reconcile_03

In our last two times together, we have considered the reality that humanity, in the fall, has lost community with one another and communion with our Heavenly Father. This is shown to us very clearly in the book of Genesis, chapter three. Sin brought death, and death means separation. Sin has meant the separation of the oneness that God created humanity to have with one another, and it brought a death between God and man.

We are created to enjoy this oneness, and yet every single one of us was born into this death—the separation of communion with God and community with one another. Through one man, sin entered the world, and death through sin, and death spread to all because all sinned. Sin and external sinful behaviors are just indicators of an internal sinful heart and sinful nature. Man's sinful behaviors are his feeble attempts to restore what was lost in the fall.

There is an internal recognition, although humanity is unable in many ways to verbalize it. There is a desire, a draw, a longing in the heart of every human being because of sin, because of the lostness and the separation that sin causes. There is a desire for what was lost in the fall, and the sinful behaviors that man engages in are his feeble attempts to restore what was lost due to the entrance of sin into the world.

All around us, we see the evidence of the fallenness of creation. You don't have to look very far; it's illustrated in our newspapers, on the news on TV, and on the radio. It's evident in pop culture. Everywhere we look, we see the evidence of the fallenness of humanity and the yearning of man to restore what has been lost. However, every such attempt to do so leaves man unsatisfied.

The life of the woman at the well, as we saw last week in John chapter four, is a perfect case study of this truth, of this reality, of the lostness and the unsatisfied condition.

Of humanity. Jesus's words in John chapter four, specifically verse 13, illustrate this truth where He said to that woman, "Whoever drinks of the water of this well shall thirst again." The sinful heart of man longs to be satisfied. It craves something to quench its seemingly insatiable thirst. As this sinful heart longs to be satisfied, it engages in all kinds of activities that the Bible identifies as sin, trying to deal with that inward desire. It will glut itself on every delight and pleasure that this world can offer, seeking genuine satisfaction. However, nothing in this world will ever slake the lust of the lost human heart.

Each of you here today recognizes, at some level, that this is true. Many of you lived in your previous life before following Christ as Savior, trying to satisfy an inward desire, but you couldn't do it. The things of this world simply do not satisfy. Even in that, there is a desire in the heart of humanity; sometimes we don't fully know what it is that we want. We know there is a want, but we just don't know what it is.

I'll give you an example. Just this last week, my wife and I had an opportunity to take a few days off. Pastor Pat and his wife are renting a house down in Coronado, and they allowed us to use their house for a couple of days. So we were down in Coronado, and on Monday night, Andrea asked me what I wanted to eat. I said, "Well, I'm hungry, but I don't know what I want to eat. Let's just go out and try to find something."

We drove around Coronado, looking at different places. I would say, "What do you think about that?" and she would respond, "No, I don't want that." We continued driving around, and I would suggest, "Well, maybe that?" only to say, "No, I don't want that either." I knew I was hungry; I just didn't know what I wanted. Ultimately, we went over the Coronado Bridge into the Gaslamp area of San Diego. Walking around, there were restaurants everywhere. We walked for probably 15 blocks, and she would ask me, "What about this?" I would reply, "No, I know I want something, but I don't want that. I don't think that's it."

We recognized this: if you drink of the waters of this world, you will thirst again. Although sin, as the book of Hebrews says in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 25, is pleasurable for a season, it ultimately does not satisfy.

A season ultimately leads to a famine. However, Jesus spoke more than just what he said in John 4:13 when he mentioned that if you drink of the water from this well, you will thirst again. He conveyed something deeper in John chapter four, which is truly awesome. As He spoke with the woman at the well, His words reveal the glorious reality that there is a source, a well that never runs dry—a living water that does satisfy.

There is a way for what was lost in the fall to be restored, and it is restored through the cross of Christ. In John 4:10, Jesus said to the woman at the well, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that speaks to you, then you would have asked of Him, and He would have given you living water." If you truly understood the gift of God and who you are speaking to, you would have asked Him, and He would have provided you with living water.

God, in Christ Jesus, restores what was lost in the fall. We are estranged because of sin and separated from our Father in heaven. However, Christ is the one who reconciles us to God, our Father. Not only are we reconciled to God, but we are also restored to one another in Christ. The oneness relationship that God intended for humanity can only be found in Jesus Christ. This is the very thing that humanity is desperately seeking.

The Apostle John puts it this way in 1 John. I had you turn there just a few moments ago. In 1 John 1:1, he speaks of the gospel in this manner: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life." For the life was manifested, and we have seen it. We bear witness and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, was manifested unto us.

In verse 3, he continues, "That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that you also may have fellowship with us." And truly, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. These things...

Right, we come unto you so that your joy may be full, not merely satisfied for a moment. This then is the message which we have heard of Him and declare unto you: that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth.

But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all of our sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

So John says that we have received a message from the Lord, which we deliver to those who are in this world, with the intent that they would have fellowship with us and also with God. This is so that that which was lost at the fall would be restored. That's what the gospel is all about: the restoration of that which was lost when sin entered in through one man. Sin entered in, and death through sin, and death spread to all humanity. The visible external sinful behaviors are just an indication of what is internally there because of the fall.

In Christ, we have restored community with one another and communion with God in heaven, to the extent that nothing is lacking in any way, so that your joy would be complete. John goes on to give this message of genuine community and communion. It's for eternity; it's something that God gives not just for a moment, but forever. God is complete, total light, and in Him is no darkness, we are told. If we walk with Him in the light, then we have a new restored fellowship with one another, and that which destroyed fellowship—sin—is cleansed, removed, and taken away.

Now, of course, we see in the same passage that there are some people who say, "Well, I've never sinned." That's where the law is important in bringing a recognition of sin.

A person comes to the place where they recognize that they have sinned and that, because of sin, there is a separation between them and God. What can be done? Well, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. This is good news. This is the gospel. This is what we've been given in Christ: the restoration of what was lost at the fall. We have been reconciled to one another and reconciled to God. It's awesome news. This is what the world is looking for—the restoration of everything that was lost. This is life more abundantly.

Jesus said in John chapter 10, "The thief has come to steal, to kill, and to destroy. But I have come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly." The New International Version says that you may have it to its fullest. That is what is found in Christ, and it is what every person desires at the depths of their being. All humanity is longing for this restoration to take place, although they may not be able to verbalize it. That longing is there within their hearts. At that soul level, every sinner is yearning for oneness, the oneness that is found only in Christ.

Now, turn from 1 John to the left to the book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 2 begins at verse 8, a favorite of every person saved by the grace of God. Ephesians 2:8 states, "For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God before ordained that we should walk in them.

Now, look at verse 11. We will continue on. "Wherefore, remember those that are saved, those that have been brought near by the grace of God. Remember that you, being in time past Gentiles or unbelievers in the flesh, were called uncircumcision by that which is called circumcision in the flesh made by hands. At that time, you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants."

And promise having no hope without God in this world. That was our previous condition. Those words about our previous condition were without Christ. We were aliens, strangers, and we had no hope because we were without God.

But now, in Christ Jesus, you who were in times past far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. You who were once aliens, you who were once strangers, you who had no hope and were without God, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He, Jesus, is our peace who has made both one. He restores oneness and has broken down the middle wall of separation or partition that was between us.

He has dealt with death. He has dealt a death blow to death. Death means separation. It is not just a physical separation where your soul is separated from your body, which all humanity fears and dreads. Many people do not even want to go to memorial services or remember Memorial Day because it reminds us of the reality that ten out of ten people die. It is inescapable.

However, there is a death that every single human is born into: a separation from one another because of sin and, ultimately, a separation from God because of sin. What does Christ do? He is our peace. We see there who has broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances. Why? To make of Himself of the two, one new man, making peace.

That He might reconcile us unto God in one body by the cross. Where does it come from? By the cross, having slain the enmity. The cross is what dealt with the problem of sin and the enmity, the separation that came because of sin. He came and preached peace to you who were afar off. That is what the gospel is: preaching peace to those who were afar off and to those who are near.

Through Him, we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now, therefore, you are no more strangers or foreigners. No longer are we strangers or foreigners, but we are fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets.

Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone in whom all the building fitly framed together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In Him, you also are built together for a habitation of God through the Spirit. This is what Christ accomplished on the cross. This is what Christ has done for us: community with one another. The oneness experience between humanity is lost because of the fall. Communion with God is destroyed because of sin, and Christ came to restore that.

Every single human being, the seven billion people living on this planet right now, are longing for the restoration that is only found in Jesus Christ because of what He did on the cross. It is what they are seeking. This has been the focus of this series, "Reconcile." He restores what is lost so that He may reconcile us to Him.

You may wonder how we wrap it up. We began this year on Sunday, January 1, 2012. New Year's fell on a Sunday, which was just great. As I have done for the last several years, at the very beginning of the year, I share with you what I believe the Lord has ministered to me through a time of prayer and seeking Him. This is for my family personally, but also for our church corporately, regarding what God's mission, vision, or theme is for us in this year.

On January 1, 2012, I shared that the theme for this year is "Enjoying His Grace and Extending His Glory." Just a few weeks after that, we announced that we were going to have a name change, which became official in mid-March of this year. The name changed from Calvary Chapel Escondido to Cross Connection Escondido. We are still a part of the Calvary Chapel movement.

Why the name change? Because the name expresses our vision. It expresses our mission and who we are. We are a people who have been brought into connection with God through the cross and into a connection with one another by the cross. Because of the connection that we have with God and with one another, we are to bring those who are disconnected into connection with Him once again through the body of Christ. This way, they may be connected once again to communion with God and community with one another.

Christ. We have experienced this as Christians. We have experienced the grace of God's salvation. We've enjoyed His salvation, and we have the privilege of extending His glory to those in this world, the glories of His salvation to those who have not yet experienced it. That's the bulk of why we are called Cross Connection, because it's our goal to connect disconnected people back to the cross of Christ. In the cross of Christ, the middle wall of partition is destroyed, and we are reconciled to God and restored to one another.

The very thing that your co-workers who don't know Christ, your neighbors who are alienated from God, and your friends and family members who have not yet entered into a relationship with Jesus Christ are longing for in the deepest part of their soul, even though they may not be able to verbalize it, is something profound. Have any of you ever had one of those experiences where you know you want something but you don't know what you want?

My wife and I had a blessed opportunity to take a couple of days off this last week. Pastor Pat has a place that he and his wife are renting down in Coronado, and so we were able to use their place. On Monday afternoon, Andrea asked, "What do you want for dinner?" It was late afternoon, and I didn't know. We drove around Coronado looking at everything, thinking, "Oh, no, I don't want that." I knew I wanted something, but I didn't know what it was. It was one of the rare times when I was extremely indecisive. Normally, I'm not very indecisive when it comes to food, but at that moment, I was.

We went across into the Gaslamp area, where there are restaurants everywhere. "What do you want?" I asked. "I don't know," she replied. We walked for like 15 or 20 blocks, saying, "Nope, nope." You know you want something, but you don't know what you want. That is the condition of the world in which we live. People know they want something, but they don't know what they want.

It is not arrogant for us to say we know what they want because we have the whole story. We know what happened at the beginning. We understand what created the want in the first place. It was sin that brought separation from one another and separation from God. Therefore, we know what humanity wants at the deepest level. The more I consider these great truths and meditate upon them, the more I'm convinced that the greatest way to extend the glories of the communion that we have is essential.

With God and the community that we share with one another, we are called to live that community and to express that relationship in the world in which we live. Our mission is to bring lost people into connection with Christ through a Christ-honoring community, right where they live. We are to live in communion with God and enjoy the riches of Christian community that we have in Christ, outside the walls of this building, right in our neighborhoods.

In Romans chapter 10, the Apostle Paul quotes Moses from the book of Deuteronomy. He says in Romans 10:19, "For Moses says, 'I will provoke you.'" Moses is speaking to the Jewish people at this point, as noted in Deuteronomy chapter 32. He continues, "I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are not a people, and by a foolish nation, I will anger you."

Here, God is speaking through Moses to the nation of Israel, who had witnessed His awesome works in bringing them out of Egypt. He took care of them for 40 years in the wilderness, and now they were preparing to enter the promised land. God prophesies through Moses that this very people, who had seen all that, would end up in unbelief and resist the good work of their Father in heaven.

God declares that after they have separated themselves from Him by their sins, He will provoke them to jealousy by those who are not a people. He intends to use a foolish nation to incite a jealous yearning within them. This nation will possess something that they do not have, and it will drive them to frustration.

In that context, it was specifically directed at the Jewish people. God intends to use a people, a foolish nation, to induce jealousy in the unbeliever. Now the question is, who are these people? Who is this people who were not a people? Who is this foolish nation that God will use to anger the unbeliever?

Turn in your Bibles to 1 Peter. If you are in Ephesians chapter 2, turn to the right to 1 Peter chapter 2. In 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 9, Peter is again speaking to Christians.

Church, He's speaking to us, even though it was written 2,000 years ago. In 1 Peter, chapter 2, verse 9, it says, "But you, Christian church, are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar or foolish people." Why? That you should show forth or reflect the praises of Him, God, who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

In times past, you were not a people. What did Paul say in Romans, chapter 10? God is going to incite you to jealousy by people who are no people. Previously, in times past, you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. You had not obtained mercy, but now you have obtained mercy.

So, Paul says God is going to use those who are in Christian fellowship, those who are restored to God in relationship with Him, communion with Him, and community with one another. He is going to use our lives to incite jealousy. Those who don't have that are yearning for something; they are longing for something, and they should see it in us to the point where they say, "I long for that. I want that."

You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people—some more so than others. We, in this building, are peculiar people, right? Look around this room for a second. There is a diversity of people here. The only thing that unites us together is Christ. He is what breaks down the middle wall of partition.

There are people in this room that you would never, ever, ever, ever, ever associate with apart from Jesus Christ, but He has made us, who were not a people, into people. He has brought us together. How does He do that? Well, He did that by giving us mercy, by extending to us salvation, and by cleansing our sins.

In times past, we were not a people, but now we are the people of God because we have obtained mercy and grace for salvation. We have been reconciled unto Him, restored to oneness once again, and we have been given the ministry of reconciliation.

In 2 Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 17, it says, "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new."

Become new, and all things are of God, who has reconciled us and restored us unto Himself by Jesus Christ. He has given to us the ministry of reconciliation, to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and has committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

Now then, because of this, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you through us. We pray you, in Christ's stead, be reconciled to God, for He has made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

When an unbelieving friend or neighbor is brought to a place where they sincerely ask, "Why should I want to become a Christian? Why should I want what you're telling me about?" we cannot just say to them, "Because you want to go to heaven, don't you?" That cannot be the only existential reason we give someone for wanting to be a Christian.

We might say, "Well, you don't want to go to hell." Of course, I don't want to go to hell, but isn't there anything more than just escaping hell and being in heaven? You may think, "Well, that seems like a pretty good deal." It is, but isn't there anything more than that? What is it that makes heaven heavenly?

We should be able to say with our words, but also by our very lives, "Come, come and find that what you have been unsuccessfully searching for is only found in Christ." This is exactly what the woman at the well found.

Turn back to John chapter four; that's where we were last week. The Gospel of John, chapter four. Of course, Jesus is speaking with this woman at the well, and He says, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that speaks to you, then you would have asked of Him, and He would have given you living water."

She responds, "Well, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where are you going to get this living water?" He begins to express to her that this living water is spiritual; it's not physical. He says, "If you drink of this water, you will thirst again. But whoever drinks the water that I shall give will never thirst, and it will spring up within them like a well of water unto eternal life."

Life is going to sustain them now and on into eternal life. The woman says, "Give me this water so I don't have to come out here and draw water anymore, and so I don't thirst." Jesus responds, "Go and get your husband." I imagine if I were making a movie out of this, I would picture her under her breath saying, "I have no husband." Jesus replies, "Yeah, you've spoken rightly; you don't have a husband. You have five husbands, and the guy that you're with right now is not your husband."

She realizes that He is a prophet. So, she gives Him a prophet's test. She says to Him, "Our people worship on this mountain, Mount Gerizim. You Jews worship in Jerusalem. Who's right?" Jesus responds, "Woman, I tell you the truth, the hour is coming, and now is, that those who worship will not worship in this place or that, but those that worship God will worship Him in spirit and in truth."

She says, "Well, I know that Messiah is coming, and when He comes, He will restore all things." Jesus replies, "I who speak to you am He."

Look at verse twenty-eight in John 4. The woman left her water pot and went her way into the city. She said to the men, "Come and see a man who told me all things whatsoever I did. Is not this the Christ?" They went out of the city and came to Him.

She left her water pot and proclaimed, "Come and see a man who told me all things ever I did. I think this is the Christ."

What are we to do? Having found what we need and desire at the deepest level, we go into this world and say, "Come and see. Come and see what it is to be a Christian, to be restored to communion with God, to be restored to community with one another again."

Now, apologetics are great, and we've taught classes and will continue to teach.

Classes on apologetics here at the church have proven effective many times over. The Four Spiritual Laws and the Good Person Test often bear fruit. However, as has been said many times by people far more learned than I, what the world needs today is not a new or better definition of the gospel; they need a greater demonstration of the gospel. They need to see the reality of the gospel, which restores lost people to the very thing that, at the depths of their souls, they are desiring. It restores them back into communion with God.

Once joined to God, He brings them into community with one another. As we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all our sins. He deals with the very thing that caused the separation in the first place, and then He brings us together once again in Christ. The world needs a demonstration of this gospel. They need to see that this is true, that this is reality.

Oh, that we would live our lives in such a way that we live in fellowship with God and with one another! By communion and community with one another, we induce jealousy in the heart of the unbeliever. They look at what we have and say, "That's actually what I've been looking for. That's what I want." That the world would look at what we enjoy in Christ and say, "I want that."

That which was lost in the fall is restored to us by the cross, and we become ministers of reconciliation. We reflect back to this world what it is to be reconciled to God and reconciled to one another. The only way that can be done is for it to happen outside the walls of the church, outside the walls of this building, where we live right in our own community. We have the awesome privilege of reintroducing lost people back to communion and community.

We are ambassadors of Christ, as though God did beg you by us. We pray you in Christ to be reconciled to God. It is terribly easy to become held up by the sinfulness of our society. How many of you are shocked at times by the sinfulness of our society? It's going to get more shocking, and not necessarily because it is more sinful than it has been.

It's just more out in the open than it was. Sinful behavior, as sinful people depart further and further from God, becomes more apparent. It becomes more socially accepted. We see this in the fall of the nation of Israel before they were taken over by the Babylonians in the book of Isaiah. They came to a point where they called evil good and good evil. We are seeing some of that begin in our time and in our day.

It's really easy to become overwhelmed by the sinfulness of our society. As that sinfulness becomes more apparent, we reach a point where we almost become sin identifiers or sin verifiers. The church says, "That's sin," and "That's sin," and "That's sin." Yes, it is. We could spend our entire lives just going around Escondido, pointing out what's sinful, and become verifiers and identifiers. Then we would categorize what is really bad sin and what is not so bad sin. But that's not what God has called us to.

God has called us to proclaim the praises of Him who called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light. I cannot find a single verse in the Bible—there are a lot of verses in the Bible—that tells us we need to go around being sin verifiers or sin identifiers. Every sinful behavior is a symptom of the sinful heart.

A couple of years ago, or maybe it wasn't even that long ago, I had the church on a Sunday morning pray for a young girl who was at Children's Hospital. She was dying of liver disease. I went and visited her, and when I came into the room, she was completely jaundiced. The whites of her eyes were bright yellow, and her skin was bright yellow. Everything that you saw externally said, "This person is very ill. Something's wrong." Because of the excess bilirubin in her bloodstream, all of that was very, very apparent. It was evident that she was suffering.

Sick, but the jaundice was merely the external indicator of a diseased liver. It just reveals that there's a greater problem going on. In much the same way, the external sinful behaviors that we see all around us—drunkenness, adultery, fornication, wrath, anger, malice, and homosexuality—are the external indicators of an inner disease: the inner disease of sin. Dealing only with the external symptomatic behaviors without addressing the inner disease, which is the source of the problem, is not helpful in any way.

There have been plenty of people who have reformed their sinful ways. They may not act as sinfully on the outside as they once did, and they may appear healthy and good from an external perspective. But this is the way the Pharisees were in Jesus's day. They were whitewashed tombs, as Jesus said. They looked great on the outside, but inside they were dead.

Many people can start attending a church and initially look unhealthy in relation to sin. Over time, they learn how to talk the Christian talk and how to live the Christian life. When they are at church on Sunday morning, everything looks really good. However, by around 10:45 on Sunday, after they leave the first service, they get in their cars and drive down the street, and you wouldn't know for a second that they had been at church. It happens. On the outside, they might look healthy, but inwardly they are still lost in their sin. That inward sin continues to destroy.

Only Jesus Christ deals with the sinful heart. Only He can extricate the sinful root from which every sinful behavior stems. He is the only one who can address that issue. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to bring conviction upon sin. It is our job to proclaim the praises of Him who called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light.

If this only happens here, I mean, most of us in this room today believe this stuff. We believe in Christ. We put our faith and confidence in Him for salvation. This is like a family reunion.

We come together every single week to worship with one another in corporate worship and to spend time before the Lord because He inhabits the praises of His people. Wherever two or three are gathered together in His name, there He is in the midst of them. He speaks to us, teaches us by His word, challenges us, encourages us, and exhorts us. He stirs us up to go out from here to where we come in contact with people who are not anything like us. There, we are to proclaim the praises of Him who called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light.

My prayer for us as a church is that we would live as ambassadors of our glorious God and Savior, Jesus Christ, in the midst of a world that is in desperate need of His great salvation. That's what we're aiming for. That's what we're seeking to do here throughout all of North County, throughout all of Southern California, and to the ends of the earth. It is our desire that God would form us into a community of people who are one in Christ, living out that oneness relationship with one another and with Him right in our own neighborhoods.

I will be the first to say that we are lacking in that right now. A group of about eight or so guys and I have been getting together on Wednesday nights, praying towards this end. We have been planning for new ministry that we are developing within our church, with the intent that we would be challenged to live out our faith in community with one another outside the walls of 1675 Seven Oaks Road.

I am going to tell you right now that the things we have been praying about and talking about are revolutionary, in my heart. They are challenging because it means that for the person who comes here on a Sunday and puts on a mask, they cannot be anonymous anymore. They are forced throughout the week, because of gathering together with other brothers and sisters, to live in the reality of who they are. If they have just been covering it up, it is going to be exposed; it is going to be revealed.

But as we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all of our sin. It transforms us. I am completely convinced that the gospel is powerful enough so that we can still be sanctified by the power of the gospel.

We can still be transformed by the work of Jesus Christ, even when we're living in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation in a wicked world. As I shared last week in John, chapter four, the woman at the well said, "You Jews have no dealings with us Samaritans." The reason they didn't is that the religious Jews of the day were convinced that if they came in contact with sinful Samaritans, they themselves would become unclean. I'm here to tell you that that's false. It's not true. We come in contact with sinful people every day, and there we have an opportunity to proclaim the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Would to God that He would work this in us. We would see Him fashion in us this heart. Amen.

Let's stand together. If you would, bow your heads and your hearts with me. I want to read the prayer of Jesus from John, chapter 17. I just want you to think about this being His prayer for us just before He went to the cross. Close your eyes and bow your heads.

Jesus spoke these words. He lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that the Son may be glorified. Since You have given Him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom You have given Him. And this is eternal life: that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I glorified You on the earth. I have accomplished the work that You gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in Your own presence with the glory that I had before the world existed. I have manifested Your name to the people whom You gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and You gave them to me, and they have kept Your word. Now they know that everything that You have given me is from You. For I have given them the words that You gave me, and they have received them.

And have come to know in truth that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.

I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of this world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you would take them out of the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in your truth, for your word is truth.

As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake, I consecrate myself that they also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

The glory that you have given me, I have given to them, that they may be one, even as we are one. I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one so that the world may know that you have sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name and will continue to make it known that the love which you have loved me may be in them and I in them.

Lord, we thank You that You prayed this for us. We thank You, Jesus, that You will most certainly make good in fulfilling this prayer. We thank You, Jesus, that You have reconciled us to Yourself and to the Father, and we are one with You and one with one another because of what You have done.

Lord, glorify Yourself through us as we live out this oneness in community and communion here. Stir us up, Lord. Enable us by Your grace to live in a way that proclaims Your praises as You have called us out of darkness and into Your marvelous light. Transform us, Lord, that we would be image bearers of You and reflect You to this world.

We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.