All of us have unbelieving friends, neighbors, colleagues, relatives. What should we ask them to consider about Jesus? Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. I’m David Pick. And Colin, that is such a practical question. What should we ask them to consider? Well, three things immediately. One would be the evidence in relation to Jesus. Another would be the loss in rejecting Jesus. You’ve got to count the cost if you turn away from someone who offers you so many good things. And then the third would be the gain in receiving Jesus. All that can be yours in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. But the key word today is consider. That’s the issue. We’re looking today at Isaiah chapter 53 and verse 8, where we read that by oppression and judgment, he was taken away. And as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off from the land of the living? There were so many people who just didn’t think rightly about the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the invitation today is, will you consider the Lord Jesus Christ? Will you consider the evidence in relation to him, the cost of rejecting him and the gain that could be yours in receiving him by faith? So let’s get right down to the message. We’re in Isaiah chapter 53 and verse 8. As we continue our message, humiliation. Here’s Colin. Now, all of us have unbelieving friends, neighbours, colleagues, relatives. What should we ask them to consider about Jesus? Well, this verse is going to point us directly to the answer. I want us to see from this verse three things that you might ask your unbelieving friends to consider. Three vital things that the people in Jesus’ generation did not consider. Three things that are therefore vital for every one of us to consider today. And the first of these is to consider the evidence in relation to Jesus. Notice what he says. By oppression and judgment, he was taken away. And as for his generation, who considered? Now, when Isaiah refers to the judgment of Jesus, we are immediately pointed to the trial where the normal process of justice was clearly denied to our Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew tells us that the chief priests and the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death. But they found none. Though many false witnesses came forward, at last two came forward and said, this man said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days. Do you see what Matthew records? They were seeking, actively seeking, false testimony. That there were many false witnesses who came forward. Eventually, there were two who came forward with a similar story. Although Mark tells us that the problem there was that even there in their testimony, they did not agree. Now, when you read the story of the trial of the Lord Jesus Christ, the obvious question is, where were the witnesses who could have spoken in Jesus’ defense? There were plenty of them. Why were they never called? Jesus was accused of forbidding people to give tribute to Caesar. That’s Luke chapter 23 and verse 2. But Jesus had said publicly, give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, give to God what is God’s. There were many people who could have been called to give testimony to the fact that he had said that quite clearly. Why were they not called? Well, the evidence was not considered. The high priest condemned Jesus because he claimed to be the Messiah. Matthew chapter 26 and verse 63. He says to Jesus, I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ. That’s the charge that was put. You’re claiming to be the Christ. That is the Messiah. Now, there were many people who could have been called into that court to give evidence in Jesus’ defense that indeed he was the Christ. That he did the things that only the Messiah himself could have done. Charles Simeon was a 19th century pastor in Cambridge in England. And he points out that there were many who could have spoken, giving testimony as witnesses in defense of the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, one man could have come and said, I was blind and he made me see. Another could have come and said, I was gripped by Satan’s power, but it was Jesus who set me free. And if Lazarus had been called, he could have said, I was dead and in the grave. But Jesus raised me to life. Even Judas, who had betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ, regretted what he had done. He threw the 30 pieces of silver onto the floor of the temple. And he said, I have sinned by betraying innocent blood. But none of these witnesses who could have spoken in defense of the Lord Jesus Christ were called. Jesus’ generation did not consider the evidence. Loud voices were raised against Jesus. False witnesses came forward. A distorted picture was presented. And true witnesses were never called. So, Jesus was crucified by people who did not know who he was. Think about that. The New Testament underlines this many times. Jesus was crucified by people who did not know who he was. They didn’t look at the evidence. So, when Jesus was nailed to the cross, he said, Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. They don’t know what they’re doing. And then Peter, in Acts chapter 3, was speaking to a crowd that included clearly many people who, just a short time earlier, had called for Jesus to be crucified. And he says, And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. And then in 1 Corinthians, in chapter 2, the apostle Paul speaks about God’s wisdom. And then he says, None of the rulers of this age understood this. For if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. The people who crucified Jesus did not know who he was. And the reason they didn’t know who he was, was that they did not look at the evidence. They didn’t consider it. They just dismissed it. Now, our generation is in precisely the same position. All around us today, loud voices are raised against Jesus in our generation. Many people have a thoroughly distorted picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. How would you know if you had a distorted picture of the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, there’s only one way to find out. You have to look at the evidence for yourself. And the evidence is available for you. There are four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They record what Jesus said. They record what Jesus did. And John says at the end of the fourth Gospel, These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. See, this is how people come to faith. By looking at the evidence. Listening to what Jesus said. Looking at what Jesus did. These are written that you may believe. So consider the evidence in relation to Jesus. In a moment, we’ll come back and consider the loss in rejecting Jesus, as well as the gain in receiving him. So I hope you’ll stay with us. You’re listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and the message Humiliation, part of our series, The Gospel According to Isaiah. And if you ever miss one of our broadcasts, you can always catch up or go back and listen again online. Go to openthebible.org.uk You can also find our messages as podcasts. Just go to your favorite podcast site and search for Open the Bible UK. Look for the purple logo and subscribe to receive regular updates. Let’s get back to the message now. Here’s Colin. Consider the evidence in relation to Jesus. Now that’s the first thing. Here’s the second thing. That you can give us an invitation. An ask of your unbelieving friends. Ask them to consider the evidence in relation to Jesus. And then ask them the second thing. To consider the loss in rejecting Jesus. Now look again at our verse. Who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living? Now this verse then clearly is inviting us to consider the fact that our world has rejected Jesus. He was cut off from the land of the living. Now the Gospels record one occasion where Jesus went across the Lake of Galilee and arrived in a region known as the land of the Gerasenes. And when Jesus arrived in this area that seemed to be particularly dark, he was immediately confronted by a man who was possessed by evil powers. This man was clearly a terror to the community in which he lived. And the people had tried to bind him. You can read the story in Mark in chapter 5. They bound him with chains. But every time they did that, he seemed to be able to break free. He had remarkable, remarkable power because of these evil powers that had taken possession of his life. And so here you have a community and people are afraid. This man’s out in the hills, among the graves. And he’s wailing and shouting in the night. And people are wondering where he’s going to go and what he’s going to do next. No one was able to do anything about it. And Jesus cast out the evil powers that bound this man. The man was wonderfully, instantly restored. A calm came upon him. He got dressed. He was in his right mind. And when the people saw him, they must have been absolutely astonished. Now you would think that the people of that community, since Jesus had just solved their number one social problem, you would think that they would say to Jesus, please stay. I mean, when we see what you’ve done in the life of this man, we have other problems in this community. Would you stay? Would you stay? We want to see what you can do in the lives of other people, with other needs in our community. Please stay. We need you here. We want you here. And that’s absolutely not what they said. Mark records that the people of the town began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. And he did. Jesus did what they asked. He got into the boat. And he left. Now, what will happen to a place where people ask Jesus to leave? Here’s Jesus, and he’s the one, the only one, who has the power to subdue evil. And here are people who have just seen that power miraculously at work, and they say, please go. Well, clearly what will happen in the place where Jesus is asked to leave is that the evil that only he is able to subdue is going to abound. So, you see, here is a real question for everyone. We all ask this question, whether we believe or not. We ask this question, why is the world as it is today? Unbelievers ask this question. Why is it that evil abounds? We can ask our unbelieving friends in this generation to consider the fact that Jesus, who has the power to subdue evil, was cut off from the land of the living. In other words, think about the loss of this world’s rejection of Jesus. This world has said to Jesus, we don’t want you here. We crucified him. And when the light is put out, well, then what you have is a great darkness. So, consider the evidence in relation to Jesus, and then consider the loss in rejecting Jesus. In rejecting Jesus. And for us personally, to reject Jesus would lead to your everlasting loss. Don’t do that. And then there’s a third question that we can ask our unbelieving friends to consider. And that is to consider the gain in receiving Jesus. Look at what Isaiah says here one more time. Who considered that he was stricken for the transgression of my people? My people. Now, remember, this is God himself, the Almighty, speaking these words through the mouth of the prophet Isaiah. Jesus bore the punishment for the sins of God’s people. Now, there are other scriptures that clearly and very wonderfully state the sufficiency of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ in regards to the sins of the whole world. So, we can say to any person, and I say with great joy and freedom today, however far you are from God, however great your sins may be, however long you have been pushing the grace of God away from you, Jesus Christ is ready to receive you. Jesus is ready to forgive you, and his death for sinners is sufficient for you. But I want us to notice the death of Jesus is sufficient for the sins of the whole world. That’s not the focus here. The focus here is on the death of Jesus in relation to God’s own people. And, you see, the danger that we face as believers is that we become so familiar with the truth that Jesus died on the cross for sins, that we feel that this is something simply that our unbelieving friends need to hear. And I want to say from the heart today, brothers, sister, this is what we need to hear. Jesus was stricken for the transgressions of God’s people, and that’s us. It was my sin that nailed him there until it was accomplished. Now, it would be very easy to get the idea that somehow God owed it to us to send his son into the world. That somehow there was some kind of moral obligation on Jesus to be stricken for our transgressions, but nothing could be further from the truth. I want you to think about this, that there are legions of fallen angels. That is, angels who fell into sin before the creation of the world, and there is no savior for them. Peter tells us in his second letter, chapter 2 and verse 4, God did not spare angels when they sinned. What did he do? He cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment. Now, if God did not send a savior for fallen angels, why did he send a savior for us? I hope you’re not expecting me to answer that question, because no one possibly can. To all eternity, we’re going to be lost in love and wonder and praise as we stare into the mystery of God’s marvelous mercy and grace towards us. Consider what is yours in Christ. He was stricken for your transgressions. And then, if you have not yet believed, consider what could be yours in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, if you will turn to him in repentance, if you will trust yourself to him as your savior and as your Lord, he will be yours. And all that he accomplished on the cross will be yours with him. Consider the gain in receiving Jesus. Your sins will be forgiven. You will have peace with God, and your healing will have begun. What a powerful way to end our message today, considering what it would mean to receive Jesus. If you’ve never done that, I hope you’ll take action today. Pray a simple prayer asking Jesus to come into your life, forgive your sins, and make you into a new person. Go and tell someone about it, maybe a trusted Christian friend or family member, or go along to a local fellowship church. You’ll be sure of a warm welcome. Also, write to us and tell us about it. We’d love to hear from you. You can email us at hello at openthebible.org.uk. You’ve been listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. Open the Bible is supported by our listeners, and we want to thank you for that. If you’re able this month to set up a new donation in the amount of five pounds or more, we’d love to send you a free gift. It’s a book by J.I. Packer entitled Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God. So, Colin, the book is about evangelism and God’s sovereignty, but why is this book so important? Oh, well, it has been very important in my life. I read it first many years ago, and the mark of a good book, in my view, is it’s one you keep going back to, and this is one that I do keep going back to, because Packer speaks so clearly about this really important issue of evangelism and the sovereignty of God. And the issue is simply this, that the Bible quite clearly proclaims that God has done more than make salvation possible. God actually saves people. Salvation is of the Lord, and that’s the sovereignty of God. God saves, and believers know this by instinct, that though I have made a decision to follow Christ, God somehow laid hold of me and has wonderfully turned my life around. But, of course, the question that then arises is, well, if it’s God who saves, then why don’t we just leave him to do it? And, of course, that would cut out evangelism altogether. So how does our responsibility to share the gospel with people who don’t yet believe relate to the wonderful truth that God is in the business of saving people, evangelism and the sovereignty of God? Packer’s book helped me on seeing how these things don’t fight each other, they actually complement each other, and they hold together very wonderfully. It’s beautifully written, it’s very clear, and I’m really excited that we’re able to share this with folks who listen to the program. If you find it a tenth as helpful as I found it, you will be greatly blessed. Full details of the offer on our website, openthebible.org.uk. For Open the Bible and Pastor Colin Smith, I’m David Pick, and I very much hope you’ll be able to join us again soon. What happened at Jesus’ burial? Find out next time on Open the Bible.