Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2384
“You are My servant: O Israel, you shall not be forgotten of Me.” Isaiah 44:21.
The idols said nothing to their worshippers. They had mouths, but they spoke not. You might go on worshipping an image for 20 years, but you would never get a reply to anything you said to it. It could not see you, it could not hear you, it could not answer you. That is a poor kind of worship! I do not think that I would care to go on worshipping a Madonna even if she winked—one cannot make much out of a wink—we need something more than that from the object of our adoration.
But God has spoken to His people! We have a Revelation from the one living and true God. Jehovah has broken the eternal silences. He has torn the veil behind which He was hidden and He has revealed Himself. I believe this Book to be Inspired of God. I accept every word and every jot and tittle of it as God’s voice to me. He has spoken and the record of what He has said is before me and I can rejoice in it. This was a blessed speech when God said to His ancient people, “You are My servant: O Israel, you shall not be forgotten of me.”
I cannot, at this time, stop to make any preface, but I must speak to you, first of all, upon the title which the Lord gives to His people—“My servant.” Secondly, I will remind you of the promise which He makes to them—“You shall not be forgotten of Me.” And then, thirdly, I will give you some reasons which assure us that His promise must and will be kept.
I. First then, dear Friends, here is THE TITLE WHICH THE LORD GIVES TO HIS PEOPLE—“My servant.”
Notice what a practical title it is—“My servant.” It has to do with action and service. It has to do with the heart, but also with the hands, with the inner and with the outer life. There is no true Christian but the practical Christian. The merely doctrinal professor has only the dead logs of wood—there is no fire of devotion, there is no warmth of fervor, there is nothing that is really worth having. The man who talks about his experience as a Christian, who never does anything for Christ, is, I am afraid, only an idle dreamer! There must be practical obedience to God from those who claim to be His servants. A servant is not always at work, but a servant is always a servant and always ready for work. I have known some servants who were very particular about what work they did. If there was a little given them to do that they thought was outside their special duty, they went about it in a very grumbling humor. I do not call such a person as that a servant! But the Lord’s servants belong entirely to Him, they are His property, their time and talents are wholly at His disposal, their whole mind and heart and soul are subservient to His will. Let Him say, “Do this,” and they do it. Let Him say, “Go there,” and there they go.
I want you, dear Hearers, to ask yourselves, “Are we servants of God?” Are not some of you servants of sin? Are not others of you servants of self, servants of the world, servants of the devil? Well, there is nothing comforting in the text for you! There is nothing comforting in the whole Bible for you while you remain as you are! You must quit that evil service. You must, by Divine Grace, become servants of God! But I know that I am speaking to some who are the servants of the Lord and who wish that their service was more perfect than it is. The will is present with you—with hearty goodwill you wear the golden yoke of Christ and you desire that every member of your body, and every faculty of your soul, may be yielded up to Him—for that is your reasonable service.
That is the first point, then, this is a practical title, “My servant.”
Notice, also, that in the text it is a personal title. The Lord says, “Fou are My servant.” There were a great many who were not God’s servants. Multitudes of people were the servants of those idol gods of theirs, which they had made with their compass and their rule, their line and their plane. Poor things—the servants of a piece of wood! It must be beggarly service to serve that which you, yourself, have made! But God says to each one of His people, “You are My servant.” Would the Lord Jesus go round this Tabernacle, and stop in front of each of you, and say, “You are My servant. Do not judge your fellow-worshippers, nor try to find out whether this man or that may is My servant. You, yourself, are my servant”? Oh, would not some of us, if our Master would do this, just leap to our feet, take hold of His hand, and say, “Lord, it is so. Brand us as your slaves, for we would gladly bear in our body the marks of the Lord Jesus. We would let all men know that, indeed, we are Your servants”? Will you just turn your thoughts away from this great crowd? I am trying to do so, that I may take to myself the personal title, “You are My servant.” Will you, each one individually, either allot to yourself these words of the Lord, “You are My servant,” or else honestly put them on one side as not belonging to you?