Hey, man, so keep your place there in Isaiah chapter 43, so we're looking at why God gave us things. So the last couple of weeks, we looked at why God gave us animals, we looked at why God gave us plants and trees and the things that grow on the earth. And if you can see the common theme here, we're kind of, we can't really do a sermon series on why God gave us anything, because we'd be basically preaching a sermon series for forever, because God gave us everything that we see, everything that we have is from the Lord. So we're looking at why God gave us things that are alive, basically, if you've noticed the common theme here. So tonight we're going to look at why God gave us us. Why did God create people in the first place? You say, why did God create man himself, man and woman? Look down at Isaiah chapter 43 and look at verse number, look at verse number six, look at verse number six of Isaiah chapter 43 where the Bible says, I will say to the north, give up and to the south, keep not back, bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth. So here he's talking about, you know, bringing his people back and I get that the context is God's people in this verse, but look at verse number seven. We see the first reason that God, you know, God created man, God gave us man. Look at verse number seven. It says, even everyone that is called by my name, for I have created him for my glory. I have formed him, yea, I have made him. So that's the first reason, look at the concepts that I'm going to put forth to you this evening. They're not complicated, but they're things that, you know, they're not what people think about today. They're not what people think about in church today. You know, people think that oh I go to church and you know, they go to these churches that tell them come to church and give money to church and God will bless your life and they give, you know, you do this and God will do this, but the Bible actually says that the reason that God created man, or one of the reasons, is literally for his glory. So you are not created, you know, for your own glory or for yourself. You know, that's kind of a main theme from today. You know, we talked about that this morning. If you want to be a good friend and have good friendships, you need to get outside of yourself and start, you know, sacrificing for your friends and getting outside of your concern for yourself and put your concern on other people. Well, much greater than that, literally the reason that you were created and God formed you, one of the main reasons was for the glory of God, is why he created man.  You know, you aren't here, you aren't here on this earth for a good time. You know, you aren't here on this earth because you think you are awesome. You know, you are here on this earth for God, for God's glory to glorify him. Now if you just think about that for a second and think about how somebody who's not even saved, who doesn't even believe the Bible would take a statement like that, that'd be a pretty shocking statement for somebody, that hey, God created you, because look, God created everybody, not just people that are saved, not just people that believe the Bible, not just people that are following him, God created everyone that has breath. So God created everyone that has breath for his glory, for the, you know, the perspective of they're here for him, now if you think about that for a second and you think about what people are actually doing on this earth, the majority of people, you kind of can understand why God has so much wrath. You kind of can understand why God's so upset when he's talking in the Word of God, in the Bible, so often. There's a lot of wrath in the Bible. It's kind of like, it's kind of like you hire somebody, I mean this, any analogy is not going to be, is not going to be good enough to explain this. You think about why God has so much wrath, imagine hiring someone to remodel your kitchen.   They never show up to your house.  You're like, where is this person?  They're just, they're on a beach in Mexico somewhere.  Like, who are you? Get out of here. They don't even acknowledge you. I mean, look, it's a small, silly little analogy, but the point is you can understand why God has so much wrath. He created man for his glory and man is just like, the large, the mass majority of man is just like, see you later. They took their life, because doesn't everyone get that?  I mean, they're just completely consumed with their own personal pursuits of whatever. This is why, this is why you hear so many sermons on pride.  There's like, yeah, another sermon on pride. But look, this is our problem is just getting our focus off of ourself because we're not here for ourself. We were created for ourselves. We were created for the glory of God. Turn to Revelation chapter four. So the reasons that God created us are pretty simple. The first one is God's glory. The second one is right here. It's pretty simple, the reasons that God created us. Go to Revelation chapter four. Let's look at the second reason that God created man. So we see, we're created for God's glory. So it's not about us, it's not about how we, we can live our lives and enjoy ourselves. It's about God's glory. That's not to say that your life is, they have no enjoyment. Don't get me wrong. It's just, that's not the purpose of our lives, or the purpose of our lives.  But that's not the purpose. That's not the reason that we were created. Look at Revelation chapter four in verse number 11. Here's the second reason. Here's the second reason. Thou art worthy, Revelation chapter four, verse number 11, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for Thou has created all things. And what? And this applies to everything. This applies to the animals, to the plants, to all of creation, and to us. It says, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Look, turn to Hebrews chapter 11. We were created for God's pleasure, for his glory and his pleasure. So we were created, literally, and what that means is that we were created to please God. That's what pleasure means, something that pleases him. We were created, man was created to be pleasing to God. Look at Hebrews chapter 11 in verse number six. So you say, how do we do that? Well, I mean, God literally tells you about the thing. So we're created to please him, and then he literally tells you in the Bible how to please him. So look at verse number six of Hebrews chapter 11. The first thing is this, but without faith it is impossible to what? To please him. It is impossible to be pleasurable to the Lord without faith, meaning the first thing that you must do, if you want to please God in your life, the first thing that you have to do is be saved. That's it. You first have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You have to trust on the fact that he sent his son to take the punishment for your sins. You have to trust on that, that alone, and be saved. You have to have faith in that. Otherwise, anything you could possibly do, that's why they're called dead works.  Why? Because you're dead. You're spiritually dead. Because without faith, it's impossible to please him. So somebody could be not saved, and they could be out doing the best things. I mean, you could look at that person outwardly and say, that person looks like a great Christian, but they're not saved, they're not pleasing to God. That's what the Bible is saying here. Because without faith, without being saved, it's impossible to please him. Notice how God is like, and I'm going to get to this in a few minutes. But notice how God uses just this absolute language all the time. He doesn't say, if you want to please me, a really good way to do it is to be saved. A really good way to please me is to be saved. No, he says it's impossible. God uses language like this all the time. We serve an absolute God. He says it's impossible to please me. For he that comeeth to God must believe that he is, and he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Turn to 1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3, and keep your place in Hebrews. We're going to be going back there real quickly. But here's the second thing. So the first thing you need to do to please God, like it's a gatekeeper, is be saved. So the first thing you need to do is be saved, which everyone in this room is saved. So that's the first thing. What's the second thing? 1 John chapter 3, look at verse number 22. The Bible says, whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. So the first thing to do to please God is to be saved. The second thing to do to please God is to do what he tells you to do. Very simple, right? Turn to Hebrews chapter 13. Turn to Hebrews chapter 13. I mean, that's easy. Let's pray and go eat some fish and have some ice cream, right? But it's not that easy. That's the problem. It's simple, but it's not that easy. Because Hebrews chapter 13, look at verse number 16. So we need to be saved. We need to listen to what God says we need to do. That's pleasing to him. Hey, we're fulfilling what God created us to do. That's great. But look at Hebrews 13, 16. Hebrews 13, 16 says, but to do good and to communicate, forget not, for with such sacrifices, God is what? Oh, God is well pleased. So if we just equate these three verses that we looked at and just kind of put those things together, you know what this is saying? It's saying, look, you need to be saved or you have no chance of pleasing God. And then if you get saved, I want to please God now that I'm saved. I want to keep pleasing God with my life. I need to do what he tells me. I want to do what he tells me in his commandments in the Bible. That's what I need to do. If we look at Hebrews 13, 16, you know what that we can imply from that? That there's gonna be sacrifice. That there's gonna be sacrifice that is required to follow his commandments. That's what the Bible is saying here. So we were literally created for God's pleasure and to please God. Now you tell people, you tell probably even liberal Christians, whatever that even means, that, you know, we're not created so God can make us rich or we can just have all these blessings from God. But no, we're literally created just to please God and just to glorify God with our lives. And people would kind of be like, people would kind of like, I've had people at the door like, tell me that, that I don't want to serve a God that would just give all these commandments. I don't want to serve a God that, you know, they kind of created their own God in their mind. Turn to Isaiah chapter 55. But here's the thing you need to understand, folks. Like this is why God created us. End of sermon. But here's what we need to understand. And here's why it's so difficult for people to stomach that they were just created to be pleasing to God. They were created to glorify God. It has nothing to do with them. Look at Isaiah chapter 55 and look at verse number eight. Here's what people need to understand. People need to understand that because if you believe, if you're one of these Christians that believes I need to go to church and then God's gonna bless me and then me and God, we have this relationship like we're buddies and we're locked arm in arm. I'm gonna do some things for him. He's gonna do some things for me. No, you were created solely to glorify God. Nothing to do with anything about you. Nothing. You say, don't equate yourself with God. We're all about equality today. And look, this is a problem because when it comes to God and it comes to us, there is nothing that is even close to equal about that. Isaiah 55 and verse number eight. Look what God says. God literally tells us this. God literally tells us, we are not equal, me and you. He says, my thoughts are not your thoughts. Says, neither are my ways. He says, neither are your ways my ways, sayeth the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. You know what God is doing here? God is putting us in our place here. God is saying, I'm here and you're here. And that's what we need to understand. We are not equal with God. Look, this equality, equality's wrong. How's that for a statement? Equality in general, nothing is equal. Even people, there's no two people that are equal. Give me a break. You grab me, one guy from this church and stand me up next to that guy and we can find things that he's better at than I am and I'm better at than he is. You know, he may be taller or shorter than me. There's nothing that's equal. Yet today we're taught everything needs to be equal. We're not equal with God. We're not even equal with our own men. Men and women are equal. No, they're not. Things that are different are not the same. We're not saying one's better than the other. Nothing is equal though. Nothing is equal. Equality, this idea of equality is wicked. This idea of equality is wicked. Some people are just smarter than other people. Some people are faster than other people. Some people are tougher than other people. Some people are taller than other people. Some people have different talents of other people. That's just the way it is. I used to wrestle when I was in grade school all the way through high school and one of the greatest things I liked about wrestling was when there was a win or a loss, there was just no doubt. I mean, this was not a basketball game. This was not a basketball game where we lost the game and you're like, John should have passed me the ball that time and he should have got that rebound and then he could have given it to me. No, it's like if you lost a wrestling match, it's like you were either not strong enough and not skilled enough or a combination of those two things. That's it. Like he was literally better than you. That's one thing I really liked about it. I always said, I always said to my dad, I was like, it's the best sport when you win and it's the worst sport when you lose. Because you're just like, man, I just wasn't good enough. There was nobody to look at. Because look, no, and you know what? I've never seen a wrestling match where two guys just like, they just couldn't figure out who was better. Never seen it. Why? Because no one's equal. No one's equal. And for a plethora of different reasons, some people study harder than other people. Some people work harder than other people. Some people train harder. Some people run farther. Some people just have talents that other people don't have and they're just talented in different areas. The Bible talks about that. Turn to Jeremiah chapter 23. I got it, but the point is this. The point is this, God is better than us. That's what I'm trying to get at. We don't have to be all like, oh, I'm created for God's glory. No, God is better than we are. God is higher than us. We are nothing. He says, your thoughts are not my thoughts. He doesn't say like they're close to the same. My thoughts are a little bit. My thoughts are kind of like your thoughts except a little better. He's like they're different. He's like my ways are higher. Like as far as the heaven is above the earth, my ways are about. So you don't even have to understand. You don't even have to understand the whole like, well, God's better than me. How much better? A lot better. You don't even have to understand how much better. You know, in God, like we just need to take what God says for what it says.  I get a lot of emails now, but I did get an email and I rarely would ever bring up an email that I get because I get some crazy stuff. But I got an email just a couple of days ago. And this lady was listening to like, I think it was one of the act's sermons. You know, it was one of the book of act's sermons. And I was talking about being profitable in this sermon. And look, she just didn't like it. She didn't like it. And she just was like tearing up, you know, everything I said in this sermon.  She just kept saying things in this email like, you're so one-sided. Turn to Jeremiah chapter 23. You're so one-sided. You just, you don't look at both sides of things. You know, you should really take a more measured approach. And she kept like using all this language, like, you know, we all need to come together and we all need to like, you know, why are you always so one-sided? Yeah, I am one-sided. I'm like the Bible-sided. That's it. I'm the Bible-sided. I mean, if it's in the Bible, and look, the Bible is very clear on just about everything. Look at Jeremiah chapter 23 and look at verse 29.   But look at what the Bible says in verse number 29. It says, I mean, here's how balanced God is, right? Here's how balanced the word of God is. Is not my word like as fire, say it to the Lord. And like a hammer that breaketh the rock and pieces. It's like, oh man, where's the balance? Where's the balance there? The God's, God's like, my word is like fire to people.  If we just look at the first part of, you know, he even says in Isaiah chapter 43 that we just read, turn back there. Turn back to Isaiah chapter 43. Isaiah chapter 43 and look at verse number, we just read it, let me find it. I just pointed it out when we were to myself. Look at verse number 11 of Isaiah 43. Does this sound balanced to you? I even, I am the Lord. And beside me, there is no savior. He's like, there's nobody else. He's like, I'm the king, that's it. There's nobody else. Well, that doesn't seem very balanced. I mean, maybe there could be another way to be saved. Maybe there could be another way for these people to be pulled out of bondage. No, the Lord's saying, look, I'm the Lord, that's it. In the New Testament, in Matthew 12, Jesus literally says, like, he that doesn't, you know, he that doesn't gather with me, scattereth abroad. Before that, he says, you know, he that is not with me is against me. I mean, that's pretty extreme. Where's the balance there? I mean, really, if somebody's not with me, and you think about that, think about it, if somebody's not with you, does that really mean that they're against you? I mean, couldn't there be a middle ground there? Couldn't there be somebody that wasn't really with you, but it's not that they're against you either. But no, that's not what Jesus says. Jesus says, like, no, you're not against, he's like, you're not with me? He's like, you're against me. That sounds pretty one-sided. That sounds pretty tilted to one side.  There's no equality between us and God. There's not even equality between us and anyone that we know. There's no two people that are the same. There's no two people that are equal. And guess what? That's okay. This idea that we need to force everyone into this equality, you know what it leads to? It leads to just people just not pursuing their own talents. It leads to ecumenicalism. It leads to, oh, yeah, your opinion, your opinion about the Bible, that's just as good as mine. It's postmodernism is what it is. All right, it's postmodernism, this idea that all ideas are equal. No, they're not. If you're not with Jesus, if you're not with the word of God, like, you're against it. That's it. That's the God that we serve. That's why the preaching sounds so one-sided, folks. And look, I don't really understand, just as a side note, I don't really understand the type of person that would just disagree with preaching and just listen to sermons just to write a bunch of nasty grams to a pastor of a church. I don't really get that type of person, but there's a lot of people out there like that. Let me tell you. And I'm obviously not the only one that deals with that, but the point is this, there is no equality. God is better. So we're here to glorify him. We're here to please him. That should make you happy. Get over yourself. We are serving God. Turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 12. There is no equality. There is no equality, especially when it comes to God. He's so far above us. He's so much better. There is none good. He's the only one that's good. Turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 12. So what's the point? What's the point? I get it. I agree. I'm here to glorify God. My life is all about being pleasing to God. So the question is this. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter 12. Let's look at the conclusion of the matter. Ecclesiastes 12, just look at verse number 13. Ecclesiastes 12, verse number 13. So we're here to glorify God, and we're here to be pleasing to God. You can't please God unless you're saved. And then after that, it's just following his commandments. Look at verse number 13. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments. For this is the whole duty of man. So be saved and follow the Lord. So the question is, this evening, before we break and go out and have food and fellowship, is this, the question for you, since you know now why you're created, why you're here, the question is, does my life glorify God? That's question number one. Does my life that I'm living, not just Sunday night, not just Sunday morning, not just Wednesday night, does my life that I'm living on Monday, on Tuesday, on Thursday, on Friday, on Saturday, does my life glorify God? I mean, what does that mean? Does it bring him glory? Do people that see me in my life when I'm out in the world, when I'm walking around, when I'm dealing with people, when I'm teaching my kids, or when I'm home with my children, or when I'm out to work and I'm out in the world, does that glorify God? Is the way I handle myself in my life, does it glorify God? Does my life please God? Is another question that we need to ask. You know, I remember, you know, you'll see people, when you look at it, look, most people, if they ask themselves these questions about just does my life glorify God, does my life please God? Most people, if they actually cared about these questions, they would really care about what the word of God says. Think about that. Because God is literally telling us in his Bible, in his word, how to please him and how to glorify him, all right? Look, that's the whole point of your life.  He's the guy sitting on the beach in Mexico that took all the money.    He gave that to you.  He gave you a way out of your own mess. I don't know, how about that? Or how about this person?  This is hell right here. Living in hell, man. Look, no, it's not. You know, no, it's not. No, you're not. People need to get the proper perspective of what, you know, who God is and what they mean to God and where they're at on the, you know, on the food chain, so to speak. Turn to 1 Timothy chapter two. So does my life, does my life please God? Does my life glorify God? The problem is, the problem is if we live for ourselves and we don't ask ourselves these questions on a regular basis, even Christians, you know, can fall away from these two things. Look at 1 Timothy chapter two and verse number one. The Bible says, I exhort therefore that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men. So Paul is telling Timothy here, like, look, be praying for everybody. Is like, be praying for everybody, that people, that that guy in the lawn chair would figure it out. Even a kid I talked to today, it's just great, great kid, great, I mean, nice person just doesn't have that desire, that fear. You know, that concern for himself. I literally said like, I think I care about you more than you care about you. I said to this kid today. So like people, we need to pray for all men that they would get this perspective, for kings and for all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our savior, who here it is again, will have all men to be saved and come onto the knowledge of the truth. The problem here is that, you know, God wants, God, even those people, like, that have no idea how to please God and no idea how to glorify God, God wants them all to be saved. God wants all men to be saved. You know, he doesn't want men to turn against him. He doesn't want men to, you know, reject him. He doesn't want those things to happen. If it was up to God, all men would come to the knowledge of the truth. But he gives us free will and you know, we have to get out of that. Instead, so we're living, and these people are just living for themselves and living for their own pleasure. This is the problem. You know, the problems with Americans and the Christian life, you know, in my opinion is that, you know, the Bible says, as we just looked at in Hebrews chapter 13, that the Christian life and pleasing God and living and doing those commandments, it's gonna cause sacrifices to us. But here's the thing, like Americans just aren't used to suffering. Americans just, we're just, you know, we suffer a little bit. We're just like, because we're just not used to it. We're just used to everything being pleasant, everything being pleasurable, everything being good all the time. I mean, look, the point is this, it's just that going through difficulty is gonna happen to you if you're living a life that's pleasing to God. That's what people need to realize. Is that just, that persecution will come, difficulty will come, there will be required sacrifice. Turn to Matthew chapter 19.  There's nothing inherently wrong with a house and a nice car. There's nothing wrong with those things. But the problem is, is even Christians get to the point where they think that that is the goal, that those things are the goal. And then when the suffering comes because of the Christian life, it's just like, ugh, they give up the Christian life. Instead of the things, you know, that weren't, they shouldn't have been focused on. Look at Matthew 19 and verse number 29. God even lists out, you know, some of these sacrifices, some of these things. God is basically giving a comprehensive list here of things that shouldn't get in the way of you living a pleasing life to the Lord. Look at verse number 29. It says in everyone that hath forsaken houses. I mean, houses must be a problem like that people like are just like really covetous about, like since the beginning of time. I don't know because it's listed here. It doesn't list cars, obviously. But everyone that hath forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my namesake shall receive an hundred fold and shall inherit everlasting life. So when you think about just this idea of living a life that's glorifying to God, living a life that's pleasing to God, no matter what. No matter what. When you think about that, you have to ask yourself, you know, when you're asking yourself the question, is my life glorifying to God? Is my life pleasing to God? You have to ask yourself this question. What could stop me from living that life that is glorifying to God? What could stop me from living a life that is pleasing to God? What is the thing, what is the thing that if you had to give it up, you couldn't? What is the thing that if your Christian life came to a head against something? Your job, your job. What if your job just required that you just, you couldn't live the Christian life anymore? You say that doesn't sound like that could happen in America today. Look, it happens all the time. People get a better job, now they can't go to church anymore. They get a better job where they're working through church times. Look, and then they're just like, well, you know, I gotta support my family. But look, this is an attack from the devil because whatever it is that can get you to stop pleasing the Lord, that's what's gonna happen to you.  I mean, the list in Matthew 19, 29 is pretty comprehensive. It covers, I mean, basically it covers stuff. It covers land. It covers family. It even covers children. It covers everything. But doesn't it make sense though that it would be basically anything? Now that we know, now that we know why we were literally created, because we're literally created, you're not created for your job. You're not created to make as much money as you possibly can in the life that you have on this earth. Look, I hope that you have blessings and I hope you have comfortable lives. But if it causes you to stumble in your Christian life, I hope you don't. Because whatever it is that can get you to stop living that pleasing life to the Lord, look, I'm telling you, you start soul winning, you start being profitable, you start turning a profit for the Lord and Satan's coming after you.  Because that's literally, it's possible for a Christian who has saved to live a life that is not pleasing to the Lord. It is not possible for you to be unsaved. It is possible for you to be completely derailed and live a life that is not pleasing to the Lord.    And then you take those things and you literally use them to forsake him.   I mean, it's like, it's not going to go well. So ask yourself, what would stop me from serving the Lord tonight? What would stop me? And guess what? Serving the Lord, expect it. Serving the Lord is going to cost you something. Serving the Lord is going to cost you something. God tells us this. He tells us that these sacrifices are going to be pleasing to me as well. So the question should not be, what is it going to cost me to serve the Lord? The question should be, whatever it costs, I will be willing to pay. Because that's why I was created in the first place. I was created literally to please the Lord and to glorify him. Like I said, it's not simple. Well, it's not easy, but it is simple. We're created to please the Lord. Everything that we talked about today is all about forsaking yourself. If you haven't noticed the common theme. It's all about forsaking yourself for your friends. You want to have a strong friendship for the rest of your life. You need to have two people that forsake themselves and serve each other. That will be a long lasting, lifelong friendship. You want to have a life that's pleasing to the Lord? You must be willing to sacrifice anything. And look, we're not living in a time where they're chopping our heads off if we go soul winning. Let's be real, right? But look, that time may come. That time may come. And then how many people will still be out serving the Lord and willing to sacrifice that? But just prepare yourself that, you know, living a glorifying life to the Lord and living a pleasing life to the Lord is going to cost you something. Just expect it. And then when it comes, you'll just be like, yeah, I'm willing to sacrifice. Because that's what God told me I'd have to do. And this is why he created me. And I just want to please him. That's it. It's really that simple. It's really that simple. It's when you don't have the right mindset and you don't know what the Bible says. And God is just very clear about these things. I am glad that God is not gray. I'm glad that there's not all kinds of gray zones in the Bible. I mean, look at what people do with the Bible today. Can you imagine if there was actually, if God was actually ambiguous about all these things? Well, God is very clear for good reason in the Bible. He's like, there's only salvation through me. That's it. You know, he's like, if you're not with me, you're against me. If you're not gathering with me, you're scattering. Boy, apply that one to soul winning. Like literally Christians that aren't soul winning, they're like, you're literally scattering people. I mean, that's extreme, but it's all about glorifying God. It's all about pleasing Him. This is what it takes. All right, so that's why God gave us, us, is to please Him and to glorify Him. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.