BYM ONLINE DESK Blessing February 2019 English Emagazine | Page 7

february 2019 | bymonline.org
page 07
The Responsibility For
Oswald J. Smith
As far back as I can remember my heart has burned
within me whenever I have heard or read accounts of the
mighty work of God in the great Revivals of past years.
The heroic missionaries of the cross in foreign lands, and
the lonely men of God in the home field around whom
these gracious Visitations have centered, have always
been a source of untold inspiration to my life. David
Brainerd, Adoniram Judson, Charles G. Finney, Robert
McCheyne these and many others have been my bosom
companions and friends. I have watched them, listened to
them, lived with them, until I have almost felt the spirit of
the atmosphere in which they moved. Their trials and
hardships, their prayers and tears; their joys and sorrows,
their glorious triumphs and victorious achievements
have thrilled my very soul until I have fallen down upon
my face and exclaimed with the prophet of old: “Oh, that
Thou wouldst rend the heavens, and that Thou wouldst
come down!”
The Great Awakening of the 18th century under
John Wesley, the stirring Irish Manifestation of 1859, the
glorious American Visitation in the 19th century under
Charles G. Finney, and in our own day the mighty Welsh
Revival of 1904-05Manifestations such as these have
been my meat and drink for years past. I have heard again
the uncontrollable sob and groan of the convicted, the
exceeding bitter cry of the penitent, and the unspeakable
expressions of joy of the delivered. And I have sighed
within myself for another such Manifestation of God's
presence and power.
From my boyhood it has been my delight to read
more or less of God's work along these lines, but lately I
have been led to lay all else aside and to literally devour
everything I could lay hands on regarding Revival work.
And as I studied the lives of those whom God has used all
down the centuries, especially the labors of the Puritans,
the early Methodists and others of later years, and saw
how wonderfully they were owned of Him how they
worked for, expected and got what they sought I was
compelled to admit that I saw nothing like it today either
in my own ministry or in the ministry of others. The
average church does not aim at, let alone get, results. Men
preach and never even dream of anything happening. Oh,
how far away we have drifted! How powerless we have
become!
It is reported that there were 7,000 churches that
did not win a single soul for Jesus Christ in an entire year.
That means that 7,000 ministers preached the Gospel for
a whole year without reaching even one lost soul.
Supposing that they preached, putting it at a low average,
on 40 Sundays, not including extra meetings, that would
mean that these 7,000 ministers preached 560,000
sermons in a single year. Think of the work, the labor, the
money expended in salaries, etc., to make this possible.
And yet 560,000 sermons preached by 7,000 ministers in
7,000 churches to tens of thousands of hearers during a
period of twelve months, failed to bring a single soul to
Christ.
Now, my brethren, there is something radically
wrong somewhere. There is either something the matter
with these 7,000 ministers or else with their 560,000
sermons, or with both.
In reading over the Twelve Rules of the Early
Methodist church I was struck with the fact that they
aimed at and looked upon soul-winning as their supreme
task. Let me quote from one of them: “You have nothing