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Why Do I Exist? · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: There are certain Bible texts that are so important to
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  Speaker 1: Master John's life and ministry that we need to stop
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  Speaker 1: and focus on them. We saw one last time on
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  Speaker 1: the gutsy Guilt of Micah seven Verses eight to nine,
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  Speaker 1: looking at what we do when we come face to
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  Speaker 1: face with the guilt of our darkest sin. And today
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  Speaker 1: we look at another important text, Isaiah forty three Versus
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  Speaker 1: six to seven. It's essential to know and study and
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  Speaker 1: maybe even memorize. It's so rich, which is why it
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  Speaker 1: comes up all the time on this podcast, which you'll
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  Speaker 1: see in the APJ book on pages eighty seven to
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  Speaker 1: eighty eight. Isaiah forty three Versus six and seven is
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  Speaker 1: on my mind today because we read it today. We
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  Speaker 1: read Isaiah forty two and forty three together in our
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  Speaker 1: Bible plan, alongside three other texts. There's a lot of
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  Speaker 1: reading today. And again, Pastor John, one of my fears
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  Speaker 1: with the Bible reading plan, like the one that we're
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  Speaker 1: on trying to read the whole Bible in a year,
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  Speaker 1: is that we just make it so easy to breeze
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  Speaker 1: past important texts, especially ones that you draw from all
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  Speaker 1: the time. So I want to hit pause and have
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  Speaker 1: you slow us down to meditate on Isaiah forty three,
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  Speaker 1: verses six to seven for ten minutes or so to
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  Speaker 1: draw out the points we need on this text. It
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  Speaker 1: seems like a huge and awesome blessing that the Creator
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  Speaker 1: would explain to us why we exist.
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  Speaker 2: It is huge. One of the reasons these verses from
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  Speaker 2: Isaiah forty three have been so central to my thinking
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  Speaker 2: is that fifty five years ago, when I was in seminary,
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  Speaker 2: I bought a book by the seminary faculty titled Things
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  Speaker 2: Most Surely Believed. In that book, Daniel Fuller, one of
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  Speaker 2: the faculty, my most influential teacher, had a chapter titled
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  Speaker 2: Why God Created the World, and that chapter was an
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  Speaker 2: exposition of these verses. So I was drawn in to
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  Speaker 2: a living discussion of that text and what seemed to
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  Speaker 2: me to be just about the most important question in
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  Speaker 2: the world. Why do I exist? Why does anything exist?
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  Speaker 2: And I've never tired of returning to these verses because
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  Speaker 2: when I read them in context over and over, I
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  Speaker 2: not only see fresh glimpses of God's peculiar design for
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  Speaker 2: me as a human being, but I also feel welling
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  Speaker 2: up in my heart fresh zeal to bring my life
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  Speaker 2: into alignment with God's ultimate purpose and so experience the
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  Speaker 2: greatest significance possible in this life and not waste my
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  Speaker 2: one single life that I have to live on this earth.
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  Speaker 2: And that just has been huge for me. I mean
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  Speaker 2: over and over again, it has kindled in me to
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  Speaker 2: a waste your life. If there's a purpose for your life,
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  Speaker 2: God is revealed it, get in line with it. This
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  Speaker 2: will make everything count. And that's what I would love
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  Speaker 2: for our listeners in this session. So here are the
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  Speaker 2: words is that I've returned to you over and over.
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  Speaker 2: Bring my sons from Afar. This is verse six of
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  Speaker 2: Isaiah forty three. Bring my sons from Afar, my daughters
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  Speaker 2: from the end of the earth. Everyone who is called
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  Speaker 2: by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom
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  Speaker 2: I formed and made. So let's gaze at the wonder
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  Speaker 2: of this statement through five different lenses. First, let's look
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  Speaker 2: at it through the Jewish lens. This is a statement
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  Speaker 2: made to Israel. We just have to own that right off.
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  Speaker 2: We're gentiles reading it, and we take it for ourselves
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  Speaker 2: as we should. But you have to give that a
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  Speaker 2: little bit of thought. This is made to Israel. The
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  Speaker 2: paragraph verse one begins now thus as the Lord, he
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  Speaker 2: who created you, oh Jacob, he who formed you, oh Israel.
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  Speaker 2: There are unique ways by which God is glorified in
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  Speaker 2: the history of Israel, no doubt about that, and he's
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  Speaker 2: talking about that here. But it would be a mistake
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  Speaker 2: not to see ourselves, as Christians lovers of Messiah Jesus
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  Speaker 2: in this verse, and not to see his purpose for
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  Speaker 2: the nations as well in this verse, because the Bible
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  Speaker 2: teaches that not just Israel, but all the nations, indeed,
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  Speaker 2: all humans created in God's image to image forth God,
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  Speaker 2: that is, to glorify God by virtue of being created
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  Speaker 2: in his image. All of us exist for the glory
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  Speaker 2: of God. Every tongue, Paul says in Philippines, too, willingly
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  Speaker 2: or unwillingly, will confess Jesus. Christ is Lord to the
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  Speaker 2: glory of God the Father. Not just confess Christ, but
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  Speaker 2: confess Christ to the glory of God the Father. And
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  Speaker 2: as far as Christians are concerned, the whole New Testament
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  Speaker 2: is designed to show that gentile believers like me and you, Tony,
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  Speaker 2: and most of the people listening, probably gentile believers in Jesus,
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  Speaker 2: are now included in God's chosen people the true Israel.
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  Speaker 2: So if you are in Christ, in the Jewish Messiah,
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  Speaker 2: by faith, you are Abraham's offspring airs according to the
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  Speaker 2: Promised Galicians three twenty nine. Therefore, the fullness of God's
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  Speaker 2: blessing in Isaiah forty three applies not only to Jewish believers,
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  Speaker 2: but also to Gentile believers. So we should read this
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  Speaker 2: chapter and revel in it as ours gentiles believers. In
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  Speaker 2: Messiah number two, let's look at it through the the
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  Speaker 2: lens of God's self exaltation Verse seven. I created my
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  Speaker 2: sons and daughters for my glory, whom I created for
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  Speaker 2: my glory. This is just inescapably and plainly an instance
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  Speaker 2: of God's self exaltation. He's saying, in effect, the universe
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  Speaker 2: is about me, folks, It's about me. The bigness of
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  Speaker 2: the universe is about my bigness. The workings of the universe,
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  Speaker 2: in their amazing, intricate wisdom, are about my wisdom. The
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  Speaker 2: weight and greatness of the universe are about my power.
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  Speaker 2: The gift of the universe to the human race is
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  Speaker 2: about my grace. God's purpose in creation is self exalting.
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  Speaker 2: It's about Him, from Him, through Him to Him. Paul
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  Speaker 2: said are all things. So that's the second lens, and
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  Speaker 2: we'll circle back to that to show why that's good news. Third,
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  Speaker 2: to say that God created the world and us for
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  Speaker 2: his glory does not mean he created us in order
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  Speaker 2: to become glorious. That's really important to clarify, but rather
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  Speaker 2: to show, display, communicate, share his glory. God's sons and
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  Speaker 2: daughters do not magnify him like a microscope, which makes
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  Speaker 2: small things look bigger than they are, but like a
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  Speaker 2: telescope that makes unimaginably great things look more like what
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  Speaker 2: they are. He created us to glorify him like a telescope.
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  Speaker 2: People should put their eyes to the lens of our
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  Speaker 2: life and see through it the greatness of the glory
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  Speaker 2: of God, how satisfying he is to us. Fourth, therefore,
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  Speaker 2: we are able to see God in this text through
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  Speaker 2: the lens of his self sufficiency. He did not create
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  Speaker 2: out of need. He wasn't desperate for a friend. If
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  Speaker 2: you heard that growing up like God made you because
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  Speaker 2: he needed a friend, not true. He was free and
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  Speaker 2: not constrained by any defect or any deficiency. It is
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  Speaker 2: no defect in a fountain. Edward said that it is
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  Speaker 2: prone to overflow God did not create out of the
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  Speaker 2: deficiency of need. He created out of the fullness of love. Fifth,
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  Speaker 2: this brings us to the most wonderful part of this
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  Speaker 2: text that I hadn't meditated on for a long time,
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  Speaker 2: and it really jumped out at me in a most
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  Speaker 2: wonderful way in getting ready for this, namely, looking at
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  Speaker 2: it through the lens of our owniance of God's purpose
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  Speaker 2: to glorify God in us. If God created us for
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  Speaker 2: his glory, what does that imply about our experience of
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  Speaker 2: God's glory. Now Here are the keywords from verses one
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  Speaker 2: to five, and if you read them slowly and you
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  Speaker 2: count them, they are simply glorious, amazing, wonderful, encouraging. Here
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  Speaker 2: they are fear not, for I have redeemed you, I
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  Speaker 2: have called you by name. You are mine. When you
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  Speaker 2: pass through the waters, I will be with you, and
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  Speaker 2: through the rivers they will not overwhelm you. When you
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  Speaker 2: walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, and
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  Speaker 2: the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord,
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  Speaker 2: your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. Be
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  Speaker 2: because you are precious in my eyes and glorified, and
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  Speaker 2: I love you. Fear not for I am with you.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, that's just to have the creator of the
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  Speaker 2: universe talk to you that way. Yeah, I mean, what
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  Speaker 2: could be more glorious? Loved, redeemed, called, owned, protected, precious, glorified.
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  Speaker 2: God has said everything he can say, has he not?
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  Speaker 2: He said everything he can say to make it plain
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  Speaker 2: that his own self exaltation is good for me, is
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  Speaker 2: good for us. We fulfill the destiny of the universe.
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  Speaker 2: We fulfill God's purpose to be glorified in us when
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  Speaker 2: we revel in being loved by him, revel in being
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  Speaker 2: redeemed by him, revel in being called by him, revel
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  Speaker 2: in being owned by him, revel in being protected by him,
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  Speaker 2: revel in being precious to him, revel in being glorified,
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  Speaker 2: actually sharing in the glory that He created the world
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  Speaker 2: to display. God created us for his glory. And this
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  Speaker 2: is spectacularly good news, because, as he is so plain
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  Speaker 2: in this text, God is glorified in us when we
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  Speaker 2: are satisfied in him. That's why he made the world.
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  Speaker 1: Amen our own experience of God's purpose to glorify God
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  Speaker 1: in us, so deep, so precious, so grateful for you
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  Speaker 1: drawing our attention here, Thank you, Pastor John, and If
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  Speaker 1: you want more on Isaiah forty three, verses six and
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  Speaker 1: seven in the rich role it has played in Pastor
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  Speaker 1: John's life and ministry development over the decades, see the
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  Speaker 1: APJ book on pages eighty seven and eighty eight. Well,
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  Speaker 1: we just heard all of those we statements. We fulfill
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  Speaker 1: the death of the universe. We fulfill God's purpose to
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  Speaker 1: be glorified in us when we revel in being loved
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  Speaker 1: by Him, revelin being redeemed by him, revelin being called
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  Speaker 1: by him, revelin being owned by him, revelin being protected
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  Speaker 1: by him, revelin being precious to him, revel in being glorified.
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  Speaker 1: God is glorified in us when we are satisfied in Him.
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  Speaker 1: A lot of we statements there. So does John Piper
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  Speaker 1: believe in self denial. That's a common pushback we hear
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  Speaker 1: about Christian hedonism, and it's up next. I'm Tony Rangy,
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  Speaker 1: Pastor John, and I will see you on Thursday to
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  Speaker 1: look at self denial. See then,