The Divine Call for Missionaries

DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING APRIL 22, 1877,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who
will go for Us? Then said I, Here am I; send me." Isaiah 6:8.

BROTHERS AND SISTERS, the heathen are perishing and there is but one
way of salvation for them, for there is but one name given under Heaven
among men whereby they must be saved. God, in the glorious unity of His
Divine Nature is calling for messengers who shall proclaim to men the
way of life. Out of the thick darkness my ears can hear that sound
mysterious and Divine, "Whom shall I send?" If you will but listen with
the ear of faith you may hear it in this house today–"Whom shall I
send?" While the world lies under the curse of sin, the living God, who
wills not that any should perish but that they should come to
repentance, is seeking heralds to proclaim His mercy. He is asking,
even in pleading terms, for some who will go forth to the dying
millions and tell the wondrous story of His love–"Whom shall I

send?"

As if to make the voice more powerful by a threefold utterance we hear
the sacred Trinity enquire, "Who will go for Us?" The Father asks, "Who
will go for Me and invite My far-off children to return?" The Son
enquires, "Who will seek for Me, My redeemed but wandering sheep?" The
Holy Spirit demands, "In whom shall I dwell and through whom shall I
speak that I may convey life to the perishing multitudes?" God, in the
unity of His Nature, cries, "Whom shall I send?" and in the trinity of
His Persons, He asks, "Who will go for Us?" Happy shall we be, today,
if earnest responses shall be heard in this house–"Here am I, send
me." It is ours, at any rate, very solemnly to put the matter before
you, Brothers and Sisters in Christ, and while we shall try to plead
Jehovah's cause we trust the Holy Spirit may be here, saying of one and
another, quite unknown to us, "Separate Me Saul and Barnabas for the
work whereunto I have called them."

Yes, may the constraining voice of the special call of Grace come to
the ear of some here present who shall respond like young Samuel and
say, "Here am I, for You did call me." First, we shall, this morning,
consider the vision of Glory in reference to the offer of service made
by the Prophet–the vision which he saw. And secondly, the vision of
ordination which he more than saw, for his lips were touched. Thirdly,
we will speak upon the Divine Voice and conclude by dwelling upon the
earnest response.

I. Reverently, and with all our hearts attention, let us gaze upon THE
VISION OF GLORY which Isaiah saw. It was necessary for him to see it in
order that he might be brought into the condition of heart out of which
should come the full consecration expressed in–"Here am I, send me."
Observe what he saw. He saw, first, the supreme Glory of God. "I saw
the Lord," he says, "sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and His
train filled the temple." Was it Jesus that he saw? Was this one of the
anticipations of His future Incarnation? Probably so, for John writes
in his 12th chapter, at the 41st verse, "These things said Isaiah, when
he saw His Glory, and spoke of Him"–referring to the Lord Jesus
Christ. We will not, however, insist upon that interpretation, for the
word, "Lord," doubtless included, at times, the whole Godhead and,
therefore, the vision may have represented the Lord Himself revealed in
visible form.

As to His absolute Essence, eyes cannot behold the Lord, but He chooses
to make an apparition of Himself– appearing among men in such a form
as may come under the understanding of their senses. Now, Brothers and
Sisters, we know of nothing that will supply a better motive for
missionary work, or for Christian effort of any sort, than a sight of
the Divine Glory. This is one of the strongest impulses a soul can
feel. Behold, O believers in the Divine Word, at this day the Lord God,
even Jehovah, is not dethroned, but sits on the Throne of His Glory!
Some know Him not and others deny Him and blaspheme Him, but He is
still God over all, blessed forever!

See the patience of His infinite majesty–He sits in calm Glory upon
His eternal Throne. The nations furiously rage and imagine a vain thing
but, "He that sits in the heavens does laugh; the Lord does have them
in derision." Still are His

purposes fulfilled and His soul abides in its serenity. He is the same
and of His years there is no end. He sits as a King, observe, upon a
throne–He never renounces His sovereignty and dominion. All things
still feel the Omnipotence of the reign of God. "The Lord has prepared
His Throne in the heavens and His Kingdom rules over all." The
rebellions of men, can they ever shake His firm dominion? No, but out
of their wildest uproar He fashions order and by their most violent
resistance He works His own purposes! After all, the Lord reigns–let
the earth rejoice, let the multitudes of the isles be glad! Still,
despite all the hurly-burly of war and all the wickedness of men in the
dark places of the earth, and the detestable blasphemies of the heathen
against the Most High, the Lord sits on a throne which can never be
shaken.

Nor is it a mean throne, either, nor one of little dignity. It is "high
and lifted up." It is not merely above all other thrones by way of
greater power, but over them all by way of supreme dominion over them,
for He is King of kings and Lord of lords! I wish, dear Brothers and
Sisters, we could get a glimpse of the Glory and power and dominion
which belong to the Most High! If we did, though it would certainly
humble us in the very dust, yet it would fire us with a consecrated
indignation against those who set up other gods. It would fill us with
a sacred courage to do and dare anything against these blind, deaf and
dumb deities to whom it is almost too great an honor to pour contempt
upon them! And it would make us feel confidence in the ultimate success
of the cause and kingdom of the living God.

Even now, while He restrains His hand, He sits upon a throne high and
lifted up and is even now the Governor among the nations. The day shall
surely come when all nations shall behold His Throne and bow before it
and God shall be seen to be Lord over all. The God whom we serve is
able to give victory to His own cause. Here is an impulse for us in all
warring for His cause and crown. If you choose to take the text as
referring to the Lord Jesus Christ, what a delight it is for us to
think that there is no more for Him the thorny crown and the cruel
lance and the contemptuous spit, but He who bowed His head to death has
left the dead, no more to die and ascended to the right hand of God,
even the Father!

God, having highly exalted Him, He now sits upon a throne high and
lifted up. This, in fact, is the origin of our commission–"Go you,
therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them into the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." Because all power is
given unto Him in Heaven and in earth, therefore we are to go forth and
subdue the people under His feet. O, when will His Church fully believe
in the Glory of her Lord and rejoice therein, so that His power shall
fill her, as His train filled the temple? If we cannot behold His
greatest glories, yet we pray that His Presence, by the Holy Spirit,
like the perfumed smoke and the resplendent hems of His robes, may be
known among us and fill us with adoration. Did the posts of the door
move at that august Presence? Let our hearts be moved, also, as in
lowly adoration we bow before Him who is Lord and Christ!

But then Isaiah saw, also, the court of the great King. He beheld the
glorious attendants who perpetually perform homage, nearest to His
Throne. He says, "Above it (or rather above Him) stood the seraphims,"
not implying that their feet rested upon the earth, or upon any other
solid substance, but that they were stationary around and above the
great King, poised in mid air in a circle, like a rainbow round about
the Throne of God, or as a bodyguard surrounding the Throne of Majesty.
There they were, waiting to know His pleasure, on the wing, ready for
any errand and adoring while they waited. These seraphim may furnish us
with a pattern for Christian service–as the Throne of God becomes the
impulse to that service, so let these serve us as the model.

They dwell near the Lord and so should we. He is their center and their
bliss, even so should He be ours. But I specially note that they were
burning ones, for such is the meaning of the word seraphims, a term
applied in the Hebrew to the fiery flying serpents of the wilderness.
These courtiers of the great King were creatures of fire, ablaze with
ardor– all glowing and shining, they worship Him–"who makes His
angels spirits, His ministers a flame of fire." Jehovah, who is a
consuming fire, can only fitly be served by those who are on fire,
whether they are angels or men. Hence that solemn question, "Who among
us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with
everlasting burnings?" (Isa. 33:14).

None can do this but the man on fire with Divine Love. In the Presence
of that consuming fire, it is not possible for lukewarmness or
indifference to exist, we would be utterly burned up. To act as
courtier before the burning Throne of God requires a seraphic or
burning spirit and if we become lethargic and soulless we shall not be
counted worthy to be employed on Divine errands. Therefore, let all
coolness of love and slumbering of spirit be removed. May the Lord make
us, like John the Baptist, burning and shining lights! These courtiers
of God were burning ones and they are, also,

pictured to us–for remember these are only representations of things
actually invisible and seen only in vision–as having six wings. Such
are His servants full of motion, full of life!

Some that I know of who profess to serve the Lord seem to have no wings
at all, but are stolid and inactive–more like the sloth than the
seraph–having more weight than wing. Those who come near Him should be
all in motion, quick, active, willing, awake, energetic, ready to fly
upon the Lord's business with a mighty swiftness. In a word, six fold
should be their wings, that they may not tarry nor tire, nor linger nor
loiter in the way. Have we such readiness of mind as this? Having life
and motion, these glorious spirits use their powers with prudence and
discretion. They use not all their wings for flight, but with two, each
one covered his face, for even they cannot gaze upon the dazzling
brightness of Jehovah's Throne and, therefore, in humble shamefacedness
of awe they adore with veiled countenance!

"With two he covered his feet," or his body, or his lower parts, for
the seraph remembers that even though sinless, he is yet a creature
and, therefore, he conceals himself in token of his nothingness and
unworthiness in the Presence of the thrice Holy One. The middle pair of
wings was used for flight, for mere bashfulness and humility cannot
offer complete adoration, there must be active obedience and readiness
of heart for service. Thus they have four wings for adoration and two
for active energy–four to conceal themselves and two with which to
occupy themselves in service. We may learn from them that we shall
serve God best when we are most deeply reverend and humbled in His
Presence. Veneration must be in larger proportion than vigor–adoration
must exceed activity.

As Mary at Jesus' feet was preferred to Martha and her much serving, so
must sacred reverence take the first place and energetic service follow
in due course. The angels do His commands, hearkening unto His voice
and thus they excel. Our excellence must lie in the same direction–the
union of worship with work in due proportions. The covering of the face
is as necessary as the flight. The burning one is as seraphic in the
veiling of his feet as in the stretching of his wings. Let us pray the
Lord will fill us with the Divine enthusiasm, which is the work of the
Holy Spirit, and so make us burning ones. And then when He has winged
us with sacred energy, may He make us humble in mind, removing from us
all vain curiosity, so that we shall not attempt to gaze with uncovered
eyes on the great Incomprehensible. Let us pray that He will take away
all unhallowed presumption, so that we will use no proud bravado, but
cover our feet in the solemn Presence of the Holy One. Let us ask God
to make us ready to every good word and work, swift to go anywhere and
everywhere, as He may call us, being, as it were, six-winged in the
service of our God!

Again, another part of the vision of Isaiah in the temple was the
perpetual song, for these sacred beings continually cried, "Holy, holy,
holy is the Lord of Hosts, the whole earth is full of His Glory."
Brothers and Sisters, let us take this cry to be the life song of each
one of us! Adore the holy God, perfection's self! Whatever He shall do
with you, bless Him and still call Him holy. Find no fault with His
dispensations–never dare to quarrel with any of His ways. Holy, holy,
holy, is He in all things. In creation, Providence and redemption He is
holy, holy, holy! Praise Him with ardor! Be not content to call Him
holy once, but dwell upon the theme! Extol the Lord with all your
might! Raise again and again, and again the sacred song.

Adore not only the Father, but the Son and the ever-blessed Spirit–let
the Trinity in Unity be the object of your perpetual adoration–

"Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty! Early in the morning our song shall
rise to Thee! Holy, holy holy! Merciful and mighty! God in Three
Persons, blessed Trinity!" While you praise His holiness do not forget
His power, but adore Him as "Jehovah of Hosts." He is as great as He is
good, as high as He is holy, as potent as He is pure! He created the
heavens, the earth and all the hosts of them. Legions of angels do His
bidding! Hosts of intelligences wait His call! All forces of Nature,
animate and inanimate, march at His command! From the crash of thunder
to the flight of an insect, all things are at His beck and call. Hosts
of birds migrate at His direction. Hosts of fishes swarm the sea at His
call. Hosts of locusts and caterpillars devour the fields at His order.
His armies are innumerable and all living things are in their regiments
a part of His camp which is very great.

Men, also, whether they will or not, shall be subservient to His
supreme dominion. Their armies and their navies fulfill His decrees
even when they think not of Him. He is Lord of all! Exult in this and
let your hearts be brave because of it. And then dwell, that you may
feel a missionary spirit, on that last part of the song, "The whole
earth is filled with His Glory," for so it really is in one sense.
"Jehovah of Hosts is the fullness of the whole earth." God is glorious
all over the

world! Heaven and earth are full of the majesty of His Glory.
Everything adores Him except that wandering, wayward creature, man!
Turn this ascription, for it may be so read, into a wish–"Let the
whole earth be filled with His Glory."

Read it, if you please, as a prophecy–"The whole earth shall be filled
with His glory," and then go forward, O you servants of the Most High,
with this resolve–that in His hands you will be the means of
fulfilling the prophecy by spreading abroad the knowledge of His name
among the sons of men! The earth is the Lord's and the fullness
thereof, and He must reign over it. Are you going to succumb to the
modern theory that the world is never to be converted to God? Is human
history to end with the triumph of the devil over the Church of God? Is
the Lord about to give up the present battle of good with evil with
feeble men as the instruments? Are the conditions of the conflict to be
changed altogether? Is the Holy Spirit to fail until an earthly kingdom
is set up for the Lord Jesus?

Is the Gospel never to spread among the heathen? Is Christ to come upon
an unenlightened heathen world, with Mohammed, the false prophet, still
unconquered and the harlot of Rome still upon her seven hills and all
the idols in their places? Is the battle which now glorifies God by the
weakness of man to be fought out in another manner? You may believe it
if you will and go to the beds of your inglorious sloth! But I think
there is something more worthy of faith than that, namely, that God
will be victorious all along the line in the present battle and in the
present style of conflict! By His Church, His Word and His Spirit, He
means to win the victory! By the testimony of weak, feeble men to the
Gospel of His Grace, He means to conquer the powers of darkness!

For nearly 2,000 years our Lord has stood foot to foot with Satan and
He will not end this wrestling match till He has given His foe a deadly
fall! Then the shout shall go up from a ransomed world, "Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns." Oar prayers will never
end till we see the desire of pious David fulfilled when he said, "Let
the whole earth be filled with His Glory! Amen, and amen. The prayers
of David, the son of Jesse are ended." We are looking and laboring for
that consummation and we believe that we shall realize it, though it
looks most improbable, especially just now when the heathen are
converting our missionaries instead of the missionaries converting the
heathen! We have had bishops turned into Zulus instead of Zulus into
Christians and several other instances less known to evil fame!

But we still believe in the conquest of the world because we believe in
the Omnipotence of God. Nothing short of "dominion from sea to sea"
dare we ask in prayer or seek in service for our Lord Jesus! The idols
must be utterly abolished! Error and sin must fly before the light of
the Truth of God and holiness! The ends of the earth must yet see the
salvation of our God and the whole earth must be filled with His Glory!

II. Let us now turn our thoughts to THE VISION OF ORDINATION. This man,
Isaiah, was to go forth in

Jehovah's name, but in order to preparation for so high a privilege, he
must undergo a process peculiar but necessary. He was brought into a
state which, to human judgment, would seem to disqualify him for all
future usefulness, crushing the courage out of him and leaving him like
a bruised reed. By reason of the glorious vision which he saw, there
was no strength left in him. He was cast down as low as he could well
go with a sense of his own utter unworthiness and felt himself to be
less than nothing.

In the Presence of God he cried, "Woe is me! for I am undone because I
am a man of unclean lips." "Alas, alas, alas," he says, "woe has taken
possession of my soul. I am destroyed by it." Yes, dear Brother, and
this is our way to success– God will never do anything with us till He
has, first of all, undone us! We must be taken to pieces and made to
undergo a process much like destruction–and then we shall be newly
fashioned according to a nobler mold–more fit to be used by our great
Lord. I shall not regret if every Brother here called to the work of
the Lord shall feel as if he could not go on with it and shall mourn
daily his incapacity, his unworthiness and failure! It is good for us
to be laid in the dust. Downward in breaking, in crushing, in grinding,
in being made into dust we must go, for this is the way to be made
strong in the Lord and in the power of His might! The death of self is
the life of Divine Grace. When we are weak then are we strong. We can
only rise to ability for the most noble errands by being emptied of all
self-sufficiency and filled with the all-sufficient Spirit of God!

Observe, next, that he made a confession of sin while thus prostrate.
He said, "I am a man of unclean lips." Why does he lament the
uncircumcision of his lips rather than the evil of his heart? It was
partly because he longed to join the seraphim in their song but felt
his lips unfit. And more because he was a Prophet and, therefore, his
lips were the instruments of his office and he was most conscious of
sin where he felt most the need of Grace. I know not that Isaiah had
ever kept back any part of the Truth of God, or that he had spoken in
uncomely tones, or that in his work of prophecy he

had in anything been unfaithful, but yet he felt his shortcomings.
There was nothing about him that you and I could have seen to find
fault with, but he saw it. He felt it!

And what minister is there, that God has ever sent, who does not, when
he surveys his ministry, feel that he is a man of unclean lips? Often
and often does our soul say, "Oh that these lips had language! They are
poor dumb things that will not speak aright. O that instead of flesh
they were flames–that we might let fall a burning torrent of
persuasions, entreaties and solicitations which should run amid
multitudes of men like fire in dry stubble!" But it is not so with us.
We are often cold and lifeless and so we are made to mourn that we have
unclean lips. Who, that ever saw the Glory of God, or the love of
Christ, would refuse to join in this confession?

And, then, this man of God felt, also, a deep sense of the sin of the
people among whom he dwelt. He cried, "I dwell among a people of
unclean lips." I do not think a man can be a good missionary if he
winks at the sin that surrounds him. Unless it stinks in his nostrils.
Unless it makes his soul boil with holy indignation. Unless, like Paul,
his heart is stirred in him, how can he speak as he should speak, the
message of his God? Familiarity with evil too often takes off the edge
of tender feelings. Men readily cease to weep over the sin which is
always before their eyes. You may look upon the superstitions of Rome
till you almost admire the gallant show! And I suppose you may regard
heathen temples till the majesty of their architecture may make you
forget the infamy of their purpose.

But it must not be so! We must feel that we dwell among a people of
unclean lips and we must bear their sins upon our hearts, repenting for
them if they will not repent, and breaking our hearts over them because
their hearts are as granite against their God. Only in such a frame of
mind shall we be fit to go forth in God's name. And do you notice that
he had a sacred awe upon him because of the Divine Presence? Do you see
how bowed down he was because his eyes had seen the King, the Lord of
Hosts? O favored servant of God! Isaiah, you are honored above your
fellows, to behold God's Throne and Glory! What would you and I not
give if we might but have stood in the temple, peered within the
doorway and gazed into the smoke–and have seen some glimpse of the
brightness? But Isaiah never exulted in it. On the contrary, he cried,
"Woe is me!" There is no thought of the dignity to which the marvelous
sight has lifted him–deep in the dust he cries, "I am undone, for I
have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts!"

Now this awe-full sense of the Divine Presence is necessary to make a
man serve the Lord fitly and acceptably. Forget that God is all around
you, forget that you live in His Presence and are His servant–get away
from Him and you can be careless–you can restrain your zeal and your
conscience may be at ease. But let a man feel that God sees him and let
him know that he is under His immediate guidance and he will be
awakened at once to do the will of the Lord on earth after the fashion
in which it is done in Heaven! He will put forth all his energies
because God should be served with our best! But conscious that when he
has done his best, he has fallen short of the glory of God, he will be
very humble, as those should be who are in such a Presence.

O Lord Jesus, by Your Holy Spirit give us an overpowering sense of Your
Presence! If You will but do this, we shall be a tabernacle full of
worshippers, first, and of workers afterwards, and shall cheerfully
adore You and labor for You. In this second part of the Prophet's
vision, the most notable thing is the way in which God met and removed
His servant's infirmities. His unclean lips were his great impediment.
Where he most needed power, he most felt his infirmity, and so there
came a seraph with the golden tongs, or snuffers, and took a burning
coal from off the altar and touched his lips with it. What does this
mean? We have the explanation–"Your iniquity is taken away and Your
sin purged."

Fellowship with the great Sacrifice–the application of one of the
coals which consumed the ever blessed Jesus is the way to make our lips
ready for preaching! I believe that most of my dear Hearers have the
application of the live coal to their hearts so as to have been purged,
for we believe in Him who died for us and we are resting in His great
sacrifice. But in order to be prepared for service we need to have that
coal touching us again till we feel the fire. We need fellowship with
the pangs and woes of Christ! We need to feel as if we, too, wished to
be consumed for others, as He was consumed for us! The disinterested
love which made Him die must come and influence us, that we may be
willing to die for others. We need just that.

Did it not make you feel joy in your fellow men, the other day, when
you read of the poor men in the pit and of their gallant deliverers?
One rejoiced that manhood could exhibit such heroism. "We can do no
more," said some, "it is death to go into the pit again. We cannot
rescue the poor fellows and it is idle to throw away life for no
purpose." The brave men who had been toiling there in the bowels of the
earth, finding themselves in the presence of almost certain death,

might well have stood back, but not so the bold Welshmen. One said, "If
it is death to go and save them, I will go, death or no death," and
then others came forward and said they would go, also. Had I been there
I should have been ready to weep, because, being unskilled in the
miner's craft, I should have been helpless to assist. But they would
not have lacked my heartiest cheers and most ardent prayers, nor
anything else that I could have done.

Assuredly since Jesus Christ has died for us, we need to be touched
with something of that same zeal for the rescue of others from eternal
ruin. A coal from off the altar where He was consumed must be laid on
us that we may feel willing to make any sacrifice for His dear sake and
for the souls of men! That touching of the lips was the Lord's way of
setting the Prophet on fire where the fire was needed. He needed lips
blistered with the griefs of Christ and burning with love to men's
souls–and he had such lips bestowed upon him by his God–and so was he
fit to go and preach in the name of the Lord. Here, then, is the true
ordination for a Christian worker!

You must be nothing, lying in the dust with confession of sin–and you
must be purged by the great Sacrifice of Calvary and your tongue
compelled to tell the tale because you have felt such royal mercy, such
free mercy, such unspeakable mercy, that if you did not speak of it,
the very stones in the street would cry out against you! You need this
for your preparation and if you have it, my Brother, you have obtained
your ordination from the great Shepherd and Bishop of your souls–and
you need no other!

III. When a man is prepared for sacred work he is not long before he
receives a commission. We come, then, to think of THE DIVINE CALL. I
feel in my soul, though I cannot speak it out, an inward grieving
sympathy with God, that God Himself should have to cry from His Throne,
"Whom shall I send?" Alas, my God, are there no volunteers for Your
service? What? All these priests and sons of Aaron–will none of these
run upon Your errand? And all these Levites, will not one of them offer
himself? No, not one. Ah, it is grievous, grievous beyond all thought,
that there should be such multitudes of men and women in the Church of
God who, nevertheless, seem unfit to be sent upon the Master's work, or
at least never offer to go, and He has to cry, "Whom shall I send?"

What? Out of all these saved ones, no willing messengers to the
heathen! Where are his ministers? Will none of these cross the seas to
heathen lands? Here are thousands of us working at home. Are none of us
called to go abroad? Will none of us carry the Gospel to regions
beyond? Are none of us bound to go? Does the Divine Voice appeal to our
thousands of preachers and find no response so that again it cries,
"Whom shall I send?" Here are multitudes of professing Christians
making money, getting rich, eating the fat and drinking the sweet–is
there not one to go for Christ? Men travel abroad for trade–will they
not go for Jesus? They even risk life amid eternal snows–are there no
heroes for the Cross?

Here and there a young man, perhaps with little qualifications and no
experience, offers himself–and he may or may not be welcomed. But can
it be true that the majority of educated, intelligent Christian young
men are more willing to let the heathen be damned than to let the
treasures of the world go into other hands? Alas, for some reason or
other, (I am not going to question the reasons), God Himself may look
over all His Church and, finding no volunteers, may utter the pathetic
cry, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?"

But there were the six-winged seraphim. Why did not the Lord send them?
Ah, Brothers and Sisters, that He might have done, but it is not
according to the order of the Gospel dispensation, for He is pleased,
by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe–and the
preachers must be men like the rest of mankind. It is great
condescension on His part that He has chosen men and unto the angels He
has not put in subjection the world to come whereof we speak. But He
has given this honor to us, putting His treasure in earthen vessels
that the excellency of the power may be all His own. We ought to
rejoice in this, but it is sad, surpassingly sad, that from among
myriads of willing seraphim, God's cry should come to unwilling men,
"Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us."

I call to your attention, again, to the fact that this is the voice of
the one God and it is, also, the question of the sacred Trinity–"Whom
shall I send, and who will go for Us?" The Father, Son and Spirit thus
question us–shall not the threefold Voice be regarded? Notice the
particular kind of man for whom this Voice is seeking. It is a man who
must be sent, a man under impulse, a man under authority–"Whom shall I
send?" But it is a man who is quite willing to go, a volunteer, one
who, in his inmost heart, rejoices to obey–"Who will go for Us?" What
a strange mingling this is! "Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel," and
yet, "taking the oversight of the flock of God not by constraint but
willingly." Irresistible impulse and cheerful choice and Omnipotent
compulsion and joyful eagerness most mysteriously combine! We must have
a mingling of these two!

I do not know that I could put into so many words that wonderful
feeling of freeness and overpowering impulse, of necessity and freedom,
but our experience understands what our language cannot express. We are
willing and yet a power is over us. We are willing in the day of God's
power, coming forth as freely as the dewdrops from the womb of the
morning and yet as truly the product of Divine power as they are. Such
must God's servant be. I wonder if I echo and reecho the voice of God,
this morning, whether it will find amidst the thousands in this house
and the thousands that may read this word, some loving responses in at
least a few chosen hearts? "Whom shall I send?"–it is Jehovah's voice.
"And who will go for Us?"–it is the voice of the bleeding Lamb! It is
the voice of the loving Father! It is the voice of the ever blessed
Spirit!

Does no one leap up at this moment and freely offer himself? Must I
speak in vain? Ah, that were a light thing–must the Voice from Heaven
be in vain? Did the child Samuel reply, "Here am I, for You did call
me," and will no full-grown man answer to the voice of the Eternal?
With your hearts and consciences I leave it.

IV. Now comes the last point, and that is THE EARNEST RESPONSE. The
reply of Isaiah was, "Here am I; send me." I think I see in that
response a consciousness of his being in a certain position which no
one else occupied, which rendered it incumbent upon him to say, "Here
am I." There was no one else in the temple. No one else saw that vision
and, therefore, to him the voice of the Lord came as at once and
personally as if there were not another man in all the world. "Here am
I."

Now, Brothers and Sisters, if at any time the mission field lacks
workers, (it is a sad thing that it should be so, but yet so it is),
should not that fact make each man look to himself and say, "Where am
I? What position do I occupy towards this work of God? May I not be
placed just where I am because I can do what others could not?" Some of
you young men, especially, without the ties of family to hold you in
this country. You without a large Church around you, or not having,
yet, plunged into the sea of business. You, I say, who are standing
where, in the ardor of your first love, you might fitly say, "Here am
I." And if God has endowed you with any wealth, given you any talent
and placed you in a favorable position, you are the man who should say,
"Perhaps I have come to the kingdom for such a time as this. I may be
placed where I am, on purpose, that I may render essential help to the
cause of God.

"Here, at any rate, I am–I feel the Presence of the glorious God. I
see the hem of His garments as He reveals Himself to me. I almost hear
the rush of seraphic wings as I perceive how near Heaven is to earth
and I feel in my soul I must give myself up to God. I feel in my own
heart my indebtedness to the Christ of God. I see the need of the
heathen. I love them for Jesus' sake. The fiery coal is touching my
lips even now–here am I! You have put me where I am! Lord, take me as
I am and use me as You will." May the Divine Spirit influence some of
you who greatly love my Lord till you feel all this.

Then you observe that he makes a full surrender of himself. "Here am
I." Lord, I am what I am by Your Grace, but here I am. If I am a man of
one talent, yet here I am. If I am a man of 10, yet here I am. If in
youthful vigor, here I am. If of more mature years, here I am. Have I
substance? Here I am. Do I lack abilities? Yet I made not my own mouth,
nor did I create my infirmities. Here I am. Just as I am, as I gave
myself up to Your dear Son to be redeemed, so I give myself up, again,
to be used for Your Glory because I am redeemed and am not my own, but
bought with a price.

"Here I am." Isaiah gave himself up to the Lord, none the less
completely, because his errand was so full of sadness. He was not to
win men, but to seal their doom by putting before them the Truth of God
which they would be sure to reject. We read, "And He said, Go and tell
this people, Hear you indeed, but understand not; and see you indeed,
but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their
ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and
hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and
be healed." Thank God ours is not so hard a task! The Spirit of God is
with us and men are turned from darkness to light. Ought we not to be
all the more eager to go?

It is a point of great weight, an argument most telling. Do not refuse
to feel its power, but yield yourselves up to God, seeing that He calls
you to the most happy and blessed work which even He, Himself, could
commit to you. Then comes Isaiah's prayer for authority and anointing.
If we read this passage rightly we shall not always throw the emphasis
upon the last word, "me," but read it, also, thus, "Here am I, send
me." He is willing to go, but he does not want to go without being
sent, and so the prayer is, "Lord, send me. I beseech You of Your
infinite Grace, qualify me! Open the door for me and direct my ways. I
do not need to be forced, but I would be commissioned. I do not ask for
compulsion, but I do ask for guidance. I would not run of my own head
under the notion that I am doing Your service. Send me then,

Lord, if I may go! Guide me, instruct me, prepare me, and strengthen
me." There is a combination of willingness and holy prudence–"Here I
am; send Me."

I feel certain that some of you are eager to go for my Lord and Master
wherever He appoints. Keep not back, I pray you, Brother, make no terms
with God. Put it, "Here am I; send me–where You will–to the wildest
region, or even to the jaws of death. I am Your soldier, put me in the
front of the battle if You will, or bid me lie in the trenches. Give me
gallantly to charge at the head of my regiment, or give me silently to
sap and mine the foundations of the enemy's fortresses. Use me as You
will. Send me and I will go. I leave all else to You. Only here I am,
Your willing servant, wholly consecrated to You."

That is the right missionary spirit and may God be pleased to pour it
out upon you all, and upon His people throughout the world. To me it
seems that if a hundred were to leap up and each one exclaim, "Here am
I; send me," it would be no wonder. By the love and wounds and death of
Christ. By your own salvation. By your indebtedness to Jesus. By the
terrible condition of the heathen and by that awful Hell whose yawning
mouth is before them, ought you not to say, "Here am I; send me"? The
vessel is wrecked, the sailors are perishing–they are clinging to the
rigging as best they can–they are being washed off one by one! Good
God, they die before our eyes and yet there is the lifeboat new and
trim. We need men! Men to man the boat! Here are the oars, but never an
arm to use them! What is to be done? Here is the gallant boat, able to
leap from billow to billow, only men are needed! Are there none? Are we
all cowards? A man is more precious than the gold of 0phir.

Now, my brave Brothers, who will leap in and take an oar for the love
of Jesus and yon dying men? And you brave women, you who have hearts
like that of Grace Darling, will not you shame the laggards and dare
the tempest for the love of souls in danger of death and Hell? Weigh my
appeal in earnest and at once, for it is the appeal of God! Sit down
and listen to that sorrowful yet majestic demand, "Whom shall I send,
and who will go for Us?" and then respond, "Ready, yes, ready! Ready
for anything to which our Redeemer calls us." Let those who love Him,
as they perceive all around them the terrible token of the world's dire
need, cry in an agony of Christian love," Here am I; send me!"
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