Convincing Grace

Daniel Whittle wrote another famous hymn “I Know Whom I Have Believed”.  He begins each line of this hymn with an honest statement regarding the unknown things of God.  He concludes each verse with the rousing chorus of what he does know: He is fully persuaded that Jesus Christ is able to keep whatever we have committed to Him unto eternity.  That is confidence of faith.  That is related to one of the things Whittle says he doesn’t know: “I know not how the spirit moves, convincing men of sin, revealing Jesus through the Word, creating faith within.”  The process of God is really not necessary for us to understand.  That the process has taken place, that is the issue in which we rejoice.

Whittle connects convincing of sin and producing faith in the same verse.  The first verse of this hymn speaks of grace.  All of these are really connected.  Ephesians chapter two gives us a wonderful commentary on these combined truths.  We were dead in sin. The Holy Spirit quickened us; He made us alive.  By Grace He Convinced us to place our Faith in Jesus Christ.  He awoke us from our stupor of sin and death to see and understand God’s love for us and respond in faith to the promise of forgiven sins and eternal life in Jesus Christ. 

The Greek root word for faith is a word meaning “to be convinced or persuaded”.  King Agrippa, in Acts 26:28, says to Paul, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.”  It wasn’t Paul’s persuasion, however, that was needed to make Agrippa a Christian; it was God’s.  When God persuades us to believe, that is grace moving us to faith.  How the Holy Spirit works through the medium of His word to convince us of the truth regarding our need and His grace is not really our concern.  Our hope is in the effect of this convincing.  Our hope is faith in Him, His truth, His righteousness, His word and His promises.  By grace God has convinced us of saving truth.  By faith we respond.  We truly need to be thankful for convincing grace.  Then we need to sing with Daniel Whittle, “But I know Whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able, to keep that which I’ve committed unto Him against that day!”