There is treasure in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that treasure can be yours. If you will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, if you will embrace Him, if you will do a new calculation based on what you learned in Isaiah, in chapter 53, about all that’s in Christ, the treasure will be yours, because Christ will be yours. Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. I’m David Pick, and if you’ve decided at some point in your life that Jesus isn’t for you, then Colin, I think today is a good day to stop, take a second look, and see if in fact there’s real value in knowing Jesus. Yes, to take a second look, that’s a marvellous thing, to make a new calculation and to look again at the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, every Christian has, in a sense, the same story in this regard. Nobody was actually born into faith. We all started outside. We all started with a no, that somewhere along the line turned into a yes. At one point we were outside of Christ, and then looking again we were drawn to find faith in Him. So, if you are in the position of saying, well, you know, I had made a decision that Jesus is not for me, I’m so glad that you would be listening to Open the Bible on the very day that we’re inviting people to take another look, to make a new calculation, to look at the evidence in a fresh way and to see if there isn’t something for you in the Lord Jesus Christ. So, today we’re going to look at Jesus through the lens of Isaiah chapter 53. So, if you can, why not join us there with your Bible in verse 3 for the second part of the message, Our Verdict. Here’s Colin. We’re looking at how decisions are made, and Isaiah is particularly pointing us to how unbelief is formed. The mind does a calculation, doesn’t see value in Jesus. It’s weighed up, the pluses and the minuses, and it’s come out to a zero. The heart then directs, and of course then the will decides. And here, look at Isaiah’s words, he was despised and rejected by men. Well, you can see as the word is steamed, takes us into the world of the mind, and men hiding their faces takes us into the world of the heart and of the feelings and of revulsion. The word here, despised and rejected, clearly takes us into the world of the will. We’re speaking here about a decision, about a determined refusal. So, do you see that in these three lines, we have a description of the way in which we make decisions. The mind calculates, we esteemed him not. The heart directs, we hid our faces from him. The will decides, he was despised and rejected. The Apostle John says in John 3 and verse 19, this is the judgment. The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light. See, we like to think that the head rules the heart. But the reality is that we are ruled by what we love. Your heart rules, and your mind is its servant. And the natural state of the human heart is that we are lovers of self, we are lovers of money, we are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. And so, here is how unbelief is formed. Here’s how that decided commitment is made. I like to think of it this way, there’s a memo from the mind to the heart. Dear heart, you have trusted me to give you intelligence, and I am happy to serve you in this way. I have taken initial soundings regarding faith in Jesus Christ, and I have to inform you that he may pose a threat to certain affections that you cherish. What will heart do when heart receives that memo? Well, heart will send another memo to will. Dear will, I have received intelligence from mind to the effect that further engagement with Jesus Christ may pose a risk to certain affections that we cherish. I am therefore instructing you that we should resist any further movement in the direction of faith. Now, you see, this is very simply the normal way in which we make decisions. The mind calculates, the heart directs, and the will decides. And, you know, you can see it in the great evil that is the focus of the entire world’s attention today. The army of one nation invades another country? How could that happen? And the answer is along these lines, surely. That the mind made a calculation. We have a vast army. We can roll our tanks over the border. It’ll all be over in a few days. And the heart then says, Oh, well, that sounds fairly straightforward. And I am set on having these cities as my own. And so the command is given and will is loosed to bring great destruction. But you see the question, what if the intelligence given by the mind to the heart is faulty? Well, then the loss will be very great. Now, that brings us to the second thing that’s really important here. We’ve seen how we make decisions. This is the normal, natural process by which we’re making all kinds of decisions all of the time. The heart reigns. And so how can the heart be changed? How does God change the heart? And here’s what I want us to grasp from our reflection on this remarkable verse today. That the heart will be changed when the mind does a new calculation based on a new discovery. And our Lord Jesus told a marvelous story that illustrates this perfectly. Matthew chapter 13 in verse 44, Jesus said, The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. And then in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys the field. Now, think about this field. It has been lying there. It hasn’t provoked any interest from this man before. In fact, he’s walked over the field for years, never really given it a thought. But in some way, he’s come to discover that there is treasure buried in this field. And so what does he do? He does a new calculation in regards to the field based on his new discovery. And here’s the calculation. It’s very simple. There is treasure that is buried in this field. If this field was ours, we would be rich beyond measure. Therefore, we must buy this field. And Jesus says the man then goes with joy. He sells all that he has in order to buy this field that is going to make him fabulously wealthy. Now, you see how this works. There’s a memo from the mind to the heart. Dear heart, you have instructed me to provide you with intelligence. And I am pleased to inform you of a new opportunity that has opened up for us. I have identified a field in which treasure is buried. And this field is available for our purchase. Now, what’s the heart going to do? Well, of course, the heart is immediately going to send another memo to the will. Dear will, I have received intelligence from mind regarding treasure that is buried in a field. The field is available for purchase. Therefore, I am directing you to buy it at any price. At any price. And armed with that memo, will has the strength to pursue this purpose. Now, Jesus is like a field in which treasure lies buried. If you get the field, you get the treasure. And Isaiah 53 is really a display of the treasure. It’s telling you all that is yours if you have Jesus Christ. This chapter tells us everything that we need to know in order to make a proper evaluation of Jesus. Who He is. What He has accomplished. What it is that He offers to us. Here’s the thing. Knowing the treasure will change your heart. And when your heart gets set on the treasure, you will have the will. You will have the desire to make Christ your own whatever it costs you. Here’s the principle. Your heart will be changed when your mind makes a new calculation based on a new discovery. You’re listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and the second part of our message called Our Verdict. Part of our series, The Gospel According to Isaiah. And if maybe you missed the first part of the message or you want to go back and listen to any of our previous messages, you can always do that by going online. Go to openthebible.org.uk. Back to the message now. Here’s Colin. Now in our last few moments today, I would like then to apply this principle that we’ve drawn from Isaiah chapter 53 and verse 3. And I’d like to apply it in four distinct ways. First, you can use this wonderful truth that the heart will be changed when your mind does a new calculation based on a new discovery. You can use this in your fight against temptation. Temptation, think of the ledger again. Think of the accounting. Temptation gains power in your life when what it offers seems to outweigh what it will cost. Temptation always has its allure. That is true of any temptation. That’s what makes it a temptation. So the question is always, how do you build the strength to resist it? And the answer is, you show your heart the treasure. You begin to list all that is gained by saying no to ungodliness. Peace with God. A clear conscience. The joy of worship. Being filled with the Holy Spirit. A fresh experience of the love of God. Bearing fruit. Being delivered from fear. Show your heart the treasure. Show what is to be gained by resisting temptation. And you will be strengthened in that battle. Your heart will be changed when your mind does a new calculation based on a new discovery. And then, use this principle in reaching out to others. All of us have friends and loved ones who we long to come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes they seem to have very, very little interest. Sometimes there may be someone in your life who just seems determined not to believe. And we’re exploring in this series some practical ways to help. We looked last time at questions. You can ask, what lies behind unbelief for you? Have you been distracted by the wrong considerations? Have you been drawn to the wrong priorities? Are you being driven by the wrong desires? These are helpful questions to open up conversations in what lies behind unbelief. But you know, here’s the greatest thing that you can ever do to help someone who does not yet believe. Show them the treasure. Show them what could be theirs in the Lord Jesus Christ. Show them the great things that Jesus Christ offers. He’s like a field in which there is buried treasure. And when you have the field, you are infinitely rich in Jesus Christ. Point them to the treasure. Pray that God will open their eyes to see it. And the heart of your unbelieving friend or loved one will be changed when he or she makes a new calculation based on a new discovery. And then here’s a third way in which we can use this very important principle that the heart is changed when your mind does a new calculation based on a new discovery. Use this when you suffer. Jesus was a man of sorrows. And the reason that he was a man of sorrows was that we esteemed him not. He was despised and rejected. He was unwanted. We hid our faces from him. Now, have you known what it is to suffer loss? To suffer injustice? To be pushed to the margins? To be despised? To be rejected? Do you know what it is to really feel unwanted? You will find great comfort in knowing that Jesus Christ himself has been there. Think about it. Jesus was a man of sorrows. He was despised and he was rejected. We hid our faces from him. We esteemed him not. Have you been disrespected? You’ve not been given the honor that was due to you? Think about Jesus. We esteemed him not. I’ve been greatly helped by an insight of C.H. Spurgeon, who battled terrible depression, amongst other things, often during his life. And he says this, that the afflicted don’t look for comfort so much to Jesus as he will come a second time, when he returns in power and with glory. No, says Spurgeon, the afflicted look for comfort first to Jesus as he came the first time. A man of sorrows. A man weary. A man full of woes. Now, there’s a profound insight there. It is a marvelous thing to know that all will be well in heaven. But when you really suffer, and when you’re going through great pain, heaven can seem a very, very long way off indeed. And what will help you most in the hardest of times is that Jesus knows sorrow too. He’s been there. And because he’s been there, he is able to walk with you. And then here’s one more way in which we can use this very important truth that we’ve been learning from this remarkable verse today. Use this to overcome the power of unbelief. Isaiah 53 is telling us what we need to know in order to make a right evaluation of Jesus. And what we need to know is that there is treasure in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that this treasure that is in Christ can be yours. Listen, Jesus offers to forgive your sins. To save you from the ultimate judgment of God against sinners. And to reconcile you to God as your own Father. That’s why he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. And the chastisement was on him so that we would enter into peace. He’s the one who will make many to be accounted righteous before God. And forgiveness can be yours in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. And Jesus can bring you into the family of God. You felt yourself pushed to the margins? Jesus wants to bring you into the family of which God himself is the head. The Lord Jesus Christ wants to bring you into his own body, into his own family. He’s gathering a family of people from every background and tribe and nation. And these people will live forever as Jesus himself will live forever. And he wants you to be one of them. And Jesus offers that you will be able to share in his triumph. He will divide the spoil among the strong. I’m saying to you from this verse and from this wonderful chapter today. There is treasure in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that treasure can be yours. If you will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you will embrace him. If you will do a new calculation based on what you learned in Isaiah chapter 53. About all that’s in Christ. The treasure will be yours. Because Christ will be yours. When you know the treasure that’s hidden in Jesus. You won’t hide from him. You won’t reject him. You’ll look at him. And as you look at him. Faith will be formed in you. You’ve been listening to Pastor Colin Smith on Open the Bible. And if you feel your faith has been forming as Pastor Colin’s been leading us to look at Jesus. If God is doing that work in your life. If faith is beginning to form up. I hope you’ll take the opportunity to ask Jesus into your life. If you’re not exactly sure how to go about that. Then talk to a trusted Christian friend or family member. Or go along to a local church and speak with the pastor. Or ask to pray with the prayer ministry team. You’ll be sure of a warm welcome. And please tell us about it. You can email us at hello at openthebible.org.uk And you can also contact us on social media. We’d love to hear your experience. Remember if you ever miss one of our messages. Or if you want to go back and listen again. You’ll find all of our previous messages on our website. That’s openthebible.org.uk You can also find our messages as podcasts. Go to your favourite podcast site. And search for Open the Bible UK. On our website you’ll also find Open the Bible Daily. Which is a series of very short 2-3 minute reflections. Written by Pastor Colin. And read by Sue MacLeish. There’s a new one every day. And it’s a great way to start the day. Sue was in the studio recently. And I asked her what people have been saying to her. About Open the Bible Daily. Well it’s early days. But several comments I’ve received are encouraging. One came from a young mother. Who’d recently given birth to her second child. She’d been worried that she wasn’t finding time for her normal Bible reading and study. But Open the Bible Daily had proved to be just the right length and content for her at this time. Oh yes and then I received an email a few weeks back from a much older person. Who’d started listening regularly to Open the Bible Daily. And had already recommended it to several of her friends. Open the Bible Daily is available on the website. Openthebible.org.uk And it’s also available as a podcast. If you subscribe to the podcast you’ll receive regular updates. For Open the Bible and Pastor Colin Smith. I’m David Pick and I very much hope you’ll join us again soon. God has promised that one day all grief and sorrow will be taken away. Find out how next time on Open the Bible.