Second Work of Grace

 

 

Show me from God’s Word

This second work of grace

For I have searched and searched

But have found not a trace.

 

The first work I have found

And this, without a doubt,

For it was very straightforward;

Nothing to work out.

 

But I have a difficulty

With this second work

Though I must tell you up front

I’m no Bible expert.

 

The Spirit witnessed to me

I am a child of God

And having been born again,

I thought this was all.

 

But it seems I am wrong

According to some

And I don’t yet have the Spirit

Or even God’s dear Son.

 

 

I have seen many struggle

Trying to explain this

And however hard they tried

Something they missed.

 

Some call it a filling;

This second work of grace

Giving me a kind of impression

It’s more than a taste.

 

But how would I know

This grace when received?

Is it the same witness of the Spirit

As when I first believed?

 

It’s entire sanctification

Some are heard to say

But while entire, it’s not entire,

Is another way.

 

“You will know for sure

You cannot go wrong,”

The evidence, some people say,

Is speaking in tongues.

 

I cannot remember

Ever speaking in tongues

So, I have never been sanctified

If they are not wrong.

 

However, this I know,

And I know this for sure,

I am a born-again child of God-

No less and no more.

 

 

I have the Spirit’s witness

That I am a child of God

And I have His blessed assurance

Even when I fall.

 

If I have not the Spirit

I do not belong to him

And so, it is crystal clear to me

I am still in my sin.

 

But I thank God today

This is not my case

For I have been wonderfully saved

By His miraculous grace.

 

This same grace that saves

Is also able to keep

As in Jesus, the Shepherd’s vigil

Over each of his sheep.

 

I know of one grace

As in that wonderful song,

It’s the wonderful grace of Jesus

And to Jesus I belong.

 

I dare not split God’s grace

Into a one, two, three

But He who has started this work

Will continue it in me.

 

 

Nothing more definitive

Than a sinner saved by grace,

This I am and this I will always be

Until I see his face.

 

Stewart Russell © June 9, 2024