, and as a gentle lamb that did
00:39not open its mouth, did not contradict them when they brought forward their charges against
00:44you. Give me grace never to be disturbed by the false accusations of others, but may I
00:51overcome every injury by silence and meekness. Give me the grace of perfect humility, so that
00:59I may never desire praise nor refuse any measure of contempt.
01:05Praise, honour and glory be to you, O Christ, you Lamb without spot, against whom the pious
01:12Pharisees and scribes raged with obstinate hatred. For although Pilate testified that
01:19he found no cause of death in you, yet they would not be satisfied with anything except
01:25your death. Grant me grace to imitate your innocence and patience, that I may both lead a godly life,
01:34and for so doing, if I am spoken of evenly, that I may remain at rest in you, giving way
01:43to no indignation,
01:45but giving thanks to you in all adversity. Praise, honour and glory be to you, O Christ, who will lead
01:55the greatest of indignity, in the manner of wicked criminal through the middle of the city, from one judgment seat
02:03to another, and from Pilate to Herod and back again, amidst the noise and shouts of the people. Give me
02:12grace
02:12never to be overcome by the injuries of my enemies, nor to be exasperated by slander. May I never feel
02:20any false shame
02:21but being despised. But may I receive everything in meekness, and endure all things in silence for your honour,
02:29that, by the assistance of your grace, I may in patience possess my soul. Praise, honour and glory be to
02:38you, O Christ,
02:40who when Herod asked you many vain and foolish questions, and when you were falsely wounded in different ways
02:46by priest and scribe, humbly kept a meet and becoming silence. Give me grace to restrain my tongue
02:55in a manner well-pleasing to you. Do not permit me to utter hurtful words, do not permit me to
03:03be taken up
03:03with fruitless stories, but give me grace to say what is right, profitable and honest, according to your will.
03:13May I behold the sin of evil speaking, and be always glad to think and speak well of any man.
03:23Praise, honour and glory be to you, O Christ, who condemned by your silence the foolish curiosity of Herod,
03:29and who would not gratify his curious eyes by the performance of any miracle, because he did not have his
03:39own salvation at heart,
03:41and did there in this way teach us to avoid all ostentation before the great ones of this world.
03:49Lord, pour into my heart a spirit of deep humility, mortify and quench within me any desire for vain glory.
03:58Grant that I may never do anything in order to gain praise of man, but may always act with a
04:04single eye
04:05upon the glory of your most holy name, and may come before you day by day in a true spirit
04:12of humility and meekness.
04:17Praise, honour and glory be to you, O Christ, who didn't refuse to be set to nothing by Herod and
04:24his men of war,
04:25nor to be clothed in a white garment and to be mocked and laughed at as though a fool and
04:31a madman.
04:32Give me grace, O Lord, to choose rather to be an outcast with you than to be glorious in the
04:38world.
04:39May I think it better and more honourable to suffer reproach for your name than to prosper in the vain
04:46honours of the world.
04:49Give me grace that, truly acknowledging my own sins and my own unworthiness, I may be as nothing in my
04:56own sight,
04:57but may always despise and accuse myself and daily lament over my own weakness and wretchedness.
05:06Praise, honour and glory be to you, O Christ, who was sent back with shame, clothed in a false garment
05:12from Herod the Pilate,
05:13and in all things obeyed your enemies going backwards and forwards according to their pleasure.
05:20Grant that I may not shrink from being despised, nor refuse obedience even to those who wish nothing but bad
05:29for me.
05:31Give me grace to have no feelings for the things of this world, but to think of and care for
05:36and love you alone.
05:39May you alone be my honour, my delight, my love, my glory and my joy.
05:45Amen.
05:49O Lord, open our lips, and our mouths will sing your praise.
06:02O Lord, open our lips.
06:04O be joyful in the Lord.
06:06Lord in hands.
06:09Turn the Lord in gladness.
06:12And come with not be blessed.
06:16Give us hope.
06:46CHOIR SINGS
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11:05As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, but in our death. Amen.
11:32A reading from the Gospel according to St. John, Chapter 3.
11:39Now a certain man, a Pharisee named Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council,
11:46came to Jesus at night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come
11:52from God,
11:54for no one could perform the miraculous signs that you do unless God is with him.
12:01Jesus replied, I tell you the solemn truth, unless a person is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom
12:07of God.
12:11Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he is old?
12:16He cannot enter his mother's womb and be born a second time, can he?
12:23Jesus answered, I tell you the solemn truth, unless a person is born of water and spirit,
12:29he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
12:32What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the spirit is spirit.
12:38Do not be amazed that I said to you, You must be born from above.
12:43The wind blows wherever it will, and you hear the sound it makes.
12:47But you do not know where it comes from and where it is going.
12:51So it is with everyone who is born of the spirit.
12:57Nicodemus replied, How could these things be?
13:02Jesus answered, Are you the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?
13:10I will tell you the solemn truth.
13:12We speak what we know, and we testify about what we have seen.
13:16But you people do not accept our testimony.
13:20If I have told you people about earthly things, and you don't believe,
13:24how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?
13:29No one has ascended into heaven, except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.
13:36Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
13:42so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
13:46For this is the way God loved the world.
13:50He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish, but have eternal
13:56life.
13:59For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be
14:03saved through him.
14:05The one who believes in him is not condemned.
14:09The one who does not believe has been condemned already,
14:12because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.
14:19Now this is the basis for judging.
14:22That the light has come into the world, and the people love the darkness rather than the light.
14:27Because their deeds were evil.
14:29For everyone who does evil deeds hates the light, and does not come to the light,
14:34so that their deeds will not be exposed.
14:38But the one who practices the truth comes to the light,
14:41so that it may plainly be evident that his deeds have been done in God.
14:48This is the word of the Lord.
14:51Thanks be to God.
15:03Today we read the account of a meeting between Jesus and one Nicodemus,
15:09who was not only a Pharisee, but also a member of the Temple Council.
15:14He was, therefore, someone with a great knowledge of the Scriptures.
15:19He had heard the teachings of Jesus and wanted to hear more, but in secret,
15:25for he did not want his colleagues to know that he was meeting with this Jesus of Nazareth.
15:32Nicodemus acknowledged that Jesus was a teacher who had come from God,
15:37recognising that it would not be possible for him to do the things he was doing
15:41unless he had the authority of God to do so.
15:45Accepting this, he wanted a private meeting with Jesus to find out more.
15:51Jesus immediately gave him a great secret.
15:55It is not possible to either see or enter the Kingdom of God
15:59unless you are reborn in water and spirit.
16:05Even to this open-minded Pharisee, these words came as a bit of a shock.
16:09For he could not grasp what it was that Jesus meant.
16:14He thought that the key to the Kingdom of God, like his colleagues,
16:18lay in knowledge of the law.
16:20For that was the way that they were brought and taught,
16:23had been taught and brought up.
16:27Knowledge is useful and interesting,
16:30but it does not provide access to God.
16:33For this has to come from the heart
16:35and through the workings of the Holy Spirit,
16:37which inspires us with the love of Christ, faith and obedience.
16:44Baptism in water is an act of humility and submission on our part.
16:49In baptism with water, we acknowledge our sinfulness
16:52and ask to be purified,
16:54that our sins be washed away.
16:58Then, in a state of purity,
17:00we are prepared for baptism in the Spirit,
17:03for the Holy Spirit cannot enter something that is defiled.
17:08It is the Holy Spirit that fills and nourishes our souls,
17:13that drives us in our longing for the Word,
17:16for the Eucharist and for prayer.
17:23Jesus had a few home truths for Nicodemus,
17:27who had scuttled out to see him by night,
17:29presumably because he was wary of consequences.
17:35But what Jesus was to tell him
17:37was in fact a simple truth.
17:39If you do not believe what you see and hear
17:41with your own eyes here on earth,
17:44how can you expect to believe the things that happen in heaven?
17:48Nicodemus was an intelligent man,
17:50and yet he was struggling with the message of Jesus.
17:56Jesus made it quite clear that
17:57whilst he will reveal many things to us,
18:00he will not reveal everything,
18:02especially those things which have no direct bearing upon us.
18:07If something is revealed to us,
18:09then we should accept without question
18:12that it is absolutely true,
18:14that this has been revealed to us
18:16for a very specific purpose.
18:21Jesus went on to give us
18:23what is probably the greatest verse
18:24in the whole Bible,
18:26in verse 16.
18:30For this is the way that God loved the world.
18:33He gave his one and only Son,
18:35so that everyone who believes in him
18:37will not perish,
18:38but have eternal life.
18:43Together with verses 17 and 18,
18:45these verses sum up the whole
18:47of the Christian faith,
18:48and the New Testament in particular.
18:51The power of the love of God
18:53and of Jesus to overcome death and sin
18:55on our behalf,
18:57that we may be saved from the damnation
18:59that our sin would otherwise bring to us.
19:04Jesus came not to judge,
19:06but to save all those
19:07who truly believe in him.
19:10We can all believe and be saved.
19:13Christianity is not some secret society.
19:17Anyone,
19:18Jew or Gentile,
19:19black or white,
19:20minister or servant,
19:22can believe,
19:23seek forgiveness,
19:25and to join the family of Jesus.
19:30But let us just add a word of caution.
19:33We do not need only to believe,
19:36but to truly believe in our hearts
19:38and want to proclaim
19:40the salvation
19:41that Jesus
19:42bought for us
19:44with his precious blood.
19:49But we are confronted
19:50by a small difficulty here.
19:53If God so loved the world,
19:55why did he allow the fall of man?
20:01However,
20:02you could argue
20:03that never was a kinder act
20:04in God's whole government
20:06than allowing the fall of man.
20:10For from what did he fall?
20:12A garden.
20:14And to what will he rise?
20:16A heaven.
20:17But how can a loving father
20:19permit so much pain
20:20and sin
20:21and misery
20:22amongst his creatures?
20:26There are two keys
20:27to unlocking this mystery.
20:29The first is Christ.
20:31This world of ours
20:32was made to be a platform
20:33for the manifestation
20:35of the Lord Jesus Christ.
20:40You will never correctly read
20:41the history of the earth
20:42until you adopt that
20:44as your first principle.
20:45This world was made
20:47to be a platform
20:47to show Christ.
20:50To that show of Christ
20:51in his redeeming work
20:53pain, sin and misery
20:55were absolutely essential.
20:59And the second key
21:00is that of eternity.
21:02We do not yet know
21:04how that world
21:05would explain
21:05and remedy this.
21:08We do not yet know
21:09how the discipline
21:10of this world
21:10is bringing out
21:11the joy of another
21:12and how the rough
21:14and noisy quarry
21:15of Lebanon
21:15is giving effect
21:17to the temple
21:17which is now rising
21:19in its calmness
21:20upon the hill of Zion.
21:22When we behold
21:23all its balanced action
21:25and its perfect unity
21:26and its grand results,
21:28I am quite sure
21:29that we shall say
21:30of all of it,
21:31God is love.
21:37God does not give
21:38many things.
21:39He lends many
21:41and what he lends
21:42he recalls.
21:44He lends everything
21:45that has not Christ in it
21:46and therefore he recalls
21:48everything that has not
21:49Christ in it.
21:52But Christ
21:53and what has Christ in it
21:54he never recalls.
21:56A Christian affection,
21:57a Christian union,
21:59a Christian peace
22:00he never recalls.
22:02Christ felt it.
22:04God gave Christ
22:05therefore that affection,
22:07that peace,
22:08that union
22:08is forever
22:09and ever.
22:12You will observe
22:13that the promise
22:14is twofold.
22:15One negative
22:15and the other positive.
22:18The negative
22:19we owe,
22:20strictly speaking,
22:21to the death of Christ.
22:22Our punishment
22:23having been passed
22:24onto Christ,
22:25it would not be just
22:27in God to punish us
22:28also,
22:29for that would be
22:30to punish the same
22:31sin twice.
22:33The positive,
22:35our admission
22:35into heaven,
22:36we owe to the
22:37meritorious righteousness
22:38of Christ
22:39which is imputed
22:40to us.
22:42And when in that
22:43righteousness
22:44we have an actual
22:45claim,
22:45even the same
22:47claim that
22:47Jesus has
22:48of admission
22:49into the heavenly
22:50kingdom.
22:51Because we carry
22:52Christ's own claim,
22:54his righteousness
22:55is given
22:56to us.
23:02let us pray.
23:05O God,
23:07who declares
23:07your almighty
23:08power most chiefly
23:09in showing
23:10mercy and pity,
23:12mercifully grant
23:13to us
23:14such a measure
23:15of your grace
23:16that we,
23:17running the way
23:17of your commandments,
23:19may obtain
23:20your gracious
23:21promises
23:21and be made
23:23sharers
23:23in your heavenly
23:24treasure.
23:24through Jesus
23:26Christ our
23:27Lord.
23:28Amen.
23:34May the Lord
23:35bless us
23:36and keep us
23:37from all evil,
23:38bringing us
23:39to everlasting life.
23:42Amen.
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