Adrian Rogers - Why Do I Exist?
Be finding Psalm 139. And while you're finding it, let me ask you this question. It is a great question, but I want you to ask it for yourself. And here's the question: why do I exist? What is the purpose of my life? Or, as my friend Peter Lord put it, "Why I? Why am I here"? Well, in order to know God's purpose for your life, we can go to the Word of God. Now, it is so important that you know the purpose for your life. Anything that does not fulfill its purpose, fulfill its function, is a failure, no matter what it is. Now, the very word sin means to miss the mark. That's the Greek word sin. It is missing the mark like an arrow fails to hit the target.
Now, whatever else you may do, whatever else you may do, if you don't find your purpose in life, friend, you are a failure. Now, what is the purpose of a pen? The purpose of a pen is to write. Now, if the pen won't write, and many of them don't write, then it hasn't fulfilled its purpose. I'm going to tell you something, friend. I was in a luggage store and there was a display case and they had some pens in there. They were called Mont Blanc. You wouldn't believe what those things cost. I mean, over a $100 for a pen. I'm going to tell you something. A twenty cent Bic that writes is better than a $100 Mont Blanc that doesn't. Now, I'm not saying the Mont Blanc won't write. I hope they do if you pay that much money for them, but I'm saying this: that the purpose of a pen is to write, and no matter what else it does, if it won't write, it is a failure.
Now, listen, God has a plan for your life, and no matter what else you may do, if you don't do what you were designed to do, you are a failure. So it is very important that we find the purpose in life that we don't miss the mark. You will never have fulfillment apart from your purpose in life. You will not be fulfilled. God made a bird to fly in the air. God made a fish to swim in the sea. You take a fish out of the sea and put him in trees, he's an unhappy fish. You take a bird out of the air and put him beneath the water, he is an unhappy bird. If you do not fulfill the purpose for which you were created, you are never going to have fulfillment in your heart and in your life. You will be a square peg in a round hole, or vice versa. So, knowing your purpose in life is important for fulfillment. Knowing your purpose in life is important for success.
You want to be successful. Who doesn't want to be successful? Well, if you're not successful in your purpose, you're a failure. Let me give you a new definition for failure. It is succeeding at the wrong thing. If you succeed at the wrong thing, you are still a failure. A pencil is successful when it writes. An automobile is successful when it transports. You are successful when you do that for which God created you. And another thing, you are never going to know real guidance in your life until you know the purpose for your life. You see, purpose determines priority. Have you ever gone out to say, "Let's go out and get a bite to eat," and in the car you're talking. "What do you want? Mexican? Do you want Chinese? Do you want Italian? You want this restaurant? You want that restaurant"? And at every intersection you're making a decision. Have you ever done that? Just driving around town like this.
Now, if you know before you ever start out where you're going, you don't have to make a decision at every intersection. Now, there are people whose lives are made up of a lot of small decisions and they're constantly wrestling with what they're going to do in life because they have never discovered the big purpose in life. They don't have guidance in life. It is so important. Proper priorities come from knowing our purpose. Now, a lot of us think that God's purpose for our lives is to save us. Well, you need to be saved, but saved for what? You know, we're talking about God saved me from sin. Well, yes, thank God for that. But, I want to know not only what has He saved you from, what has He saved you for. Have you ever thought about it? Now, if you have a wrecked automobile, and actually when we're sinners, we're wrecked.
So God hauls us into His garage and He restores us. Does He restore us just to sit in the driveway? That's all some people think about is I've been saved, hallelujah, the wreck has been repaired. No! God saved you for a purpose. Not only what He's saves you from, but what He saves you for. Now, we're going to look at a Psalm that tells us about God, because when you find out about God, you're going to find out so much about yourself. And we're going to see in this Psalm who God is, and then we're going to discover when we see who God is, who you are because God created you and He has a purpose for your life. So, we're going to study a little theology and then some me-ology because, you see, I have to understand God really to understand myself. What you think of God has so much to do with what you think of yourself.
Now, if you're an atheist and don't believe in God, or an evolutionist, then you're going to see yourself as an orphan of the apes. You'll end up making a monkey of yourself. But, if you see yourself as the creation of Almighty God with a purpose, then you're going to want to be Christ-like. So, let's look in this Psalm and I want to give you four basic thoughts, in Psalm 139. It's a glorious Psalm. We could spend a lot of time in this Psalm. But, the first thought I want you to think, as we look in Psalm 139, is this: God knows all about me. Look in verse 1, "O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me". Now, God knows all about you. God has searched you. God knows your character.
Friend, not only does He see you; He sees through you. You know the difference between reputation and character? Reputation is what others think about you; character is what God knows about you. Put it down, first of all, God knows my character, verse 1. Verses 2 and 3 of Psalm 139, God knows my conduct. Look, if you will, "Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising; thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways". Folks, there is not a move that you make that God doesn't see it. I mentioned Peter Lord here earlier in the message. Peter Lord was a very creative and inventive preacher. One time, he got into the attic of his church on Sunday morning, like up there where all the catwalks and so forth are. Peter Lord got up there on Sunday morning. Time to preach. He wasn't over here in the chair. Everybody was wondering where's the pastor?
Well, they had the special music; time to preach. And a voice came and said, "Hello, folks, this is your pastor". Why, they're looking around. Where is he? Well, he had a microphone up there in the attic, up there in the ceiling, above the ceiling, and he said, "I'm going to be speaking from thus and such," and he said, "I know you can't see me, but that doesn't make a lot of difference. I can see you". He said, "Mrs. Jones, I see you going through your purse". "Sally and Susan, I see you whispering". They're looking around. Where is he? How does he know where I am? They were all petrified. Everybody in the congregation wondering how does he see me? How does he know me? Of course, he was up there in the ceiling looking down at all of them from above. And then he talked to them about the fact that I'm talking to you about today; God knows, God sees our conduct.
There was a minister who had in his home on the mantel a motto that said, "Thou, God, seest me". A boy came to visit the preacher. He said, "Thou, God, seest me". He said, "Doesn't that frighten you to think that God is watching you all the time"? This pastor said, "Oh, no. That just makes me feel wonderful. It means that He loves me so much He can't take His eyes off of me". He loves me so much He can't take His eyes off of me. Listen, God knows my character. God knows my conduct. God knows my contemplations. Notice in Psalm 139 verse 2, "Thou understandest my thought afar off". God knows what you are thinking this very moment. God knows whether you're paying attention to the message. God knows what you're planning to do after the service. God knows whether or not you like the pastor's tie. By the way, that's my University of Florida tie. Can you see it up there real good? It's orange and blue. That's why I have that tie.
Now, you may just not, see, now you can't think about anything else. God knows your thoughts. God knows all of you Tennessee Volunteers what you're thinking right now. Listen, God knows your contemplations. He knows what you're thinking. You may be full of lust. God says you've got adultery in your heart. You may be full of hate. God says you have murder in your heart. You may be full of praise. God knows, friend, God knows your character. He knows your conduct. He knows your contemplations. Listen, God knows your conversation. Look, if you will, in Psalm 139 and verse 4, "There's not a word in my tongue, but, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether".
Do you know we speak in an average day enough words to fill a book; in a lifetime, a college library? And the Bible says in Matthew chapter 12 and verse 36 every idle word that men shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment. "If all that we say in a single day, with never a word left out, were written each night in plain black and white would make strange reading, no doubt. And then, just suppose 'ere one's eyes he could close, he must read the whole record through. Then wouldn't one sigh and wouldn't one try a whole lot less talking to do. And I more than half think that many a kink would be smooth in life's tangled thread if one-half that we say in a single day were forever left unsaid". God hears every word.
Somebody said, "Many things are opened by mistake, but none so frequently as the mouth". Every word, every profane thought. But, thank God, He knows every prayer. He knows every tear. God knows all about me. Now, that may be a terror if you're unsaved, but what a comfort if you're saved. Now, first of all, God knows all about me. Here's the second thing I want you to learn as we're talking about why I? Not only does God know all about me; God is always with me. How foolish to try to run from God. Look in verses 5 and 6 of Psalm 139, "Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it". Now, he's not dismayed when he says, "It's too wonderful for me". He just says, "This is so great I cannot take it in". God is always with me.
Sometimes people say, "Where is God when I really need Him"? Friend, God is not far away from you. You may be far away from God, but God is always with us. Put in your margin an ancillary verse, Jeremiah 23 verse 24, "'Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him?' saith the Lord. 'Do I not fill Heaven and Earth?' saith the Lord". God is not confined to a church building. Sometimes people come to church and they say, "Well, I'll go to church to God's house". Friend, I'm grateful that we can worship here, but God is out there just as well as God is in here. Acts 17 verse 24, "God, that made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of Heaven and Earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands". You don't have to go to church to see God. Now, God is always with me. Death cannot hide us from God.
Look, if you will, in Psalm 139 verses 7 and 8, "Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend up into Heaven, Thou art there; if I make my bed in Hell, behold, Thou art there". The devil is not the Lord of Hell. He's going to Hell. He's not there yet, but when he goes, he will not reign in Hell. God reigns in Earth, Heaven, and Hell. God is over it all. And when you die, God is still there. If you die without Jesus, you will waken in the judgment to face the God that you spurned. If you die in the Lord, what a joy to close your eyes in this world and to open them face to face. And when by the gift of His infinite grace, I am accorded in Heaven a place, Just to be there and look on His face will through the ages be glory for me. Death cannot hide us from God.
And, by the way, there won't be any atheists in hell, did you know that? Not one atheist in hell. They'll all be believers when they get to hell. "Every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God". Now, death can't hide us from God and distance doesn't hide us from God. Look, if you will, in Psalm 139 verses 9 and 10, "If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea. Even there shall Thy hand will guide me, and Thy right hand shall hold me". The wings of the morning are the rays of the sun. And, by the way, David was there on the shores of the Mediterranean. David is saying, "If I could highjack a light beam and go as far as it would take me, there God would be there". Light travels at 186,000 miles per second. "If I were to highjack a light beam, I could still not escape from God". It's amazing to see how many people are traveling.
You know why they're traveling? They're not happy here; they think if they can get over there, they'll be happy. And they are filled with loneliness and they're thinking that somehow happiness is somewhere else. Now, let me tell you something, folks. I'm glad if you can travel, but wherever you go, you're going to take yourself with you and God will meet you when you get there. God will be there before you get there. Has it ever occurred to you that God never goes anyplace? I mean, there's no place that God can go. He is already there and He's never in a place where you can escape from Him. When you're finished running from God, He'll be there waiting for you, wherever it is. But if you're saved, what a blessing.
Friend, death doesn't hide you from God. Distance doesn't hide you from God. Darkness doesn't hide you from God. Look in Psalm 139 verses 11 and 12, "If I say, 'Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.' Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to thee". Now, evil people love darkness and they hate the light, but you can't hide from God in the dark. You can't pull the shades of darkness over you and hide from God. Light is not there to enable God to see. God has night vision. The darkness comes just to rest tired, human eyes. It's amazing what people will do when the lights go out. What is he saying? Listen, listen, God knows all about you. God is always with you. You cannot out-run, outwit, out-distance Almighty God. Have you got it?
Now, number three: God has a wonderful purpose for me. I want you to say this; God has a wonderful purpose or plan for me. Look, if you will, now in Psalm 139 verses 13 through 16, "For Thou hast possessed my reins". What does that mean? What are my reins? Well, the reins of a horse are what guides it. "Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb". Boy, I wish the abortionists would read this. "I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from Thee when I was made in secret, curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect," that is, you watch the embryo develop, "and in Thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there were none of them".
Now, the writer of this Psalm, that I believe was David, didn't know anything about embryology. He'd never studied in the modern institutions of learning but he knew enough to stand in awe just to see how a little baby is formed in its mother's womb, and he just had to say, concerning himself, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made". Now, today, as we've studied microbiology and embryology, we have learned some incredible things. Somebody said, "If you could see half of what's going on in you right now, you'd be afraid to move". Every cell is a little micro universe. Oh, God made it all. No wonder the Bible says in Psalm 14 verse 1, "The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God".
What I'm trying to tell you, my friend, is you're not an accident. You didn't come out of pond scum. God made you, and God made you for a purpose. He has a wonderful plan for you, and He is an all-powerful God. He formed you in your mother's womb. You are special. What a mighty God. There is no sin He cannot forgive. There is no prayer He cannot answer. There is no soul He cannot save. There's no problem that He cannot solve. He has a wonderful plan for you. Now, fourthly, and here's the fourth and final thing I want to say. You can say of God, He has me constantly in His heart. God has me constantly in His heart. Look, if you will, now in Psalm 139 verses 17 and 18, "How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them"!
Now, you want to know how great God's sum is of His thoughts to you? Look in verse 18, "If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand". "If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand". We sing a wonderful song, Count your Many Blessings, name them one by one. Impossible. One of your blessings is God's thoughts toward you. Just take the vast Sahara. How many grains of sand there? Take the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, the islands of the Pacific and look at the grains of sand. The grains of sand in all of the fields of the earth. God's thoughts toward you are greater than all of this. God loves you. People dread God. People run from God. That is the devil's thoughts to get you to thinking negatively about God. God lives to bless you. He wants to bless you.
Well, you say, "What about all His laws"? Every time God says, "Thou shalt not," He's just saying, "Don't hurt yourself". Every time He says, "Thou shalt," He's saying, "Help yourself to happiness". The Bible says In Psalm chapter 84 verse 11, "The Lord thy God is a sun and a shield. The Lord will give grace and glory. No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly". If it'll make you healthy, happy, wholesome, more like the Lord Jesus, God is saying, "Help yourself. I love you so much".
I was told that Bill Gaither was asked, "What are the greatest song lyrics ever written"? Now, you know Bill and Gloria are great lyricists and we sing a lot of the great Gaither songs. Somebody asked Bill, "What are the greatest lyrics, song lyrics, ever written apart from those in the Book of Psalms"? And Bill didn't bat his eye. He said, "Beyond the shadow of a doubt, these lyrics: Could we with ink the oceans fill, and were the skies of parchment made, and every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade. To write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry, nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky. God loves you and me. God doesn't love us all; He loves us each, one by one".
Look what He's saying here, "How precious are Thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them"! What a mighty God we serve. All right. Why I? What is my purpose? If an angel were there when God was creating Adam, and the angel says, "Holy Father, what are You doing"? "I'm making a man". "Well, what are You going to do with him? What's his purpose? Why are You creating a man"? You know what God would have said? "Someone I can love and who will love Me". Do you think God created us to serve Him? Friend, He could get angels to do a better job than we do if that's all. No, God made us in His image to know Him, to love Him, to serve Him. He knows all about me. He is forever with me. He created me for a purpose. And He loves me so much.
Now, it all begins with knowing Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord. It was Jesus who said in john 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but by Me". When He said, "I am the way," He implied that we're lost and we can't find our way apart from Him. When He said, "I am the truth," He implied that we're in error and we'll never know truth without Jesus. And when He said, "I am the life," He implied that we're dead in trespasses and sins. He's the way by which we come to God. He's the truth by which we know God. He's the life by which God lives in us and we live in Him.
Bow your heads in prayer. While heads are bowed and eyes are closed, I want you as an individuals, I want you to say, "Lord, I want to know Your purpose for my life". Now, those of you who are not quite certain that you're saved, or certain that you're not saved, let's get it settled right now. I promise you on the authority of the Word of God that Jesus will save you this moment if you'll trust Him, for the Bible says, "For whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved". Would you pray a prayer like this:
Dear God, I need You and I want You. Jesus, You paid my sin debt with Your shed blood on the cross. Thank You for doing that. You died to save me if I would trust You. I do trust You. Right now I open my heart and I receive You into my life as my Lord and Savior. I yield my life to You. I take myself off the throne. I enthrone You, Lord Jesus. Come into my heart. Forgive my sin. Save me, Jesus. Pray that from your heart and mean it.
Did you ask Him? Then pray this way:
Thank You for doing it. I receive it by faith. I don't ask for a feeling. I don't look for a sign. I stand on Your Word. You cannot lie. Thank You for saving me. Begin now to make me the person You want me to be. And, Lord Jesus, I will make it public. In Your name I pray. Amen.