In this sermon, the speaker discusses the importance of having spiritual vision and how it can be improved through the use of correctional lenses. He uses the analogy of getting glasses and gradually seeing things more clearly as the lenses are adjusted. The speaker emphasizes the responsibility of those who have the answer to share it with others, referring to the ministry of reconciliation. He also shares a personal story from his time in the Navy and relates it to the concept of spiritual vision. Overall, the sermon encourages listeners to view life through the lens of God's truth and to take action in sharing the message of Christ with the world.

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