7 Corrective Lenses for Spiritual Eyesight — William MacDonald

The Judgment Seat of Christ and the Christian Life

Turn this afternoon for our Bible study to 2 Corinthians 5, 5th chapter of 2 Corinthians, and we'll begin reading with verse 9. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 9. 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 ye 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 ye 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.

Pleasing God Rather Than Earning Acceptance

Verse 9, we began with, it says, I think any of you who have 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? Well, not the labor of our hands could fulfill the law's demand. We're accepted in the Beloved, we read in Ephesians 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. It really was one great torrent of desire to be well-pleasing to him.

The First Corrective Lens: The Fact of Hell

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. 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 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 had 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 into me and said, We'd like to take some of this down to the resale center.

And I said, Why don't you? He 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, Mr. 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.

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 classes, 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 men 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 and 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 an unpopular word, but apparently there was that about the Apostle Paul that made him appear 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 disciples remembered 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. 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, nevermind.

The great Apostle Paul went too far too. He says, whether we be beside ourselves as to God, whether we be sober 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.

The Second Corrective Lens: The Love of Christ and Calvary

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 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 at one of the local assemblies, 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 Calvary.

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 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 C .T. Studd? And I said, no, I've never read it. Would you like to? I guessed I would. Innocence abroad. I didn't know what was going to happen.

And so he gave me C .T. Studd and I began to read it on a Saturday. I got off duty at noon, threw myself in the grass outside the B .O .Q. and began to read this book, C .T. Studd. And God began to deal in my heart.

And at supper time, I didn't bother to get up and go in for supper. There was something else more important than that. It got dark and I picked myself up off the grass and went into the room, put on the light and 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 C .T. Studd.

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. Then I closed the book.

For that week, I sat down and wrote a letter to the bank and told them, 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 had 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 loss and poor contempt and all my pride.

See from his head, his hands, his feet, sorrow and love flowed, mingled down. Did e 'er such love and sorrow meet or thorns compose 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 ye 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. Now, 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, this 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 constraineth us because we thus judge.

I like that expression because we thus judge. What does it mean? Well, 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. And 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. 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. 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.

The Third Corrective Lens: The Value and Eternity of a Soul

Keep it in your glasses. Keep it in your spiritual glasses. Look at life through that correction. Now the third corrective lens is found in verse 16. It says, 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. 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. Or 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 saved, 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 souls. 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 new way of looking at them. I would call this lens 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.

But 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, even if we've 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 eyes. Mark saw him through Mark's eyes. Luke saw him through Luke's eyes.

And John saw him through John's eyes. 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 fold, I should like to have been with him then. Well, I should like to have in a way, but 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 know we him no more.

Well, there you have 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.

The Fourth Corrective Lens: The Purpose of Our Creation

It says, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature or there is a new creation. All things are 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?

Paul says, 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 have lived for passionately and devotedly.

I have a young friend, a professing Christian, and 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 to 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 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 within the last two years and pulled down some books from the shelf on subjects that men have made an intensive study on.

Subjects, deep subjects, like 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 of 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.

Now 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 calling.

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, and so he says, therefore, if any man be in Christ, there's a new creation.

Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new, and I want to look at life through this correctional 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 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 crisis, a new creature, old things have passed away, all things have become new. And they got up and they gave their testimony, and 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, and I thought, boy, I guess I'm not saved. Once again, whenever 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 man 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, old things passed away and all things became new.

It didn't all happen in me, but it did in Christ. You say, 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, 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 and 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 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, old things have passed away.

The Fifth Corrective Lens: The Responsibility of Those Who Have the Answer

All things have become new, and I want it to be true in William MacDonald more and more too. All right, then I call the next correction lens the responsibility of those who have the answer. 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.

MacDonald, 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 there was only one other person in it, a pilot from Minnesota, Max Knudson.

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.

He was busy. He was wrapped up in his paper, and I was wrapped up in mine. The 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.