Because we present arguments in the presentation of the gospel, we sometimes come to think that the outcome of matter rests upon those arguments. But God uses arguments — He doesn’t depend upon them. He doesn’t lean on them.
The reason people resist and reject the gospel is because of willfulness, not because we have not yet assembled the perfect, knock-down argument. I am not arguing against arguments here — Paul reasoned in the synagogues, and so should we. But it is the same with all the external things we may do — pray, preach, send, ordain, plant, or reason. Unless God anoints it, you are praying to the ceiling, preaching to the air, sending a schlub, ordaining his brother, planting a religious club, and reasoning with a two-year-old. You are sweeping water uphill.
You are, in short, entirely dependent upon the Holy Spirit, who is a sovereign wind who blows where He pleases. And this means that when the reformation arrives, it will not be because we whistled Him up. That’s the first thing to be settled in our minds. The second thing is that He will come. He promised.