A really crucial question comes into us from podcast listener Amy who writes this Dear Pastor John, please don't read this as accusatory. I'm just wanting to understand Throughout the Bible the theme seems to be that God can use bad people for his good So my question is how can God be most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him when he uses people like Judas?

Iscariot He even uses Satan for his own purposes If God is most glorified in us only when we do good that seems to simplify his majesty. How would you explain this? Well, first of all, no offense taken at all. It's a great question I've had to clarify this in fact several times because my motto Does seem to some people anyway to rule out?

God being glorified in his works of justice and his works of Wrath, I mean I say God is most glorified in us when we are most Satisfied in him and that seems to indicate to some people. Whoa, so God can't get glory when he does hard and Just and wrathful things towards unbelievers for example Exodus 14 4 I will harden Pharaoh's heart and he will pursue Israel and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host In the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord and people hear that and they say whoa Piper's motto Doesn't seem to make any room for that or Exodus 14 17.

I Will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in into the Red Sea after Israel and I will get glory Over Pharaoh and all his host his chariots his horsemen So when I say that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him I don't mean that God can't be glorified in people who are not Satisfied in him like Pharaoh and his soldiers and I don't mean that God settles for a display of less glory in the universe when he glorifies his justice in the judgment of unbelievers Then he would have if he'd if he'd gotten everybody saved in and they were all fully satisfied in him It my motto doesn't go there doesn't mean that God God knows exactly How to put all his attributes on the greatest display with mercy and grace and wisdom and power patience and righteousness and wrath all taking their perfect place on the canvas of History that God is is painting.

Yes. So when the question comes out of that conviction, I say yes Amen what I mean by the words God is most glorified in us when we're most satisfied in him. Is that this is true about us? Us Believers, I'm trying to answer the question. How do I John Piper as a believer?

glorify God Most do I glorify him most? by being Partially satisfied in him do I show he is? gloriously all-satisfying Best by not being fully satisfied in him. Do I glorify him by? pursuing merely external obedience to Christian rules as if my heart and its joy in him doesn't really matter do I glorify him by ignoring the command serve the Lord with Gladness as if serving him were all that matters and with gladness can just be struck out of that command Do I glorify him most by not pursuing Psalm 16 11 with all my heart in your presence is?

fullness of joy at your right hand our pleasures forevermore My answer is no I John Piper the believer who wants to live for the glory of God most I glorify God Most when I am most satisfied in him If I treat him as minimally satisfying I John Piper the sinner in that act am not glorifying him as I ought now if God takes my sins and My failures to treasure him and someday makes all of those failures serve his Glory that that will not have been my doing I'm talking about my doing He will not have been glorified in me in my conscious intention to glorify him He will not have been glorified in me in me.

He will have been dishonored by Sin, and I don't want that to be true for me. So I'm asking the question. How can I? Most glorify him and so I say with great longing in my heart Not to do that God is glorified in me most When I am most satisfied in him Amen, thank you pastor John for shining light on the importance of the affections and magnifying God and keeping the stress here over and over again over the years and Thank you, Amy for the great question.

We close out this 144th week of episodes Wow with a question about whether Arminian preachers preach a sufficient gospel That's tomorrow. You can find our collection of over 700 podcast episodes to date at desiring God org forward slash ask pastor John. I'm your host Tony Ranke. I'll see you tomorrow You You You