Welcome to From the Pulpit in Classic Sermons.
Each week we bring you a different message
from some of history's greatest speakers in the
Christian faith and powerful sermons for modern preachers
too.
This week we have William MacDonald with his
message, Seven Corrective Lenses for Spiritual Eyesight.
This afternoon for our bible study to second
Corinthians chapter five, fifth chapter of second Corinthians
and we'll begin reading with verse nine.
Second Corinthians chapter five verse nine.
Wherefore we labor that whether present or absent
we may be accepted of him.
For we must all appear before the judgment
seat of Christ that everyone may receive the
things done in his body according to that
he hath done whether it be good or
bad.
Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we
persuade men but we are made manifest unto
God and I trust also are made manifest
in your consciences.
For we commend not ourselves again unto you
but give you occasion to glory on our
behalf that ye may have somewhat to answer
them which glory in appearance and not in
heart.
For whether we be beside ourselves it is
to God or whether we be sober it's
for your cause.
For the love of Christ constraineth us because
we thus judge that if one died for
all then we're all dead and that he
died for all that they which live should
not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him
which died for them and rose again.
Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the
flesh yea though we have known Christ after
the flesh yet now henceforth know we him
no more.
Therefore if any man be in Christ he
is a new creature.
Old things are passed away behold all things
are become new and all things are of
God who hath reconciled us to himself by
Jesus Christ and hath given to us the
ministry of reconciliation to it that God was
in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not
imputing their trespasses unto them and hath committed
unto us the word of reconciliation.
Now then we are ambassadors for Christ as
though God did beseech you by us we
pray you in Christ's stead be reconciled to
God for he hath made him to be
sin for us who knew no sin that
we might be made the righteousness of God
in him.
We then as workers together with him beseech
you also that he receive not the grace
of God in vain for he said I
have heard thee in a time accepted and
in the day of salvation have I succored
thee.
Behold now is the accepted time behold now
is the day of salvation.
I think this is one of the most
significant passages of scripture dealing with Christian life
and service.
If you listen very closely you can hear
the heartbeat of the great apostle Paul.
This passage of scripture tells us what made
him tick it tells us what made him
act the way he did and I'd like
to think of it with you this afternoon
in terms of spiritual vision and I would
like to suggest that in this passage of
scripture the spirit of God gives us seven
correctional lenses for our glasses and if we
go forth in life and look at life
through these seven correctional lenses we'll never go
astray we'll never miss out on that which
is central in life.
Now they tell us that nobody has perfect
vision and I guess that's true a lot
of people have 20-20 vision but as
far as the curvature of the human eye
is concerned everybody has a measure of astigmatism
and it's certainly true in spiritual things that
nobody has perfect vision.
Well when you go to the eye doctor
or to the optometrist you know most of
you know many of you know what it's
like you sit there in the chair and
he puts an awkward looking thing in front
of you it used to be a set
of frames but now he has a big
machine of some kind that he puts in
front of you and you look through two
holes in the machine and there's a chart
down there at the other end of the
room and he puts the light on the
chart and you look out through these two
openings and he says now Mr. McDonald what's
the top line on the chart and I
say to him what chart is that doctor
and well he says this is really bad
and so he starts to snap down some
lenses into the frames you know and when
they first start coming down he says now
do you see anything and I'm always reminded
of the scripture that says I see men
as trees walking because it's still kind of
blurry you know just as your faces are
to me right now but then the more
he snaps these lenses down into place the
more things come into focus and the better
the vision is and it really is quite
remarkable before he gets through you have 20
-20 vision well now the spirit of God
in this passage of scripture gives us some
corrective lenses that we as Christians should keep
in our glasses at all times and I'm
going to go over them with you this
afternoon but first of all I'd like to
make a few comments on some of these
verses verse 9 we began with it says
wherefore we labor that whether present or absent
we may be accepted of him I think
any of you who have uh more recent
versions of the bible will find that they're
more accurate in this case verse 9 in
the king james version makes it appear that
by laboring you can become acceptable to God
and that isn't true is it what makes
us accepted with him not the labor of
our hands could fulfill the laws to man
we're accepted in the beloved we read in
Ephesians chapter 1 our acceptance before God is
in the person of his son and so
the real meaning of this verse is wherefore
we make it our aim our ambition that
whether present or absent we may be well
pleasing to him ah well it makes a
big difference doesn't it you don't labor to
be accepted with him you come and believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ receive him as
Lord and Savior and you're accepted in him
but you do labor that whether present or
absent you may be well pleasing to him
and that's exactly what the apostle Paul was
saying his life was one torrent of desire
that he might do the thing that pleased
the heart of Jesus Christ really was one
great torrent of desire to be well pleasing
to him well now we're going to skip
down to verse 11 and we're going to
come to the first corrective lens that the
apostle Paul had in his glasses it says
knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we
persuade men but we are made manifest unto
God and I trust also are made manifest
in your consciences I call this corrective lens
the fact of hell the fact of hell
knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we
persuade men you know it's very easy for
us as Christians to forget about hell isn't
it it's very easy for us as believers
to soft pedal the doctrine of hell and
the more we're able to slide it in
the background the more comfortable our lives will
become but the apostle Paul had some corrective
lenses in his glasses in which he constantly
saw the flaming fires of hell and it
made a difference in his life life now
I know it's an unpopular doctrine today and
yet my bible still says the smoke of
their torment ascendeth up forever and ever doesn't
it say that in your bible my bible
still says where their worm dieth not and
the fire is not quenched and I want
to tell you it's a solemn thought it's
a solemn thought our loved ones our relatives
our friends the people we're visiting day by
day if they go out into eternity without
the Lord Jesus Christ it's the lake of
fire forever and forever about a year ago
this time some of our young people the
fellows in the dormitory at school began getting
desperate with God about that and they they
had a rummage sale up in the dorm
it caused quite a stir some of the
fellows began coming in and buying some of
the bargains and then the spirit of God
convicted them what were they doing buying all
these things in a world where men were
perishing and the sales fell off rather abruptly
all of a sudden well then the fellows
at a dormitory room full of suits and
shoes and radios and jewelry and all the
rest and they didn't know what to do
with it so one day one of them
came in to me and said we'd like
to take some of this down to the
resale center and I said why don't you
said we don't have a car I said
oh I see well we'll go down so
we got the car and we filled it
up with goods and went down to the
resale center but on the way down this
fellow said to me this mcdonald a parable
of the rich man in hell and I
said to him yes he said would it
be safe to say would it be correct
to say that the rich man is still
in hell and I said well you'd have
to say that if you believe the bible
record he said would it be accurate to
say that he hasn't served a second of
his sentence well I said I think you'd
have to say that if you really believe
what the bible teaches then he said to
me of course some people say it was
just a parable and what he was doing
was opening the back door in case I
wanted to go out but I didn't want
to go out there's always a back door
if you want to escape some of the
clear meanings of some of the scriptures you
know there are always people who might have
theological explanations of why these verses don't mean
what they say but thank god for people
who accept the bible at its face value
and their lives are transformed and empowered by
it well I believe that was the case
for the apostle paul he put this correctional
lens in his class as the fact of
hell knowing therefore the terror of the lord
we persuade men and can't you just feel
the urgency in the life of the apostle
paul as he went over land and sea
telling them that there was a hell to
be shunned and a heaven to be gained
now before we come to the next correctional
lens I'd like you to notice verse 13
for whether we be beside ourselves it is
to god whether we be sober it is
for your sake apparently this truth so gripped
the great apostle paul that it made him
look like a fanatic you know that word
fanatic is a dirty word in many circles
today it's a it's an unpopular word but
apparently there was that about the apostle paul
that made him beside himself of course it
was about the lord jesus too there was
that zeal in the life of the lord
jesus that made his own brothers think he
was out of his mind and when he
went cleansing the temple the uh disciples remember
that it was said of him the zeal
of thine house has eaten me up just
think of that just think of the blessed
lord jesus christ consumed with a zeal for
the things of god and that's what his
life was like and so i read this
and i hear people say well you don't
have to be too you know i mean
you can attend church once on sunday i
mean we've all got to be religious and
uh but just become a little outspoken for
the lord jesus and people look down their
sophisticated noses at you and think that you've
gone too far well never mind the great
apostle paul went too far too he says
whether we be beside ourselves as to god
whether we be sober it's for your sake
no matter what his mood might have been
at any particular time his goal was the
same the glory of god and the blessing
of his fellow men well that speaks to
my heart today all right now the second
correctional lens is found in verse 14 he
says for the love of christ constrain us
this is the second thing first of all
he had those correctional lenses in the frames
that by in which he saw the flaming
fires of hell and it made a difference
in his life and it sent him forth
on a passion to see men and women
delivered from that terrible fate but he saw
something else there was there were correctional lenses
in his glasses and constantly he saw a
cross and on that cross the son of
god lifted high between heaven and earth and
he considered the fact of the death of
christ and what it meant that the vision
burned in his soul you know last sunday
as we were remembering the lord or the
local assembly the thought came to me that
really in my life i've only had occasional
glimpses occasional glimpses of the glory of jesus
dying for me on the cross of calvin
i wish the truth would seize me and
grip me and constrain me and compel me
more than it does i'll never forget one
one day out in honolulu in 1945 we
christian fellows in the navy used to um
used to exchange christian books a lot of
time to read wanted to redeem the time
and a sailor boy came to me one
day and he said to me have you
ever read ct stud and i said no
i've never read it he would you like
to i guessed i would innocence abroad i
didn't know what was going to happen and
so he gave me ct stud and i
began to read it on a saturday i
got off duty at noon threw myself in
the grass outside the boq and began to
read this book ct stud and god began
to deal in my heart and um at
supper time i didn't bother to get up
and go in for supper there was something
else more important than that and got dark
and i picked myself up off the grass
and went into the room put on the
light i finished the book at midnight you
know when i finished that book at midnight
i knew i'd never go back to the
first national bank of boston my little world
of ticker tape went out the window that
day do you know what did it a
statement by ct stud he said if jesus
christ be god and die for me then
no sacrifice can be too great for me
to make for him and that verse slew
me that day it really did i couldn't
answer it but i closed the book for
that week i sat down and wrote a
letter to the bank and told him don't
bother to hold the job i won't be
coming back to it i didn't know what
the lord had for me but i knew
god had spoken to me i knew i
felt a divine tap on the shoulder and
i praise god for that i praise god
for that whole experience experience i'll never forget
if jesus christ be god and died for
me then no sacrifice will be too great
for me to make for him you know
we sing this all the time and every
time i sing that hymn just a faint
glimpse of light comes in upon me but
not the great unveiling that it should be
when i survey the wondrous cross on which
the prince of glory died my richest gain
i count but lost and poor contempt and
all my pride see from his head his
hands his feet sorrow and love flowed mingled
down did air such love and sorrow meet
or thorns composed so rich a crown were
the whole realm of nature mine that were
an offering far too small love so amazing
so divine demands my soul my life my
all i'll tell you there's nothing that'll melt
the ice of our hearts like a vision
of the lord jesus christ dying for us
on calvary's cross and it's only as we're
able to forget that that we can ever
become complacent it really is oh christ thy
bleeding hands and feet thy sacrifice for me
each wound each tear demands my life a
sacrifice for thee that's what paul said in
romans 12 1 and 2 i beseech you
therefore brethren by the mercies of god and
he had just taken 11 chapters to expound
the mercies of god he says i beseech
you by the mercies of god that you
present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable
unto him be not conformed to this world
be transformed by the renewing of your mind
and he speaks of it as our reasonable
service and really nothing else is reasonable in
the light of calvary well the apostle paul
says the love of christ constraineth us as
you know that's an interesting expression that word
means it really moves us along in the
united states at christmas time there's quite a
rush down around the department stores and the
rush is so great that really about all
you have to do is just get into
the middle of the crowd and lift up
both feet simultaneously and the crowd will just
bear you along and that's what the word
means constrains it means impels along moves along
and the apostle paul says is a great
constraining force in my life and it's this
that i saw the lord jesus christ come
down from heaven to bethlehem and go on
to the cross for me and the lord
of life and glory poured out his soul
to death for me a guilty vile ungodly
sinner and i'll never get over it as
long as i live and throughout all eternity
i'll never get over it well he says
here the love of christ constrains us because
we thus judge i like that expression because
we thus judge what does it mean when
he says god doesn't expect us to throw
our minds away when we come to this
whole christian faith he wants us to sit
down and ponder it sit down and consider
it all right he says sit down before
the cross and start thinking and what will
you think well he says we thus judge
that if one died for all then we're
all dead why did jesus die for us
all because otherwise we were all dead and
on the way to hell that's why he
died for us he died for us because
we couldn't save ourselves he died for us
because we were at the end of our
ropes and if left to ourselves we would
have perished eternally the fact that he died
for us was proof positive that we were
dead in ourselves why did he die that
he died for all that they which live
should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto
him which died for them and rose again
the lord jesus didn't die for me in
order that henceforth i might go on and
live my life the way i want to
live it pleasing myself in all things he
died for me on the cross of calvary
so that henceforth i might not live unto
myself but unto him who died for me
and rose again the purpose of his dying
was that he might be lord that's why
that's why he died that he might be
lord it's a wonderful revelation that comes to
the human soul when the child of god
realizes that he was bought at the cross
and that fact means that i no longer
belong to myself i belong to the lord
jesus and if if i'm to take my
life and do with my life what i
want to do with it then i am
a what anybody a thief that's what it
is a thief because you're taking something really
that doesn't belong to you isn't that true
i say it's a wonderful revelation when that
comes home to the heart and then the
only logical reasonable sane sensible thing you can
do is say thou hast bled and died
for me henceforth i will live for thee
the only sensible sane reasonable thing to do
is to turn over the reins of the
life to him that he died for all
that they which live should not henceforth live
unto themselves but unto him which died for
them and rose again so there's the second
corrective lens the love of christ and of
course that takes you right back to calvary
the cross keep it in your glasses keep
it in your spiritual classes look at life
through that correction now the third corrective lens
is found in verse 16 it says wherefore
henceforth no we no man after the flesh
yea though we have known christ after the
flesh yet now henceforth no we him no
more what does that mean well the first
part of it means that now that i'm
a christian i don't look at men as
mere men in the flesh before i was
saved i would walk down the street and
i'd see that woman going by with a
ridiculous hairdo and i'd kind of snort inwardly
and kind of ridicule her now i'd see
some fellow and i had a way of
pigeonholing people and classifying them you know according
to my own proud estimate of what people
should be the apostle paul says now that
i'm i don't look at people that way
i don't look at people look down upon
them and scorn them and ridicule them i
look at people and i see precious souls
for whom the lord jesus christ has died
makes a difference doesn't it really makes a
difference precious so the apostle paul says when
i look at a man i don't even
think of what he is now so much
as what he could be for god throughout
all eternity that really is tremendous isn't it
really is tremendous to think that that man
wallowing around in the gutter steeped in sin
and drunkenness and misery and all the rest
could hear the gospel could respond to the
gospel could receive the lord jesus christ and
could be there gathered with those from every
tribe and nation in eternity worshiping the lamb
of god what a vision that's what the
apostle paul is saying here as forth no
we know men after the flesh we don't
look at people in that way anymore we
have a we have a new way of
looking at them i would call this lens
the the value and eternity of a soul
the value and eternity of a soul and
in this connection i would think of the
most ragged sinful person in all the world
tonight and remember that if i could heap
all the riches in the world all the
stocks bonds diamonds gold silver money real estate
and all the rest if i could heap
it all into a big mountain that that
one soul least esteemed in the world tonight
is worth more than all the treasure put
together what is a man profited if he
gained the whole world and lose his own
soul or what shall a man give in
exchange for soul and i look at calvary's
cross and i see the lord jesus christ
dying there for sinners and i get some
estimate of god's value of a human soul
and that's what paul's saying here so i
look at people and i see potentially the
brand of redemption on every human forehead yes
if even if we seen christ after the
flesh yet now henceforth no we him no
more what does that mean well you know
it's better to know christ today by the
spirit through the word of god than it
was to have been one of the disciples
and know him when he was here on
earth does that sound like heresy to you
well let me explain i believe that's what
the lord meant when he said to mary
don't cling to me mary i'm going to
ascend to my father and after i ascend
to my father and the holy spirit comes
you'll know me better than you ever knew
me before let me just explain it this
way when jesus was here on earth in
the body supposing he were standing here well
he'd be closer to ray than he would
to the folks in the back row there
who's he closer to tonight in this room
oh he's just as close to one of
us as he is to the other and
not alone there but matthew when he was
here on earth saw jesus through matthew's mark
saw him through mark's eyes luke saw him
through luke's eyes and john saw him through
john's eye and we see him through the
eyes of matthew mark luke john and the
spirit of god reveals him to us in
all the splendor that god wants us to
see him we used to sing when we
were children i think when i read that
sweet story of old when jesus was here
among men how he called little children as
lambs to his foe i should like to
have been with him then well i should
like to it's really better to be with
him now it really is we know the
lord jesus better by the spirit through the
word of god today than the disciples knew
him when he was here on earth and
so paul says we don't cling to christ
in that carnal earthly way that some did
when he was here though we have known
christ after the flesh yet now henceforth no
we him no more well there you have
the the third correctional lens the value and
eternity of a soul we sang that last
sunday and teach me savior teach me the
value of a soul and then the next
correctional lens is found in the very next
verse it says therefore if any man be
in christ he's a new creature or there
is a new creation all things have passed
away behold all things are become new and
i would call this correctional lens the purpose
of our creation the purpose of our creation
first of all why was i created in
the first place i want to look at
life through that correctional lens and also why
was i created anew why was i born
again why was i created in the first
place and why was i saved falls as
if that i may apprehend that for which
i was apprehended of christ jesus so there
must have been a purpose in it and
i want that purpose to be lived out
in my life now let's think of that
do you think that men are born babies
in order that they might die grocers is
that why people are born you know within
the last two years i've been making a
study of some of the things that men
that men have lived for passionately and devotedly
i have a young friend professing christian and
the the passion of his life is turbulence
in the upper atmosphere he wrote a phd
thesis on it is that why we were
born i mean i can see there's a
place for this in life i mean for
an occupation if you have to have an
occupation why study turbulence in the upper atmosphere
but to make it the main passion of
your life is that what it is i
have another friend and and um his great
study in life is seaweed in woods hole
massachusetts well you laugh at that but you
haven't heard anything yet i went over to
concordia seminary with the last two years and
put down pull down some books from the
shelf on subjects that men have made an
intensive study on subjects deep subjects like um
like uh mineral deficiencies in the tomato and
the cocklebur is that why we were born
well some of you are laughing but after
you get out maybe in the field and
the going gets rough and you feel a
strong pull to go back and you know
get into the academic world again you probably
want to study what some of the rest
of them have studied the browning reaction in
potato chips people are spending their life on
that today they really are the browning reaction
potato chips or oxygen consumption in the earthworm
or the butterflies of burma really i can
authenticate every one of them i mean is
that why i was born why did god
save me really why did he save me
i'd like to suggest to you tonight that
nobody that no christian is ever called to
be a plumber a carpenter a baker or
any of those things well that's shocking i
know but before you jump on me let
me say this our calling is to be
witnesses for the lord jesus christ and those
other things are secondary i don't say there's
no place for them in the christian life
but that's not our call paul the apostle
never said he never said paul called to
be a tent maker he said paul called
to be an apostle the tent making was
to pay expenses and i don't despise the
tent making not for a minute but dear
young friends today it's not our calling in
life no matter what your relatives say no
matter what your parents say no matter what
the professors say god has called us to
higher service than them he really has he
really has and so he says therefore if
any man be in christ he's a new
there's a new creation all things are passed
away behold all things have become new and
i want to look at life through this
correction lens and say why why am i
here why did god stoop down in sovereign
grace and save me i want to find
out and i want that purpose to be
worked out in my life whatever it is
when the brooklyn bridge was being built well
the man had he had it all out
on the blueprint there the designer of the
brooklyn bridge and they started the construction and
right after they started it he was seriously
injured and dragged off to the hospital and
all the time the bridge was under construction
this man was in the hospital finally on
the day the bridge was finished and to
be dedicated he was well enough that they
could put him in a stretcher and put
him in the ambulance and take him down
by the river and show him the completed
structure and when they put him out there
on the stretcher by the bank of the
river and he looked up and saw the
bridge he said it's exactly according to plan
but you know one day god is going
to call us home to be with himself
and he's going to bring out the blueprint
of our lives i believe it with all
my heart i want to be nice if
you can look at the blueprint in that
day and say it's exactly according to plan
that's really what will count in that day
now just let me pause here to say
a word about this verse not in connection
with our correctional lenses this verse used to
bother me as a young christian i'd hear
people get up and say therefore if any
man be in crises a new creature old
things have passed away all things have become
new and they got up and and they
gave their testimony they created the impression that
now they were saved or no problems at
all everything was rosy and i used to
sit there and think i wonder if i'm
saved i sure can't say that i mean
i was just being honest with myself and
saying well boy when i got saved i
wish i could say that old things passed
away and all things became new but they
didn't still had a lot of old habits
still had a lot of old desires still
had the strivings of the old nature within
me i guess i'm not saying once again
wherever there's a difficulty in the bible i
say again the key hangs in the door
and the key is in this verse it's
in christ therefore if any men be in
christ and this verse is describing what i
am in christ and i thank god i
can stand before you today and say that
in christ all things passed away and all
things became new they didn't all it didn't
all happen in me but it did in
christ he said what do you mean in
christ well condemnation for instance was one of
the old things there is therefore now no
condemnation to them that are in christ jesus
you see those things have all passed away
thank god they are passing away in me
too all the old habits all the old
but they didn't all happen at once it's
like lazarus the lord said lazarus came come
forth and that body wrapped like a mummy
came hurtling out of the grave it really
did he didn't walk out he was bound
he came out he got life and then
the lord said loose him and let him
go and then he got rid of his
grave clothes well when we're saved we're saved
instantly and then over the days that follow
we start to get rid of the grave
clothes don't we so this verse doesn't bother
me anymore this verse is my position it's
what i am in christ and god wants
my practice to increase increasingly correspond to it
but i don't look at it anymore and
wonder if i'm saved because i can say
thank god in christ all things have passed
away all things have become new and i
want it to be true in william mcdonald
more and more too all right then i
call the next correction lens the responsibility of
those who have the answer the the responsibility
of those who have the answer and i
want to tell you it's a solemn thing
to have the answer and not to do
anything about it verses 18 through the end
of the chapter remind us that god has
committed to us the answer to the world's
problems the ministry of reconciliation this is what
men need we're ambassadors of christ and the
picture is god on his knees before men
and women beseeching them through us to be
reconciled to him through the lord jesus christ
and i want to look at life through
this correctional lens mcdonald you have the answer
you know what the world needs and what
the world needs desperately what are you going
to do about it in 1942 i went
on duty in the navy in my first
tour of duty it was a dry land
navy actually it was the air arm of
the navy i was down in kansas city
and one night i went into the officer's
mess hall there and uh there was only
one other person in it uh pilot pilot
from minnesota max newtson and i he had
ordered his supper and was reading the kansas
city times but i went in and ordered
my supper and i had the paper too
and was reading it the spirit of god
said to me you better witness to him
how he was busy he was wrapped up
in his paper and i was wrapped up
in mine spirit of god seemed to say
to me witness to him tell him the
story you've got it you've got the answer
supposing he goes out into outer darkness what
then and i didn't do it you know
how we were in a combat zone there
was no danger you know nothing like that
you know that night max newtson took off
in a cargo flight with a co-pilot
for the west coast landed at windslow arizona
took off and the plane disappeared couldn't find
it anywhere you mean what do you mean
disappeared in the continental limits of the united
states how can a plane disappear disappeared a
week went by they didn't find it month
went by they couldn't find it two months
three months went by couldn't find it just
went out into nowhere the end of six
months when the spring thaw came some boy
scouts were climbing san francisco peak just outside
of windslow arizona they saw the tail structure
of a plane sticking out of the snow
and you know the rest of the story
i was there at the hangar back in
kansas city when they brought back the effects
they brought back there the luggage i can
see it today as vividly and of course
they spread all the personal effects out on
the tarpaulin there on the hangar deck and
the inventory it but then they send it
home to the parents and i can't tell
you what it meant for me that day
to walk by that hangar door and see
max newtson's stuff all there and the other
fellows too and i went back to my
room and wept hot tears and asked the
lord that that might not happen in my
life again spirit of god it really told
me well that's what paul's speaking about here
the responsibility of those who have the answer
put those lenses in your spiritual glasses and
look at life through that and then the
last one that i'd like to mention to
is found in verse 10 i'm going back
because it'll be the last chronologically in our
lives but we must all you know it
says in the king james version we must
all appear before the judgment seat of christ
but the revised version and other versions say
better we must all be made manifest before
the judgment seat of christ there's a difference
between appearing and being made manifest i call
the doctor and i tell him that i'm
having severe intestinal disorders and i want to
see him and so he says very well
appointment two o'clock tomorrow so tomorrow tomorrow
afternoon i go to the doctor and i
stand before him i appear before the doctor
well that's quite tame i think very exciting
about that then he said to me look
i got a little machine over here called
a fluoroscope and i'd like you to just
come and stand in front of the machine
and so i go and stand in front
of the machine and he turns on the
the current and he sees right through me
he does he sees right through me at
two o'clock i appeared before him that's
one thing but when he turned on the
current i was made manifest before him and
this verse says for we must all be
made manifest before the judgment seat of christ
that everyone may receive the things done in
his body according to what he hath done
whether it be good or bad you say
well what how do you fit this correctional
lens in your class well i'll tell you
how day by day by asking ourselves the
question what will really count a hundred years
from today that's what what will really be
important then and i want to tell you
a lot of the things that young christians
are looking are are going after today are
going to look pretty sick a hundred years
from today pretty sick the whole thing will
be brought into review not for condemnation we've
already gone over that land that we've compassed
that mountain long enough we're not going to
take it up again today this has to
do with reward loss and reward but you
know in this connection i often think of
of a doctor in montreal i think his
name is dr penwell and he has been
a specialist in brain surgery you know and
he developed a technique some years ago where
he could put a person on the operating
table and with nothing more than a local
anesthetic he could open up the brain and
actually expose the human brain and he has
a little electrode in his hand and the
woman is lying there and her brain is
open and he touches a certain section of
the brain and he says to her um
do you feel anything yeah she says i
feel my little finger when you do that
ah he charts that that's the part of
the brain that controls the little finger so
he'll touch another part of the brain he'll
say what is it now oh she'll say
i'm um i'm back in the hospital i'm
i'm back in the hospital i'm having my
first baby she says i can smell the
ether just by touching that part of her
brain with the electrode it all comes back
to her that visit to the hospital and
uh so he'll touch another part of the
brain he said what what is it now
and she'll say oh i'm in the living
room of my home we have the record
player going aida i can hear it quite
clearly just imagine by touching that part of
her brain it all comes back to her
listen if dr penwell in montreal with a
little electrode touching the human brain can do
that what can god do at the judgment
seat of christ that's it and that's what
paul's talking about here and he says every
day as i go through life i want
to keep in mind the fact that pretty
soon i'm going to stand before the judgment
seat of christ and my life will be
brought into review the things done in the
body but i want to hear his well
done in that day well done thou good
and faithful servant enter thou into the joy
of the lord what's really going to count
a hundred years from today so in this
passage of scripture we have these correctional lenses
i don't know what god might have for
you in your life i don't know just
what his will is but i do know
this that if you really keep these correctional
lenses in the glasses look at life through
them you'll come to the end and your
life will have been worthwhile but i think
that's what john meant when he said and
now little children abide in him that when
he shall appear we may have confidence and
not be ashamed before him at his coming
do you ever think of the possibility of
shame before christ at his advent most people
will deny it as a theological impossibility the
bible speaks about it as a practical possibility
and not be ashamed before him that is
coming you've been listening to the from the
pulpit and classic sermon series this week you
heard william mcdonald with this message seven corrective
lenses for spiritual eyesight tune in next week
to hear zach coonan speak about first corinthians
chapter 11 verses 1 through 34 on from
the pulpit and classic sermons