Maybe I should say at the outset that
I won't be the least bit offended if
you men who are wearing coats would like
to take them off.
And I think the Lord wouldn't mind either.
I think he'd rather you be comfortable.
Somebody said to me this morning it was
going to be 98, and I've been roasting
ever since they said that.
And I'd also like to express my thanks
once again to the staff and to all
of you for the wonderful time here at
the conference, days of heaven on earth, and
they come to an end all too quickly.
Would you turn in your Bibles this morning,
please, to 2 Corinthians 5, that I would
like to begin reading in verse 10.
2 Corinthians 5, verse 10.
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 that 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 with glory in appearance and not in
heart.
For whether we be beside ourselves, it is
to God, or whether we be sober, it
is for your cause.
For the love of Christ constraineth us, because
we thus judge that if one died for
all, then were 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 wit 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."
I'd like to speak to you this morning
on 20-20 vision.
Maybe I should have chosen a different text,
because you really find 20-20 vision in
John 20-20.
You know what it says?
It says, Then were the disciples glad when
they saw the Lord.
That's 20-20 vision, isn't it?
Actually, in a physical sense, no one has
perfect vision.
Many of you, I see, are not wearing
glasses, so that's fine.
Your vision is quite adequate, but they tell
me that the curvature of the eyeball is
not perfect in anyone, because nothing's perfect in
this life, and everybody has a stigmatism to
one extent or another.
But most of you are getting by handsomely.
I see some in the audience who are
wearing glasses, and probably some have lenses that
I can't see.
But when you don't have perfect sight, sometimes
you have to go to the optometrist or
the eye doctor, and some of you will
know what I'm talking about.
I go there, and he sits me down
in a chair, and it's kind of a
long, narrow, dark room, and he puts kind
of a gadget in front of my eyes.
He closes this eye altogether, and here's a
hole in this eye, and he says to
me, Now, Mr. McDonald, what do you see
on the chart?
And I say, what chart is that, doctor?
And he says, my, this is really a
serious case.
We've got to do something about that.
So, he starts flipping lenses into that machine,
whatever it is.
I wish I knew the name of it.
And he says, now what do you see?
Well, all I can think of is a
verse that says, I see men as trees
walking, or trees as men walk.
It's all very vague and obscure to me.
So, he keeps flipping lenses in, and you
know, pretty soon, everything's clear.
Everything is clear, and I can read the
lines on the chart.
He does it with both eyes.
So, that's my 2020 vision.
Wonderful, isn't it?
I would like to suggest to you, in
the passage of Scripture we read today, that
there are seven correctional lenses that God has
for us to give us 2020 spiritual vision.
Seven correctional lenses.
And the first one is in verses 11
through 13, where Paul says, Now, actually,
I'm going to take those words out of
context, and in doing so, I'm going to
explain it to you, what I'm doing.
In the context, when Paul says, Knowing, therefore,
the fear of the Lord, we persuade men,
he's not speaking about the fact of hell.
That's what I'm going to use it for.
The fact of hell.
What Paul is saying in verses 11 through
13 is that, Knowing the fear, having a
reverential awe of God, he persuades men as
to the integrity of his ministry.
That's what he's really talking about, the integrity
of his ministry.
There was no hocus-pocus about his ministry.
Everything was above board.
He was a man of character, ministering the
word of God in power.
Knowing, therefore, the fear of the Lord, we
persuade men that we are made manifest unto
God, and I trust also are made manifest
in your consciences.
Notice, for we commend not ourselves unto you,
but give you occasion to glory on our
behalf, that ye may have somewhat to answer
them with glory in appearance and not in
heart, and so forth.
He's talking about his own ministry there.
But, I'd like to use this passage, Knowing,
therefore, the terror of the Lord, as a
correctional lens that you and I should have
in our spiritual glasses.
That is, the fact of hell.
And, let me say this, that when we
come to that expression, Knowing, therefore, the fear
of the Lord, I oftentimes think that, nowadays,
when we talk about the fear of the
Lord, we explain it away.
We say, well, it doesn't mean fear.
You know, it means reverence, and it means
awe, and all of that, and by the
time we get through, there isn't enough left
in the verse to make soup for a
sick grasshopper.
I believe in the fear of the Lord.
I think we ought to fear displeasing Him,
don't you?
I don't want to know the chastening hand
of God in my life.
It's really something to fear.
So, don't explain away the fear of the
Lord.
Live with it before you.
But, Knowing, therefore, the fear of the Lord,
the fact of hell, I would like to
suggest to you today that every one of
us should have a correctional lens in our
spiritual glasses in which we see the burning
fires of hell.
Ever stop to think about hell?
You know, it's really a doctrine in the
Bible that I wouldn't believe if I didn't
find it in the Bible, because I don't
want to believe it.
But, I have to believe it, because the
word of God says so.
It says, The smoke of their torment ascendeth
up forever and ever.
It says, Where their worm dieth not, and
the fire is not quenched.
And, I want to tell you something today.
If there's no hell, there's no heaven, because
the same Lord Jesus who spoke about heaven
spoke even more about hell.
And, we should think about that, and we
should think about loved ones, and neighbors, and
friends who are outside of Christ, and who
are bound for hell.
Eternity in hell.
It's really a tremendously sobering thought.
I often think, what would happen if the
church of Jesus Christ really grasped the truth
of hell?
I wonder if there's some letter that some
of us here should write this afternoon.
I wonder if there's some phone call that
we should make.
I wonder if there's someone to whom we
should send some Christian literature, something explaining the
way of salvation, because of this tremendous fact,
the fact of hell.
An eternity of conscious suffering.
You say, is it literal fire in hell?
I do not become occupied with those technicalities.
I believe it's terrible.
Just to think of a place where there's
no love.
Isn't that awesome?
No compassion, no friendship, no fellowship.
None of the things that we value so
much in life, the positive virtues, were not
to be found in hell.
Not one of them.
Some years ago, at Emmaus Bible School, the
Lord was working in a wonderful way among
the young people, some of the young fellows
there.
Some of those fellows are on the mission
fields of the world today, and they were
gripped with the fact of hell.
And one of them said to me one
day, Mr. MacDonald, the story of the rich
man in hell, I said, yes.
He said, that happened, let's say, Jesus said
that a couple of thousand years ago, I
said, yes.
He said, would you say that man is
still in hell?
Well, I said, Larry, if you're going to
believe the Bible, you better say that.
He said, isn't it time we started getting
serious about it?
And it is, too.
But, I suggest that every one of us
should have in our spiritual frames that corrective
lens in which we see the fires of
hell, and are reminded daily that this is
the doom of those outside of Christ.
Somebody asked yesterday, is it right to use
fear as a motivation in the gospel?
The answer is yes, it's very right.
If God won't have to draw people by
love, he will drive them by fear, and
it's a valid fear, too.
A valid fear, and we should never forget
it.
The second correctional lens is in verses 14
and 15, the love of Christ.
The love of Christ.
It's a lovely verse.
It says, The love of Christ constraineth us
because we thus judge, that if one died
for all, then we're all dead, and that
he die for all that they which live
should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto
him who died for them that rose again.
The love of Christ.
That doesn't mean our love for Christ.
Our love for Christ wouldn't constrain a mosquito.
It's Christ's love for us.
That's the great constraining power, isn't it?
A couple of years ago, I visited David
Livingston's home.
It's turned into a museum in Scotland, and
they have a tremendous memorial to David Livingston,
and on this side of a great plaque
it says, The love of Christ constrains me,
Paul, and on this side it says, The
love of Christ compels me, David Livingston.
That's what took him out to darkest Africa
with the gospel of redeeming grace.
The love of Christ.
Dear friends, there's no motive in all the
world as strong as a motive of love,
and the love of Christ should be the
strongest.
We should be willing to do for Jesus
what we're not willing to do for the
almighty dollar.
Isn't that right?
We should.
We should be willing to do for the
Lord Jesus what we're not willing to do
for, think of who he is, the Lord
of life and glory.
Think of what he did.
He came down to this planet, this infinitesimal
planet, and died for a race of rebels.
Oh, who am I that for my sake
my Lord should take frail flesh and die?
What did he do at the cross?
He bought me.
I must never forget that.
He bought me at the cross of Calvary.
Now, I no longer belong to myself.
If he bought me and I take my
life and use it the way I want
to use it, I'm a thief, because I'm
taking something that doesn't belong to me.
I like that word, constraint.
It means moves you along, and that's what
the love of Christ does.
It moves you along in life, keeps you
motivated to pour out your life for him.
What does it say?
It says, if one died for all, then
we're all dead.
Why did he die for us?
Because we were alive and kicking on planet
earth?
No, he died for us because we were
dead in trespasses and sins.
We were helpless, we were hopeless, we were
useless, we were worthless, and he didn't die
for us so that we would go on
living our little petty lives the way we
want to live them, did he?
No, he didn't.
He died for us so that henceforth we
would live for him.
What a travesty to see people saved by
the grace of God, saved through faith in
the Lord Jesus, and just going out and
living the way they want to live.
That isn't why he died.
He died so that henceforth we would live
for him who died for us.
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.
Do you get it?
Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul,
my life, my all.
O Christ, thy bleeding hands and feet, thy
sacrifice for me, each wound, each tear demands
my life, a sacrifice for thee.
Dear friends, are we constrained to this?
Do I have that corrective lens in my
glasses today in which I see a cross,
and on that cross the Lord of life
and glory dying for me?
Dear friends, if I see that day by
day, it's going to change the whole tenor
of my life.
Help me on the road to 2020 vision.
Correctional lens number three, the value and eternity
of a soul.
Verse 16.
This says that we should have a correctional
lens in our glasses to help us look
on people.
Before we were saved, we would look on
people, and we'd see that lady going down
the street and say, What a ridiculous hairdo!
That's the dumbest hairdo I think I ever
saw.
But, we don't say that anymore.
We don't look at people as people in
the flesh.
We say, hmm, a precious soul for whom
Christ died makes a difference, doesn't it?
Makes a real difference.
A precious soul for whom Christ died.
Think of the value of a soul.
Think of the most decrepit, ungainly, unlovely person
that you've ever met in the world.
Maybe you want to go down the skid
row.
Maybe that's the place to find this person.
Wallowing around in filth, drunk, throwing up all
over the place.
And just remember, soul is worth more than
all the wealth in the world.
If you could take all the diamonds in
the world, and make a mountain out of
them, and all the gold and silver and
platinum, and make a mountain out of that,
and add to it all the stocks and
bonds and securities, and all the real estate
titles in the world, and every other form
of wealth in the world, you get that
great mountain, and it is a great mountain,
and I want to tell you, that person
down skid row is worth more than all.
The Lord Jesus put a price on that
person at the cross of Calvary, and said,
he's worth my dying for.
Well, if you and I want to be
honest, we'd have to say the price was
too high, wouldn't it?
We don't deserve that he should have died
for us, that he should have paid that
price for us, but he did it.
It's just the same, the value of a
soul.
When I want to see the value of
a soul, I look to Calvary and see
the Lord dying, and he would have died
for any one sinner, as well as for
a race of sinners.
And then I think of the eternity of
a soul.
I think that that person is going to
live eternally.
He's never going to cease to exist, either
in conscious punishment or conscious bliss.
And I think, oh, the great thing in
life is to be used of God to
do a work in that person's life.
And it is, too.
I think it's wonderful to be used of
God to help people physically.
I think that's wonderful.
There are so many professions today that are
dedicated to that great.
But I think it's wonderful to be the
means in God's hands to see a soul
saved from sin, and one day transformed into
the image of Christ.
The value and eternity of a soul.
F.
W.
H.
Myers said it well.
He said, Only like souls I see the
folk thereunder, Bound who should conquer, slaves who
should be kings, Hearing their one hope with
an empty wonder, Sadly contented with a show
of things.
Then, with a rush, the intolerable craving Shivers
throughout me like a trumpet call, Oh, to
save these, to perish for their saving, Die
for their life, be offered for them all.
That's the spirit.
The value and eternity of a soul.
Oh, to save these, to perish for their
saving, Die for their life, be offered for
them all.
I think we should have a corrective lens
in our classes, which we're constantly reminded of
the value and eternity of souls around us,
so to change the whole complexion of our
lives, change our vision for the future.
The fourth correctional lens is in verse 17.
It says, Therefore, if any man be in
Christ, he is a new creature.
Some versions say there is a new creation.
Good either way.
You don't have to choose.
Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he
is a new creature.
Old things have passed away.
Behold, all things have become new.
I call this corrective lens the purpose of
our creation.
The purpose of our creation.
And that means that I want to look
out on this and say, Why am I
here?
Why was I ever born?
And why was I saved?
Why did God save me?
Did he save me so that I'd become
an expert in atomic tiddlywinks?
There must have been something higher than that.
Must have been something higher than that.
And I think about that, and I think,
only one life.
And how quickly it's going by.
Most of it's gone.
It will soon be past.
And only what's done for Christ will last.
Here it is, and I'm going to give
it up.
How am I going to give it up?
I'm sure many of you have read the
story of the missionary in China.
Standard Oil was looking years ago, looking for
a man to represent them in China.
And they contacted this missionary.
He was really an unusual man.
And they offered him a very neat salary
if he would represent Standard Oil in China.
And he didn't bite for the offer.
And so they raised, every man has a
price, and they raised the price, and he
still didn't bite.
And they raised the price a third time
in salary, and he wasn't interested.
And finally they said to him, rather in
disgust, what's the matter?
Isn't the price enough?
He said, yes, the salary is enough, but
the job is too small.
So that makes me think of William Kelly,
a great Greek scholar years ago in England,
and his son, he had tutored his son.
His son went off to the university, and
he was really an expert in Greek.
And when he went there, the professor said
to him, where did you learn Greek?
And he said, my uncle, William Kelly.
So when they had a vacancy there in
the Greek department in the university, they got
a little committee together, and they went and
visited William Kelly.
They wanted him to accept a chair there
in the university, teaching Greek.
And William Kelly seemed so casual and so
unconcerned about it all.
And finally one of them said to him,
what's the matter, Mr. Kelly?
Don't you want to make a name for
yourself in the world?
And he said, which world, gentlemen?
That's it?
Yes, he did want to make a name
for himself in the world.
Just which world?
The value, the purpose of our creation.
Why am I here?
When I get to the end of the
journey and look back, what will make me
feel satisfied?
I've often told the story about that lady
out in Minnesota.
She had a nice house there in the
middle of the prairies, and one day she
looked out on the horizon and there was
a prairie fire.
And it started moving toward her.
The wind was coming toward her house.
And she was alarmed, but then the wind
changed and started blowing away.
And so she was no more alarmed.
But then the wind changed again, and it
came closer, and she realized she had to
get out.
And she had a lot of prized possessions
in that house, and she went into the
bedroom and she grabbed some of her most
prized possessions.
And then she remembered that she had a
lot of silverware in the dining room, so
she went into the dining room.
She had to drop some of the things
that she got in the bedroom and grab
some of the things she got in.
Well, then she remembered about those expensive vases
in the living room.
And she went from room to room, dropping
things and picking up other things.
And according to the story, when the fire
came laughing at her house and she finally
had to get out, she had in one
hand a well-worn ham bone and in
the other a bucket of sour milk.
Now, that may be only a story.
It's okay.
But I want to tell you, it's possible
to go through life and get to the
end and have in one hand a well
-worn ham bone and in the other a
bucket of sour milk.
You can make the spiritual application, I'm sure.
Why am I here?
Am I really fulfilling God's purpose in my
life?
Correctional lens number five, the plain command of
Christ, verses 18 and 19.
And all things are of God who has
reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and
has given to us the ministry of reconciliation.
What does that mean?
It means he says, go, go with the
message of reconciliation.
Go and tell sinful men that their sins
have created distance between them and God, but
there's a way in which they can be
reconciled to God through the merits of the
Lord Jesus Christ and his work on Calvary's
cross.
The plain command of Christ.
Have this correctional lens in your glasses.
Jesus commanded, love your neighbor as yourself.
I tell you, I have a Bible, but
there are people all over the world who
don't have a Bible.
If I love them as myself, I'm going
to do something about that.
Think of the Christian literature.
There's no country in the world that has
as many books, concordances, dictionaries, reference books on
the Bible.
No country has it like the United States.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
I have the gospel.
I know the way of salvation.
People in over half the world have never
heard of man's only hope.
Over 7,000 people die daily of starvation,
but over half the world has never heard
of man's only hope.
Jesus said, go!
And I believe that someday I'm going to
stand before him, and he's going to say
to me, what did you do with the
Great Commission?
Do you believe that?
It was there, Matthew 28.
What did you do about the Great Commission?
Correctional lens number six, the responsibility of those
who have the answer.
Now, then, we are ambassadors for Christ.
As though God did beseech you by us,
we pray you in Christ's head, be reconciled
to God.
I want to tell you, dear friends, it's
a serious thing to have the answer, and
to hoard it.
Glenn told us an incident in his life
this week, and it awakened unpleasant memories in
my life.
When I first went into the Navy, I
was in an air transport squadron.
It was a very small group, stationed first
in Kansas City.
One night, I went into the officer's mess
hall, and there was just one fellow there.
He was a pilot.
His name was Max Knudsen from Minnesota.
Max had his supper.
He had already ordered his steak, and he
was sitting there eating and reading his paper.
And I sat down, and I ordered my
supper and had my paper, too.
And I got a very distinct impression from
the Lord.
Speak to Max about his soul.
And I said, Lord, he's eating his supper,
and he wouldn't appreciate being spoken to.
My supper came.
I began to eat it and read the
paper.
At the same time, I had a very
distinct impression from the Lord.
I don't know if you get these impressions,
but I do.
I don't hear audible voices, but the burden
of the Lord is on me, and I
know it when the Lord's burden is on
me.
I said, speak to Max about his soul.
I said, Lord, he's reading the paper.
It's hardly the right time to speak to
him.
I finished my supper.
Max finished his supper.
He went out.
He and a co-pilot took a cargo
flight west that night.
They landed in Winslow, Arizona, and they took
off, and the plane disappeared.
And I thought, how can a plane disappear
in the United States?
With all our search and rescue facilities, a
plane disappeared.
They searched for a week.
They couldn't find it.
They searched for two weeks, three weeks, four
weeks, a month.
Two months, three months, couldn't find the plane.
The spring thaw came, and the Boy Scouts
were climbing a mountain outside of Winslow.
It's called San Francisco Peak.
They saw the tail structure of a plane
sticking out of a snowdrift.
They sent down, and the search party came
up.
It was a plane.
Max's body and his co-pilot's body in
there.
It hit me very hard.
But what really hit me hard was one
day I was walking by the hangar back
in Kansas City, and they had spread out
a tarpaulin over the deck of the hangar
there, and they had Max's suitcase, his bag,
and the co-pilot's bag, and they were
inventorying their effects to send them to their
parents.
It was very visible.
And I want to tell you, I ran
to my room, and I wept.
I wept hissing, hot tears.
I want to tell you, it's a terrible
thing to have the answer and to hoard
it.
To have the answer and not to share
it, especially when you get clear directions from
the Lord to do it.
I often think of those words of the
Lord Jesus, Let the dead bury their dead,
but go thou and preach the kingdom of
God.
There are some things that the unfaithful can
do just as well as we can do.
Don't make that the main purpose in your
life.
Be indefensible for Jesus.
Isn't that it?
Love your neighbor as yourself.
The sixth, I must hurry.
That's the sixth.
The responsibility of those who have the answer.
The seventh is the judgment seat of Christ.
Back in verse 10, that's where we started.
We must all appear before the judgment seat
of Christ, that everyone may receive the things
done in his body according to that he
has done, whether it be good or bad.
And so, I think we should have that
correctional lens in our glasses, to which we
see a judgment seat, and the Lord Jesus
is sitting upon it, and we're going to
stand in front of it someday.
Praise God, our sins won't be brought out
then.
They've been covered by the blood of Christ,
but our lives and our service will be
brought out by then.
Gold, silver, precious stone, wood, hay, stubble.
Deeds of merit, as we thought them, he
will show us were but sin.
Little acts we had forgotten, he will show
us were for sin.
What will be important then?
What will be important at the judgment seat
of Christ?
Furs?
Clothes?
Cars?
Bone china?
Silver?
Hobby?
Sports?
Speedboat?
Those things won't count.
Only what's done for Christ will last.
How important to have that correctional lens in
our glasses.
Let us go over them once again.
The fact of hell, number one.
The love of Christ, the constraining love of
Christ.
Thou hast bled and died for me, henceforth
I will live for thee.
The value and eternity of a soul.
Dear friends, let's go into soul.
Let's go into soul.
The purpose of our creation.
Why am I here?
Am I really living out the purpose of
my original creation and of my new creation
as well?
The plain command of Christ.
So, forsake all.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
The responsibility of those who have the answer.
Verse 20.
Finally, the judgment seat of Christ.
Only one thing will really count in that
day.
That is to hear him say, Well done,
thou good and faithful servant.
Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.
When the Brooklyn Bridge was being built, the
architect was seriously injured and spent most of
the time in the hospital.
But on the day that it was going
to be dedicated, he was well enough for
them to put him on a stretcher and
take him out and put him there where
he could see the bridge.
And as he lay there and saw the
completed structure, he said, It's exactly according to
plan.
Someday the Lord's going to roll out the
blueprint that he had for my life, and
I'm going to stand there.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if he could say,
It's exactly according to plan.
That is success in life.
May the Lord help us to have these
correctional lenses in our glasses so that we
will have 20-20 vision spiritually, even if
our physical vision isn't exactly what it should
be.
Shall we pray?
Father, we just thank you for your precious
word and thank you that you give us
the privilege of grappling with the great issues
of life, and they are great issues, too.
It's so easy to go through life chasing
bubbles, chasing butterflies, and caught up in a
world of trivia while above us burns the
vision of the Christ upon the cross.
Lord, give us good spiritual vision, we pray.
Help us to look on the crowd as
our Savior did till our eyes with tears
grow dim.
Help us view with pity the wandering sheep
and love them for love of Him.
Go with us as we part today.
We pray for our safety in our travel.
We think of our brother Dittman again today
and just pray for your healing touch upon
his body.
And we do ask you for the girls'
camp that will be going on here.
Oh, Lord, how wonderful to think of girls
coming to know the Savior and pouring out
their lives in dedicated service for Him.
We pray for the unsaved who will come,
and also for those who are already believers.
Be very near to the counselors, to all
of those in charge, Lord, that they might
look back and see that God was really
here working in power during this camp.
Now the God of peace that brought again
from the dead the Lord Jesus, that great
Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of
the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every
good work to do His will, working in
you that which is well-pleasing in His
sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory
forever.
Amen.