• Bro. Zilong Lin •
Chapter 4: The Experience of Being Saved by Grace
1 Timothy 4:10b Who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.
1 Timothy 2:4 Who desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth.
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.
Once my parents were recovered by the Lord in 1934, and zealously served the Lord, my family has a great change. My younger brothers and sisters quickly received the Lord. Though I deeply experienced the good parts about believing into the Lord, but due to being influenced by some new thoughts, I had many hesitations towards faith. For example, is there a God in this universe? Are humans evolved from monkeys or created by God? Do humans have a soul? Is there a heaven and hell after death? Jesus is the Savior of mankind, or just a sage in ancient times?
Early September 1935, I went to Fuzhou Mt. Wushi Normal School for sophomore year, the Holy Spirit kept working in my heart, let me feel spiritually empty and stuffy. I went to read in the library, did not get any comfort; went to play ball, got no comfort. This kind of discomfort, urged me to earnestly solve my doubts towards faith. At the time, I know Brother Chi Wang is preaching in the meeting hall in Fuzhou Qingduguan, so I write a long letter, to ask him to answer my questions. After three days, I got his reply, he asked me to come to his meeting hall to meet this Lord’s Day afternoon to talk about the gospel. That Lord’s Day afternoon, I brought a classmate with me to the meeting in Qingduguan. After finishing the sermon, Brother Chi Wang says, “Whoever wanted to talk, please stay.” So we stayed. Brother Chi Wang brought out many examples for the answers to the questions on there is a God, people have souls, there is a heaven, and a hell, man has sin, Jesus is the only Savior, and described them all to me in detail. Even today I can clearly remember what he said back then. He talked about the source of this universe, that the first cause of the universe is from God. Nothing is here because of coincidence. With how wondrous the universe is, how orderly and lawful the universe works, there is a creator and a ruler of it all. The source of life is also from God, no matter how smart people are, we cannot create life, the theory of evolution has many holes and thus not trust worthy. He also said, the most precious part of a man is the spirit, the material is dissoluble, but the spirit is indissoluble. He also said that Jesus is not the founder/leader of a religion, but is a Savior. Man does not need a founder/leader of a religion to teach people to do good, but a Savior to save man from sin and the punishment of sin. Brother Wang spoke so much, from the end of the meeting at 4pm until the lights came on at night. Under the revelation and help from the Holy Spirit, I was clear within, all the problems have been solved. Brother Wang lead me to kneel down to pray, I started to confess my sins to the Lord, and opened my heart to receive him as my lord, as my life. On the way back to school, my heart is ecstatic, filled with the joy of salvation. That’s when I clearly know that I have been saved!