Jim Wilson's Blog, page 15

Let the Redeemed of the Lord Say So

“Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He hath redeemedfrom the hand of the Enemy” (Psalm 107:2).

“And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he mustbe kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he mustgently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading themto a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escapefrom the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will” (2Timothy 2:24-26).

“When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the controlof righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things youare now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have beenset free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads toholiness, and the result is eternal life” (Romans 6:20-22).

“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared intheir humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power ofdeath—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held inslavery by their fear of death” (Hebrews 2:14-15).

When we are freed from sin, the devil, and the fear ofdeath, we are to say so. Paul’s conversion is recorded in Acts 9. He testifiesto this in Acts 22 and Acts 26. In other words, there are three accounts of hisreceiving Christ. It must be important.

Have you written your testimony of how and when you were setfree from sin? Have you given copies of your testimony to believers andunbelievers? It makes no difference whether you were three years old or sixtyyears old. It was still a great deliverance.

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Declaring God's Glory

“Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all theearth. Sing to the LORD, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day.Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples”(Psalm 96:1-3).

Sing, praise, proclaim, and declare. In order to declare Hisglory, we have to know what it is. Words alone will not do it. Experience willbe part of it.

“Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and glory arein his sanctuary. Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations, ascribe to theLORD glory and strength. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring anoffering and come into his courts. Worship the LORD in the splendor of hisholiness; tremble before him, all the earth” (Psalm 96:6-9).

Splendor, majesty, strength, glory, worship, and holinessare a few of the words. Ask for the experience.

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More Life (Are You Afraid of Death?)

Areyou fearful of death? Or ready for it? Or glad for it? Most people just ignoreit, knowing it’s going to happen, but not now and not soon.

Sometimeswe don’t have a choice. On September 26, 1950, when I was 22 years old, I waswith the Navy in the Sea of Japan off the coast of Korea. The gunnery officerspotted some box cars on a railroad siding near the shore. The captain decidedto close the range and destroy them with gunfire. We were at battle stations.My battle station was in the gunnery plotting room one deck below the main deckon the port side of the ship. I was the officer in charge of gunnery plot. Ireceived a telephone call from my boss, the gunnery officer. He ordered me upto the main battery director above the bridge, where he was stationed with therange finder. I objected, because we were at general quarters (preparing forbattle), and it is a court-martial offense to leave your battle station whenthe ship is at general quarters. He ordered me to come up anyway.

Ileft the chief petty officer in charge of gunnery plot and went up to see him.When I arrived, he had no idea why he had ordered me up there. I told him Iwould be back in gunnery plot, and he could give me another call if heremembered. He said, “You stay here.” So I stayed there with nothing to do.

WhileI was there, we struck an underwater mine on the port side, directly underneathmy battle station. The explosion obliterated gunnery plot. The man I left incharge was killed. Only one man was pulled out alive. The rest of the men werekilled instantly.

Thatevening, after we partly recovered from the explosion, the executive officercame to me. He said, “We are going to bury the chief petty officer at sea.” Theother men who were killed could not be recovered from the damaged part of theship until we reached port. He said, “Mr. Wilson, you’re the Christian on thisship. You will conduct the funeral.” I was only 22 years old. I was in chargeof the funeral for the man who died in place of me. I have never forgottenthat. At 22, I was very conscious of death.

Thenext ship I was on was hit by gunfire; one man was killed, and he was standing notfar from me. That made me think of death. It also made me realize that I wasnot afraid. Many years later, I was reading the diary of the ship’s captain. Hesaid, “Wilson is not afraid under fire.” Although I didn’t think about it much,I knew I wasn’t afraid, because I saw people who were, and they acted verydifferently. But I hadn’t realized other people could see it.

Manyyears later, I had quadruple-bypass heart surgery. I was not afraid to diethen, either. I am now 91.*

Myfavorite passage of Scripture is Psalm 91. I can identify with it, includingthe last line, which speaks of long life.

Whoever dwells in the shelterof the Most High
    willrest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, “He is myrefuge and my fortress,
    myGod, in whom I trust.”

Surely he will save you
    fromthe fowler’s snare
    andfrom the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his feathers,
    andunder his wings you will find refuge;
    hisfaithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
You will not fear the terror of night,
    northe arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
    northe plague that destroys at midday.
A thousand may fall at your side,
    tenthousand at your right hand,
    butit will not come near you.
You will only observe with your eyes
    andsee the punishment of the wicked.

If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
    andyou make the Most High your dwelling,
no harm will overtake you,
    nodisaster will come near your tent.
For he will command his angels concerning you
    toguard you in all your ways;
they will lift you up in their hands,
    sothat you will not strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
    youwill trample the great lion and the serpent.

“Because he lovesme,” says the Lord, “I willrescue him;
    Iwill protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
He will call on me, and I will answer him;
    Iwill be with him in trouble,
    Iwill deliver him and honor him.
With long life I will satisfy him
    andshow him my salvation.”

(Psalm 91)

Godhas given me long life. Being 91 years old, I am close to dying again. I am notfearful of it. It is a given. I am not anticipating it, either, so it willprobably catch me by surprise. I want to say it again: I am not afraid to die.The reason for this is that since I came to know the Father through the Sonwhen I was 20 years old, I have been sure of my salvation. To die just meansmore life.

*Written June 2019. Jim Wilson received his promotion toglory in 2022.

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Simplicity

“Oh, that you would bear with me in a littlefolly—and indeed you do bear with me. For I am jealous for you with godlyjealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as achaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eveby his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that isin Christ” (2 Cor. 11:1-3).

St. Paul was concerned about people deceiving other people awayfrom the simplicity that is in Christ. All (or at least most) denominations ofthe Christian church have made salvation in Christ a little more complicatedthan the Bible makes it.

Rather than drawing attention to all of these complications, Ithought I would go through the Gospel with simple, biblical words.

God

God is.

God is love.

God so loved the world.

The world was the object of His love.

The expression of His love is giving.

What He gave was His only-begotten Son.

He gave what was most valuable to Him.

Sin came into the world through man.

All men have sinned.

The soul that sins shall die.

The son of God died for sinful man.

The son of God rose from the dead to justify sinful man.

The sinful man who believes in the Son of God is saved.

Written June 1, 2018.

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Come, Lord Jesus

“Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we willbe has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall belike him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in himpurifies himself, just as he is pure” (1 John 3:2-3).

“After that, we who are still alive and are left will becaught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And sowe will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with thesewords” (1 Thessalonians 4:17-18).

“He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am comingsoon.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20).

You may have wondered what my eschatology is. I do not oftenspeak about it. These few words summarize my anticipation: hope; purifies;encourage; “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”

This keeps me from differing with the saints on the order ofevents at the end time.

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That Day

In Zechariah chapters 12-14, there are about 17 referencesto “that day.” Here are a few of them.

“On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of Davidand the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity. ‘Onthat day, I will banish the names of the idols from the land, and they will beremembered no more,’ declares the LORD Almighty. ‘I will remove both theprophets and the spirit of impurity from the land’” (Zech. 13:1-2).

“On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, halfto the eastern sea and half to the western sea, in summer and in winter. TheLORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one LORD, andhis name the only name” (Zech. 14:8-9).

“On that day HOLY TO THE LORD will be inscribed on the bellsof the horses, and the cooking pots in the LORD's house will be like the sacredbowls in front of the altar” (Zech. 14:20).

Let us look forward to that day.

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Patient Waiting

“And the Lord direct your heartsinto the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ” (2 Thessalonians3:5 KJV).

“But our citizenship is in heaven.And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the powerthat enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform ourlowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:20-21).

“For the grace of God that bringssalvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness andworldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in thispresent age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of ourgreat God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:11-13).

“They tell how you turned to Godfrom idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son fromheaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the comingwrath” (1 Thessalonians 1:9b-10).

The common theme in these verses is waiting.We are to wait patiently and eagerly for this wonderful event that is sure tohappen. If I am eagerly waiting, I might be impatient. If I am patient, I mightnot be eagerly anticipating. Or I might not be waiting at all.

Rather than dwell on the waiting, weshould dwell on the promised event, pray for it, and work for it.

“He who testifies to these thingssays, ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20).

“And this gospel of the kingdom willbe preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the endwill come” (Matthew 24:14).

We see the enemy constantly at work,but Christ is the victor.

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How To Be Free From Bitterness and other essays on Christian relationships

Holy Bodies

Hereis an all-inclusive verse of Scripture. It was written to the Thessalonians,but I think it means us, too.

“Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and mayyour whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our LordJesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:23).

TheGod of peace Himself—wonderful. Sanctify you completely—that means us. He willmake us completely holy. Spirit, soul, and body—we are tripartite.

“Therefore,I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodiesas a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and properworship” (Rom. 12:1).

Thistells us that our bodies are livingand holy sacrifices.

Both of the texts teach us that our bodieswill be holy. God Himself will make them holy, and we are to present them as aholy, living sacrifice.

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The Next Generation

“As for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you moreand more. My mouth will tell of your righteous deeds, of your saving acts allday long—though I know not how to relate them all. I will come and proclaimyour mighty acts, Sovereign LORD; I will proclaim your righteous deeds, yoursalone. Since my youth, God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare yourmarvelous deeds. Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till Ideclare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are tocome” (Psalm 71:14-18).

I came across this paragraph in 1979 when Bessie and I werein Vancouver, BC. It has been my life verse since then—the next generation! AsI look at Christian history, it seems to be history that only takes care of thepresent generation, not the next one.

The seventeenth century in England and Scotland was a timeof revival until there was a Christian king after the glorious revolution of1688. The next two generations were of great moral decay. It ended with JohnWesley and George Whitefield, Count Zinzendorf, Jonathan Edwards, and DavidBrainerd. This included the Wesleyan Revival in England and the Great Awakeningin the American Colonies. Then, after the American Revolution, there wasanother generation of great moral decay. Then another awakening occurred in1790 and continued on and off through 1858 where a half a million people wereconverted in the Northern States.

Other evangelicals (Moody, Torrey, Sunday, and Billy Graham)had an effect, but in between them and now after them there is more moraldecay.

Here is my point. Presently there are many evangelisticorganizations in the United States: Young Life, Campus Crusade, InterVarsity,the Navigators, and many others. They are effective. We also have manyevangelistic mega churches, believing seminaries, and Christian schools. Yetsomething is very wrong. The moral decadence in the United States today isgreat in quality and quantity. Christian families are not reaching their ownchildren, and churches are not reaching the next generation.

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Pray & Proclaim

 One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Psalm 68:11:

“The Lord announced the word, and great was the company ofthose who proclaimed it.”

The Lord announced the word, and a great company proclaimedthe word. It was a great company then; let us pray that it will be a greatcompany now.

“Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentifulbut the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send outworkers into his harvest field’” (Matthew 9:37-38).

Pray and proclaim and pray for more proclaimers.

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How To Be Free From Bitterness and other essays on Christian relationships