He Reached out you need to know By John Hollier

I'm going to talk about the Lord Jesus Christ this evening and in connection with Him
there's a word that you need to know which I'm sure you're already familiar with
and that is the word reconcile, reconcile.
The family court is supposed to be an institution that encourages people to reconcile.
Husband and wife can't get along. One or both of them have been unfaithful
or many causes. Rather than being friends they are enemies.
The federal government a few years ago realised that the economic cost of marriage breakdown was high
so they talked about the need for reconciliation, trying to put couples back together.
In point of fact the family court is not a court of reconciliation but a court of death.
It reminds me of that businessman a month ago who announced that he was going to set up
a suicide clinic. He said that we'll first try to talk them out of it
but if they want to go ahead to suicide then we'll help them and that's what the family court does.
It tries to reconcile. It gives them a pamphlet. It recommends counselling
but it mainly helps people to put to death their marriages. They make it easy and painless
and I'm sure that the walls of that building in Newcastle cry out at the many innocent spouses
who find themselves divorced and at the many marriages which are ended without real justification.
Well the opposite of divorce is reconciliation and that helps us to
get a fix on the meaning of that word.
Now I want to say that reconciliation is something that people long for. God longs for reconciliation.
He didn't need it but surely it's not the case that he just planned to save
and then figured how everything will be worked out and then sits indifferently on the sidelines.
He longs for reconciliation.
Jesus said that there is greater joy in heaven if one sinner repents.
There will be great joy in heaven tonight if one person here and now were reconciled to God.
Is there someone here who is separate from God tonight?
If so, there are four things that you need to know and four things indeed that Christians
need to know and they're on your handout. One, you need to know who it is through whom
you are reconciled.
Two, you need to know how he did the reconciling.
Three, you need to know what sort of people he reconciled.
And four, you need to know what reconciling does for you.
And so the first point is you need to know who it is through whom you are reconciled.
And that's found in verse 19 where it says,
For it pleased the Father that in him all the fullness should dwell.
Sometimes there is more to a person than meets the eye.
You know that yourself. It's a common experience.
I don't have to teach it to the more mature of you that people are often not what they seem to be.
I often have someone that I'm interviewing and as they speak, question and answer,
more will come out about the person than I thought when I first met them.
Often it will take three or four meetings before a person tells the truth.
There's more to a person than meets the eyes.
On the Today Tonight show this week, Helen Wellings on Prime TV, there was a segment where
they put the reporter, they dressed him up in shoddy clothes, you might have seen it,
and he went in to buy things from clothes shops and to buy cars.
And the shop owners wouldn't give him any service because he was in shoddy clothes.
But there was more to him than met the eye because he then went in and they videoed him
and this time he had good clothes on and there was a great difference in the amount of service
he got. They were interested in selling him something. There is more to a person than meets the eyes.
Well when it comes to the Lord Jesus Christ, the truth about Him is out.
He has been made clear. There is no doubt.
We need to know what that truth is about Him. And it is this, it's in verse 19.
In Him all fullness dwells.
Now what does that mean?
It is a statement that the identity of Jesus is God. It is a statement of His deity.
He could say it's a statement of His divinity but that is a weak word.
It is a statement of His deity that He is God. When we speak of God, God the Creator,
God the all-wise, the all-powerful, the all-present, God who is holy, who is love,
who is light. When we speak of Him, we also speak of Jesus.
The words mean that when Jesus was born, in Him was all the attributes of God.
And it's repeated in chapter 2 verse 9 which says,
For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
I want to say that because Jesus is God, then it's not right to use His name in vain, is it?
Jesus is a God-given name. And it's not funny that people should use His name as a by-word,
as a square word.
I want you also to digest this,
that the words do not only make a point that Jesus is God, but they point us.
The words point us to Christ. Now where do we get that from the text?
Well if you look at chapter 1 verse 9, it uses the word filled.
And then in verse 19, it uses the word fullness. We've just read it.
And in verse 24 of chapter 1, it uses the word fill.
And in chapter 2 verse 9, it uses the word fullness.
And in chapter 2 verse 10, it uses the word complete.
Whatever it was that Epaphras said to Paul,
whatever it was that was affecting these little churches of Colossae and the other ones near it,
whatever it was, was offering to these people a fullness.
Do this and you will become deeply spiritual.
Try this method and you will find true meaning.
Do this extra thing and you will find you will be really fulfilled.
Well you'll find out later on from later speakers what those different methods
were that were on offer by these people and which was infecting and weakening the church.
But whatever it was, Paul combats it by picking up the term and throwing it back in their face.
And he says this, that fullness is in Christ.
So these words were not just making a point,
but pointing them to a person and that is to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And you too, and I too, need to be pointed tonight to the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is at this moment in heaven and He's on the right hand of God
and He's watching what goes on.
He's watching proceedings here tonight.
He sees you in your seat.
He ponders when you are going to believe in Him if you are not a Christian.
When?
So the first point is that you need to know who it is who does the reconciling.
The second point is that you need to know how He did the reconciling.
And we get that in verse 20.
And by Him to reconcile, that is there is the word, all things to Himself.
By Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven,
having made peace through the blood of His cross.
What Jesus did was to deal with the problem.
That is what you do in marriage.
Husband and wife need to reconcile.
The problem must be dealt with.
Might be laziness.
Might be putting the other spouse down.
It might be different aims or different spending priorities
or different ideas on church commitment or a whole lot of things.
Whatever it is, the problem must be worked through.
In us being reconciled to God, Jesus dealt with the problem.
The problem is our sins, our sinful nature.
And the answer is Jesus died for our sins.
Putting that a bit wider, the problem is that we are sinners.
And we have no way of changing ourselves.
We have no way of unraveling what we've done.
No way of cooling down God's wrath that burns against sinners.
No way of doing something to earn mercy.
No way, no hope, no future.
Reminded me of Wayne Goss.
But Jesus came and said words to this effect,
I will lay down my life a ransom for many.
I will die for the sins of my people.
He therefore sacrificed himself.
On the cross he was a sacrifice.
That is why it mentions blood here in these verses.
It was typical of sacrifices.
Like all those sacrifices which had gone on since Abel.
Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the whole system of sacrifices that Israel,
that God had given Israel to show them about the meaning of Christ's death.
Blood was shed indicating that it wasn't an accidental death, not a disease.
But a fast death.
An offering to satisfy God.
A violent offering to show the seriousness of sin.
Jesus offered himself to pay the price for our sins and that he did.
And we who are Christians have our sins forgiven.
Past, present and future.
Therefore there's nothing more important than the cross.
It is the event.
The event.
All the hoopla, all the ticker tape, the laser shows, the dancing girls, the fireworks,
cannot show the importance of this solemn event.
The one in whom all fullness dwelt died.
Jesus died for our sins.
That is how he did the reconciling.
And that's the second point.
And the third point
is that you need to know what sort of people he reconciled.
And that's in verse 21.
And you who once were alienated and enemies in your mind
by wicked works yet now he has reconciled.
We spoke about Christ and recognizing his identity.
But if there is ever an identity problem, surely it's with ourselves.
You and I mistake what we are like.
And this is where we've really got to be clear.
When you face the judge, you do not fantasize about what you are like.
Instead, it is a moment of truth when fantasies are put away for once
and you realize what you are like.
Late last night when I was preparing this,
I caught a fly.
Even though I've turned 34, my reflexes are still good.
This fly, poor creature, was in my hand.
He had been annoying me.
I was after revenge.
For him now came the moment of truth.
The fly did not fantasize about his size.
I presume he thought, I am small, he is big.
He saw it clearly, that difference in size.
What is the difference between us and God?
What is the difference that stands out the most?
It is this, that we are wicked and he is pure.
I've been through it with you before.
Mr. and Mrs. Average are not Mr. and Mrs. Nice Guy.
When it comes to Christian religion,
they will be tolerant.
If you talk to them, they'll be coy.
But they hate the religion that has God as a Jiminy cricket on their shoulder
that is pricking their consciences about whether what they are doing is right or wrong.
Man wants to live unrestrained from God.
And that is why he's called in this verse 21, an enemy of God.
He's an enemy of God in his mind, consciously.
He's against God's way of life.
Do you think if we had a referendum and all the Mr. and Mrs. Averages had to fill it out,
and there was a, the first box was,
do you choose to live by the Ten Commandments?
Will we make that law?
Or will the law be that you can do what you like?
Well, if the Ten Commandments are there in front of them in sub-boxes,
you could just imagine as they went through deciding whether or not they would tick the box
in today's society, thou shalt not commit adultery.
You couldn't see many people ticking that box, could you?
Or the box, thou shalt not lie.
You couldn't see many businessmen deciding to tick that box.
They'd go out of business.
Thou shalt not covet.
You couldn't buy lotto tickets anymore.
There won't be many people who'll tick that.
So Mr. and Mrs. Average, they would tick the second large box.
I would rather live my own way than be subject to those laws.
That is how that referendum would go.
We wouldn't get the numbers.
We'd fail.
Only we'd be brave enough to tick the first box.
So you cannot deceive, I cannot deceive myself as to what my true nature is.
And we cannot deceive ourselves about the true nature of other people.
We are enemies in our mind of God.
And I want to say that the feeling is mutual when it comes to God.
Because in our natural state, we hate Him.
He also returns the compliment.
And He hates us.
That might seem a bit rough.
But it's something that we don't appreciate.
That although we're happy when it comes to our sins, to let bygones be bygones,
God isn't that way.
And in the New Testament, as He reveals Himself, well, throughout the Scripture,
He's a person who vigorously opposes evil.
And if we are the perpetrators of 99% of the evil in this world,
then sure enough, the feeling is mutual.
He hates us.
We are His enemies.
Enemies.
So is it any wonder that we need to be reconciled?
So that's the third point.
You need to know what sort of people He reconciled.
It is His enemies.
The last point is this.
You need to know what reconciliation can do for you.
Verse 22.
He continues to talk about how we're reconciled.
He says,
in the body of His flesh, that's Jesus, through death.
Then He says,
to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable in His sight.
You need to know the benefits of reconciliation.
Our preacher tonight said it.
We are cleansed, emphasis was, from all sin.
To know just what it is that Jesus does in reconciliation,
then you only need to look at what happened after the first sin.
Adam and Eve, when they sinned.
They became unholy, impure.
And so they sought to cover themselves.
Adam and Eve were then blamed.
Made responsible and judged.
They tried to wriggle out of it.
Adam tried to blame Eve.
Eve tried to blame the serpent.
But God pinned the sin on them right where it belonged.
Then Noah sacked and locked out from the garden.
Genesis 3, 24 says,
so he drove out the man.
So he drove out the man.
When you terminate a person's employment,
if it's a matter of incompetence,
you just give them notice, give them a reference,
and give them their entitlements.
But you don't drive them out and lock them out
unless they're your enemy.
And that is what God did to Adam.
But in Christ, all this is reversed.
It says that He makes us holy.
That is pure God's pronouncement to us, or about us,
that we are made right before Him, sinless.
Blameless, or in the King James Version,
it says, unblameable.
In other words, there's no spot or blemish on us.
Whereby any blame can be put on us.
Unblameable, just not possible.
Irapproachable, Paul says here.
No accusations can be made against us anymore.
No bringing up the past.
No failing to reach a standard anymore.
Those things can't be brought up against us.
Instead, we can be in His presence,
just the opposite to Adam.
Because it says, it says, irreproachable in His sight.
Back in the garden, doing our job, pleasing our Maker.
Hell is behind us.
Heaven is assured.
Now this is an amazing shift.
And this reconciliation really is quite something,
the benefits of it, something we do not deserve.
It is all of God's mercy.
Now I want to say that this reconciliation
should be matched in our earthly relationship, should it not?
Our friendship breaks up.
We tend to just wipe our hands of the person after that.
I'll wait till they crawl to me.
But that is ungodlike.
Because God made the first move when it came to us.
He reached out.
Says in the passage that was read to us,
God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself.
Joseph was the one who revealed himself to his brothers.
God had done nothing wrong.
And yet He initiated the remaking of friendships.
And so should we.
It's not good enough between Christians
merely to avoid being hostile if we've fallen out with each other.
There must be a reconciliation.
Well, what are the daily practical benefits of reconciliation?
Well, consider what the benefits are of reconciliation
when a husband and a wife are reconciled.
Now they like being in each other's presence.
Guiltiness of things done in the past is gone.
There is no more harassment of each other.
Well, it's the same when we are reconciled to God.
There are many benefits.
There are all the benefits of salvation.
Being made God's Son.
Having a place reserved in heaven.
Being called a Christian.
Many things.
In a really practical, down-to-earth way,
reconciliation to God should give us a contentedness.
A joy in hard times.
Deep satisfaction.
And this comes from those words where it says,
we're irreproachable in His sight.
If God now loves our presence,
then we are deeply appreciated and accepted by God.
And this is a source of personal satisfaction.
It is not pie in the sky.
Humans are above animals.
Made to be interested in these things.
Made to have a relationship with God.
The things that matter are not food and shelter,
scenery and sport.
But what matters is our relationship with God.
And that is all fixed up, thank God,
to be cause of reconciliation through Christ's death.
Friends, it pleased God the Father to reach out.
It pleased Him to endure the death of His Son for us.
I trust that it pleases you
to humbly thank God.
And that you and I will either recognize our need for reconciliation or know it.
Let's pray.
Lord God, we
thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ and for His death for us.
And for that great event whereby we can stand in your presence once again
in Jesus' name, Amen.