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

 

Faith, the Faith and Faithfulness

 

 

We talk about faith

In very loose terms,

Often ignorant

Of that for which we yearn.

 

We often understate it

And just as often overate it

All the time still confused

As is our lifetime habit.

 

We pray in faith

Or so we believe,

And we are especially exasperated

When we do not receive.

 

We are saved by faith

Well, that is initially

But it also takes faith

To walk in the faith continually.

 

 

By God’s grace are we saved

And by our faith also,

And as we walk in the way

That faith must show.

 

It is faith at the beginning

And faith as we walk

In justification and sanctification

And not just plain old talk.

 

Faith to first believe,

Faith for daily transformation,

An initiation and a walk,

Grace and faith for salvation.

 

That takes care of the first

But what of the second?

Considering some still walk

As though nothing happened.

 

 

In what do we walk?

And according to what?

What is our spiritual compass?

What is our spiritual lot?

 

The doctrine of the Apostles

As taught by Jesus Christ,

Himself being the chief cornerstone,

This constitutes life.

 

Nothing more, nothing less,

As explicitly understood,

No interpretation or hidden agenda;

Undiluted as we should.

 

The medicine for the soul

And needed boost for the spirit

First, the explicit

And when necessary, the implicit.

 

Yes, faith number 1.

Is being saved from our sin

While faith number 2

Is walking in the doctrine.

 

 

The body of truth

That regulates both lip and life,

That helps us to conform

To the image of Christ.

 

We have been changed

And are daily being changed

And what we once used to be

Is being rearranged.

 

Hence, the call to faithfulness

As the consistency in our walk,

And not be stumbling around

Like the lame or the halt.

 

Emulating God’s faithfulness

As He has been to us

And through the Holy Spirit

Conforming to the image of Jesus.

 

 

Faith and the faith

And good old fashion faithfulness,

Being true to our calling

Whatever the test.

 

So, when you say faith

Identify what you mean

For the faith that ultimately matters

Is when upon Christ we lean.

 

Love for God

And love for our fellowman,

Faith, the faith and faithfulness:

That is the Divine plan.

 

Stewart Russell © July 2020

 

Salvation and Its Jargon 4

 

 

The world is under God’s “judgment”

Ever since “Adam’s fall”,

God’s “justice” does not excuse sin

Absolutely no sin at all.

 

Hence God’s judgment on sin

And on the entire world:

Remember sin is any “transgression”

As shown in God’s Holy Word.

 

But God demonstrated His mercy

When He sent Jesus, His Son

To break all of sin’s shackles

And bring us glorious “freedom”.

 

This speaks of our redemption

And our freedom from sin’s bondage,

Making Jesus our kinsman “Redeemer”

That relieved us of sin’s luggage.

 

In Christ we are set apart

This in fact is our “sanctification”:

It is the work of the Holy Spirit

That follows our “justification”.

 

In Christ we are made “righteous”

And set apart for God’s holy use,

It is “just as if I’d” never sin,

Satan has no grounds to accuse.

 

Stewart Russell © June 2018