Alright, if you would like to join me in our study this morning, we're going to begin in chapter 4 of the book of Revelation. And we're continuing and finishing today a theme within a theme. We've been studying for a number of months now God's great plan in terms of how he's going to conclude all of history. How He's going to bring all things to a grand finale at the end of history with the second coming of Christ. And when the Lord Jesus returns, what exactly is going to happen following that? We've studied in detail together the event of the second coming. We've seen that the Lord is going to come and He is also going to raise all people from the dead. And in raising them from the dead, He's going to cause all, the small and the great, the rich and the poor, the young and the old, everyone who's ever lived or ever will live, He's going to cause them all to come and stand before His throne and individually give an account for their lives on what we know as the Day of Judgment. We've seen that in that day of judgment that the Lord is going to separate all people, all souls, into two basic categories. Categories that he identifies as sheep and goats. On his right hand, the sheep are going to be the recipients of the greatest blessings ever. And that those blessings are going to be so great they'll extend into eternity and last forever and ever and ever. But then in just the last several weeks, and what I'm referring to is a theme within a theme, actually this is the seventh week, so the last six weeks we've been studying on what's going to happen to those on the Lord's left hand on the Day of Judgment, those that are identified biblically by Him, spiritually, as goats, and the punishment that awaits them following that Day of Judgment. what hell is actually about. And I've taken longer than some of you may have anticipated. I've taken longer than what is commonly done. We've delved into all of the details that I know on this subject of hell. And I want to do one last message on hell. Not so much talking about the details of what it's going to be like, what the experience is going to be like. We've looked at all of those things before. The tapes are available. You're welcome to get those and listen to those messages. If you haven't heard them, I would recommend it. But what I want to talk about today is more of our perspective, our attitude about hell. And I'm not talking just ours alone, those of us in this room, but throughout the course of your life you're going to be talking to many different people. There will be a few precious opportunities that the Lord gives you to talk to people out there in the world that are on the road to hell. And they don't know it, they don't believe it, they don't want to deal with that reality, but it will be obvious to you that they are. And those people will need you to talk to them. And when you talk to them, it's important that you have a true, a right, a spiritual perspective of what it is that you're discussing, especially as it pertains to eternal matters, heaven and hell. So I want to talk about, as I've titled it, kind of an unusual title here, an apology for hell. What I want to do today is make an apology for the reality of hell. And those of you who have heard me teach on the subject of apology before, you may remember that this is kind of a play on words that I'm making. I'll explain that in a moment. There are some Christians, as I talked about a few weeks ago when I introduced this theme, and started our study on hell. There are some Christians that feel the need to apologize for the reality of what the Bible teaches about hell. You know, hell is, as we've already talked about, it's a very uncomfortable subject. It's not an easy topic. It takes some discipline, even for true believers and believers that embrace God's word and want to learn and want to grow in the understanding of the truth. It takes some spiritual discipline for us to keep our minds and our hearts focused on the subject long enough to study everything that the Bible has to teach about it, because it is not easy, it is a difficult topic. But some Christians go way beyond that and even feel the need to apologize to others, to the people in the world, for the clear teaching of God's word about hell. And let me just reread a quote from one particular theologian. His name may not be familiar to you, but trust me, in theological circles, upper theological circles within the Christian community, his name is very well known. And I read this quote a few weeks ago, but I feel the need to reread it. And it's a good introduction to what I want to say here. This is a man who has, who at one time in his Christian life did believe in the biblical doctrine of hell, but has rejected that doctrine. And this is what he now says about it. This is Clark Pinnock. He says, I believe the concept of hell as endless torment and body and mind to be an outrageous doctrine, a theological and moral enormity. How can Christians possibly project a deity of such cruelty and vindictiveness? Surely, a God who would do such a thing is more like Satan than like God. Now what Clark Pinnock is doing there is he's not in his own mind, in his own perspective, he's not denying the truth. He believes that he has come to a greater understanding of a deeper truth, that there is no such thing as hell. And in doing so, he's making an apology to the world at large, to the spiritual community at large, for all of the Christians throughout church history who have simply believed and taught and declared what the Bible says about this most difficult subject of hell. And he's backpedaling spiritually in order to disassociate himself from those who simply say, what the Bible teaches about this is true, as hard as it is, as difficult as it is to swallow, this is the reality of what awaits many after the Day of Judgment. What Clark Pinnock is doing in terms of apologizing is wrong and it is a serious and grave error because by doing so he's giving ammunition to all of those out there in the world and even within the Christian community who, as we've talked about before, are constantly having to rationalize in their own hearts and minds why hell isn't real because they don't want to deal with that awful reality that is waiting them at the end of their lives. So, why would I offer an apology for hell? Well, as I've talked about before, there are two ways for us to understand and use this word, apology. An apology can be the thing that we commonly refer to, which is in our culture and the way we use the word nowadays, it's simply saying, I'm sorry to someone for something. some way that you did them wrong, now you're apologizing. You're saying, I'm sorry for what I said, I'm sorry for what I did. For Clark Pinnock, he's saying to the world and to the Christian community, I'm sorry for all of the Christians who have believed in hell the way that the Bible simply declares it to be. I'm not going to apologize and say, I'm sorry for hell. In fact, I've spent the last six weeks doing just exactly the opposite. So what I'm going to do instead is I am going to offer a different kind of apology, what we know as an apologetic. Now an apologetic is simply this. We get our English word apology from a Greek word that was commonly used even in the New Testament. And it was a word then that didn't mean to say you're sorry. It meant to make a defense for something that's under attack. The gospel, as it pertains to this doctrine of hell, is under attack. It's not under attack only from the world, which we would of course expect, but as I talked about a few weeks ago, and as Clark Pinnock's example makes it obvious to us again, This doctrine of the reality of hell is under attack by both the world and by the church. So what I want to do today is make one last defense. This is the last line of defense about hell that I want to offer. Now, what this really boils down to is not just the defense of a doctrine, although that is important, especially As we've talked about before, there are essential doctrines of the faith and non-essential doctrines. There are doctrines that you and I can differ on, and it doesn't matter if we differ, because God gives us room to have differing opinions and differing perspectives on the non-essentials of the faith. But there are a few core doctrines, a few core teachings, that are critically important, that we not just agree with each other, but together we agree with what the Bible clearly and simply teaches and declares, and what the church throughout church history has clearly and simply declared. And this is one of those simple but core essential doctrines of our understanding of eternity, our understanding of what God has revealed about eternal realities. Now in that, yes, that makes the defense of this doctrine important. But what's particularly important about making an apologetic for hell is this. Whenever someone struggles with the idea of hell, what they're essentially struggling with is not just this concept. Their struggle is with God himself. Let me just re-read one phrase from Clark Pinnock's quote to emphasize this. How can Christians possibly project a deity of such cruelty and vindictiveness? Surely a God who would do such a thing is more like Satan than like God. See, Clark Pinnock's issue with the doctrine of hell really boils down to an issue with a certain kind of God. the God that reveals himself to be the creator of hell. Hell, as the Bible basically, simply describes. Clark Pinnock's issue is with worshipping a God and submitting his life to such a God as that. In fact, he goes so far, and this is where, you know, out of concern for Clark Pinnock, and since I've used his name I can just say it like this, I'm very concerned for anyone that would say such a God as this is more like Satan than God. When the Bible simply declares this is who God is and this is what he has chosen to do in regards to eternity. So really what I'm doing today is not so much just making a defense for the doctrine of hell, I'm making a defense for the God who created hell and why he did so. Let's take a look. in Revelation chapter 4. Revelation 4, I'm going to read the whole chapter, it's 11 verses. And I'm reading this for the purpose of what we commonly call a reality check. This is one of those passages There's several of those like this in the book of Revelation, and a few elsewhere in God's Word. But this is one of those passages, and this is the first place that we see this in the book of Revelation, where John, the one who is given this privilege of this revelation, is caught up by God into the heavenly realm itself. John has, as we'll read in verse 1, he's just been caught up into heaven itself, and he enters into what we describe as the throne room of heaven. So let's read what John sees. This is a description of the ultimate reality. Come up here and I will show you what must take place after these things. Immediately I was in the spirit and behold, a throne was standing in heaven and one sitting on the throne. And he was sitting was like a Jasper stone and a Sardius in appearance. And there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance. Around the throne were 24 thrones. And upon the thrones, I saw 24 elders sitting clothed in white garments and golden crowns on their heads. Out from the throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne, there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. The first creature was like a lion. the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face like that of a man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle. And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within, and day and night they do not cease to say, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come. And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Worthy are you, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, Because of your will, they existed and were created. Now, this chapter is a reality check for us. What I mean by that is simply this. As you listen to me read Revelation chapter 4 and you think about this scene that's being described, this throne room scene in the heavenly realms, the thrones that are established there, the 24 thrones that are established around the central throne, the one sitting on those 24 thrones. The other unusual and strange creatures that are around that central throne, flying around that throne with wings and declaring certain things day and night forever and ever about this One who sits upon this central throne and the glory and the majesty of this One who sits on this central throne. As you think about this scene and all of the details of this scene, it's really, really, really important. that you're clear as to whether or not this is a description of what I'm saying it is, this is the ultimate reality of existence. This is the most real thing that there is. Everything else pales in terms of reality level to this. Sometimes when we talk about Christian stuff, sometimes when we read stuff like this, we can Almost in our minds do an association like this is kind of like things in our lives that we really, really want to believe in, but, you know, when it comes to considering the reality of it, maybe it's no more real than Santa Claus is real, or no more real than other things that are really nice and would be great if it was like this, but it's not the reality of the situation. What I'm saying is John was brought into the throne room of heaven from which all things revolve, and toward which all things find their ultimate purpose. And that this is real, and nothing else is as real as this. If that's the case, then What is the issue here with hell? The issue with this concept of hell, and I'm going to compare this to this concept that we read here of what's going on in heaven around the throne of God. The issue of hell is this. The problem that people have, the problem that Clark Pinnock has, the problem that anyone that denies the simple declared truth of the reality of hell is this. They live with a man centered worldview. What I mean by that is simply that most people on the face of the earth today, most people that have ever lived, most people that ever will live, I'm talking about the majority, live their entire lives with a man-centered worldview. That Even if they believe in the existence and the reality of God, in their hearts and minds, at the bottom line, God is not at the center of their universe. Man is. And of course, if man is, what that ultimately means is, they are at the center of their own universe. A man-centered worldview leads us to this kind of conclusion. If I live my life with the perspective that really I'm the most important thing in the universe, and you have to trust me on this, most people live their lives with the perspective that they are the most important thing in all of existence. If a person really lives their life out from that perspective, then what's number one in their perspective is there are man's wants, needs, desires, etc. But the most important thing that there is, is whether or not mankind, any one person, and all people taken together get what they want, what they need, what they really desire. And in such a world view, the concept of hell is abominable, because what you're going to have in reality, in hell, is people who are going to spend all of eternity having none of their wants, needs, and desires fulfilled. And if you really believe in your heart that that's the most important thing in life, that my wants, needs, and desires are met above every other concern and consideration, then hell is the worst possible thing you can believe in, at the end of all things. And so, we've talked already, and I don't have to go back over these, they begin to rationalize and reject this concept. Why am I calling Revelation chapter 4 verses 1-11 a reality check? This is the way things really are. At the core of existence, we don't find man enthroned on that central throne from which all things revolve. We find God. A Christian who has learned the truth and come to grips with the ultimate realities of life understands that the true way to view the world is we live in a God-centered world. We live in a God-centered creation. We live in a God-centered existence. And let me just re-read verse 11 from chapter 4. And let's focus on one particular declaration. And this is important as to not just what is declared in verse 11, but who is declaring it. there around the throne. Because there are different creatures around the throne, there are different beings around the throne. One of the groups are the 24 elders who are enthroned around the throne. These elders are human beings. And these human beings who are closest to the central throne, closest to the ultimate being who lives in authority over this God-centered creation, they say this, or declare this to him, Worthy are you, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created." What these 24 elders are declaring is that what matters most in all of creation and in all of existence is what? That God, this is their declaration, that God would be glorified in His creation. If I asked you, from a philosophical and spiritual perspective. Think about it, stretch your mind back into the beginning of all things, back before God spoke the first creative word, let there be light, before anything was created. If I asked you why God is planning to create, He's got the whole plan of creation already set in His mind. Why is He going to do this? Why is He going to make this universe? Why is He going to make this world? Why is He going to make man, starting with Adam and Eve, upon this world? And why is He going to bring about what we know as history to follow? Why is He doing this? What's the bottom line motive and plan in God's heart in terms of why He's doing this? Why did God create all things? Think about it for a moment. The ultimate answer, the only true answer, the only biblical answer is that God created all things for His glory. A man-centered perspective would say, well, God created all things for us. He created all things for man to have his wants, needs, desires, and so forth fulfilled. There's an even subtle form of this. among Christians, in which the perspective is, well, God ultimately created all things just so that He could have fellowship with us. Now, the desire for fellowship is a motivator in God's heart in terms of why He created mankind. But the first thought, the priority motive in God's heart was not, I created man in order to get a companion for myself and to have fellowship with this wonderful person that I just created. The first motive of God's heart is something deeper than that, and it's a motive for His own glory. And this is critically important when we take a look at this concept of hell. If we don't understand that the first motive of God's heart in making all things is for Himself to be glorified, we will ultimately have issues with the doctrine of hell. And I want to trace this through briefly together today. Alright, let's look from here to Ephesians chapter 1. We're going to take a look at the idea, for a few minutes, that the ultimate purpose of why God created all things is His own glory. Is this what the Bible really teaches? Ephesians chapter 1, and we're going to look at this from two sides of a coin. We're looking at Establishing the point that God's glory is God's ultimate purpose in creation. Okay, side one. Ephesians chapter one. We'll read from verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. This refers to in the heart and the mind of God, even before He made the first act of creation, He already was planning to accomplish certain things in history. And one of the things that He was planning to accomplish is the salvation of a group of souls. Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love, He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will. to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved." And in that last praise, we see that the purpose of why God did this thing of choosing certain ones before the foundation of the world for salvation is so that it would all result in the praise of the glory of His grace. The whole reason God saved you, now there are other secondary reasons, but the whole reason that God saved you is so that on the final day when you stand in His presence, and then from that day forward for all of eternity, your salvation would produce the praise of the glory of His grace toward you. Meaning, it's His grace and salvation, He wants you to praise Him for it, but not just a general kind of praise, He wants you to praise the glory of God that He reveals in the graciousness that He has shown to you. Skip down and look in verse, there's a second verse in this same section that doubly establishes this. We'll read from verse 11 and 12. Also, we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined, according to His purpose, who works all things after the counsel of His will. To the end, or for this reason, for with this goal in mind, to the end, that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. To the praise of His glory. What Paul is doing here is he's pulling back the curtains, and he is allowing us to see, as God revealed it to him, the deeper spiritual motive that was in God's heart in creating us to begin with, and then in choosing, out of all that he created, to save some. Why did he do it? So that at the end we would stand in his presence and praise his glory on the Day of Judgment. Because we will see and we'll understand that it's only by His grace that we're there. It's only by His grace that we're on the right hand rather than the left. It's a gracious, merciful choice of God that is meant to produce in us the praise of His glory. So God is glorifying Himself. Through history, He's glorying Himself ultimately in the Day of Judgment, and then that will overflow into all of eternity. He's glorifying Himself in the ultimate expression of His graciousness in salvation. Now that part, I think, is fairly palatable to us. It's easy to swallow that God had in His mind that we would glorify Him for His graciousness. Because it's easy to praise God for His graciousness, isn't it? out of all of the things you can praise Him for. But His graciousness and His mercy is not the only thing that God wants to be praised for. It's not the only thing that God should be glorified for, because God has also revealed His glory on the other side of this coin. This is side 2. Let's turn from there to Romans, chapter 9. to easily one of the most difficult chapters in the entire Bible. Difficult both to read and interpret properly, and difficult to swallow what it actually teaches once you even figure out what it's saying. But, just because it's difficult doesn't mean that we should avoid it, right? If it's difficult, That means that it's deep, and if it's deep, that means that it's even more significant for us to grapple with and to spend the time necessary to come to an understanding, and then once we understand it, to lean on the Lord to have that understanding influence and affect our worldview, the way we look at things, to change us. You know, the Bible teaches, and I think you've heard this before, when the Lord describes Himself, the way He thinks, the way He looks at things, And then compares that to the way we tend to think about things and look at things. He says, my ways are not your ways. My thoughts are not your thoughts. And he describes and compares and contrasts. He says, my thoughts are so much higher than your thoughts. And then he uses things in the natural realm to describe that contrast. What that means is, when we look at these issues, our natural tendency when we start our consideration is going to be to look at it wrong, to not see it the way God sees it, to not understand it from His perspective, and even if we do understand it, to not like it. And God is, after this, He wants to shape and mold our life perspective, our heart perspective, in what the Bible describes as the process of the renewing of our minds. And on this issue, as much as any, if not more than any, we need to have our minds renewed as to why God does the things that He does, not just in history, but in all of eternity, and why what God does is the best way it can possibly be done. Alright? We were fond of saying, if I were in charge, you know, I would do it this way. Well, you know what? However you would do it would not be as good as God is doing it. That's just the bottom line. And once, as a believer, you get over that hurdle and embrace that concept, you are farther along than 99.999% of people ever will be. Alright, let's look in Romans chapter 9 at what is a very difficult portion of Scripture. I'm not going to read the whole chapter. I'm going to read a specific section. This is dealing with issues of what we call predestination. But God says something in this section that applies directly to what I'm calling side two of our coin, about proving and establishing once and for all that it's God's glory that's the ultimate purpose in His heart for all of creation, all of history, and all of eternity. We'll read from verse 13, just as it is written. He's talking here about two historical characters from the Old Testament. Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. This is God speaking these words. It's a quote of the Lord himself. What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? Mr. Clark Pinnock, is there any injustice with God in establishing this place of hell? To all those in the world that reject this doctrine, is there injustice with God? To all those in the church that struggle with this doctrine, is there injustice with God to have such a place as hell? Well, Paul goes on to say, may it never be. Not may it never be that there would be injustice with God. That goes without saying. God by His nature cannot be unjust. But may it never be that we would say such a thing. is the implication here. May it never be that we would buy into Satan's lie and call the integrity of God himself into question for whatever it is that God chooses to do, either in history or for eternity. What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be. For he says to Moses, and this is something that God actually did say to Moses in the Old Testament, the book of Exodus, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy. And I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. And when you just read that statement of what he said to Moses, and this is not just like some throwaway statement that the Lord is making just to fill up space on the page. He says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. That's one of those, when you first glance at it, it's kind of like a self-evident statement. Why did you even need to say that, Lord? Of course, you'll have mercy on whomever you want to have mercy. The point of this is, he's declaring something to Moses, because Moses is struggling. Moses is struggling not with the doctrine of hell, but with the idea that God is in charge of all human beings, and He's going to do with human beings what He chooses to do, according to His own plan and according to His own wisdom. And Moses was struggling with that. In fact, it was at a point where the Lord was discussing with Moses whether He was going to reject the entire nation of Israel for their rebellion and disobedience, and start over with just Moses. And when Moses, you know, objected, the Lord basically said to him, this is who I am. Understand this about me. If you want to deal with me, deal with who I really am. This is who I really am. I will have mercy on whom I have mercy. I'll have compassion on whom I have compassion. That's a declaration of God's ultimate freedom. in his dealings with human beings. The biblical concept is here what we call the sovereignty of God. That means, to boil it down to a simple terminology, God is in charge. We're not. He can do what he wants, to whomever he wants, whenever he wants, however he wants. And we don't have anything to say about it. And if we do, that's just evidence of our heart's rebellion toward him as being the one that's ultimately in charge of all things. He's free to show mercy to whom he wants to show mercy and to show compassion to whom he wants to show compassion. And the implication is he's also free to show otherwise to whomever he chooses to show otherwise. So then, Paul says in verse 16, It does not depend on the man who wills. What he's talking about here is what we call salvation. Salvation does not depend on the man who wills. The wills here is we exercise our will when we make choices. It doesn't depend on the man who's choosing, it depends instead on the God who is choosing him. Or on the man who runs, that's human effort toward salvation. But it does depend on this and on this alone. This is what salvation depends on, on God who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, and this is easily, I said this is a difficult portion, this is why this portion of Scripture is so difficult. The Scripture says to Pharaoh, and when it says the Scripture says, what we're talking about, this is what God is saying to Pharaoh. We know who Pharaoh was, he was the king, the emperor of Egypt, at that time in history, the mightiest nation on the face of the earth. But the scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose I raised you up. Okay, God's saying to this king of the mightiest nation on earth, I put you in this position of being king over the mightiest nation on earth. You didn't raise yourself up, you didn't maneuver yourself into this position, I put you there. And I put you there for a reason. This is the reason. To demonstrate my power in you. And that my name might be proclaimed through the whole earth. What was God after here? The declaration of his name is for the glory of God. What God is saying to Pharaoh is, I raised you up for my glory. I put you in this position for my glory. Now, how did God glorify himself in Pharaoh's life? Did he glorify himself in Pharaoh's life by Pharaoh falling down before the presence of the Lord and acknowledging, you are the one true and living God among all the gods that mankind worships. I acknowledge you, I worship you, I praise you, I'm the greatest king and I praise you. Is that how God glorified his name through Pharaoh? No. He glorified his name through Pharaoh in what way? How did he glorify his name through Pharaoh's life? Because God said, this is why I raised you up, Pharaoh, to glorify my name in you, and this is how I'm going to accomplish it. What did God do to glorify his name? We all know the story. This is, you know, I mean, if you haven't read the Bible, you've at least seen the Disney movie, right? The Prince of Egypt. How did God glorify his name in Pharaoh? But how? What did he do? He killed Pharaoh. Right? No, he killed Pharaoh. Pharaoh and his armies. They went into the Red Sea. They followed the people of Israel. God split the Red Sea. Pharaoh followed him in. The armies followed him in. The chariots followed him in. Then God brought the Red Sea back on top of their heads and wiped them out. Now, is that fair for God to say to Pharaoh, look, I put you in this position for one reason and one reason alone. I made you the most powerful man on the face of the earth so that I could prove that I'm even more powerful by wiping you out. Does that bother you? That's why hell exists. Same reason. Let's read on. So then, verse 18, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires. You will say to me then, why does he still find fault for who resists his will? On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, why did you make me like this, will it? Yes, it will. The thing molded is constantly saying, you know, why did you make me like this? It's not my fault. And yet Paul's point is it's not right for the thing molded to talk back to the one that molded it. Or does not the potter have a right over the clay to make from the same lump? One vessel for honorable use, and another for common use. If I'm a potter, I have a certain amount of clay, and I have in my heart two purposes. One is, I need a vessel to eat my dinner out of. Another is, I need a trash can. And I want to make them both out of pottery. Do I have the right as the potter, if I went and purchased this clay and I own it, do I have the right to split that lump into two and to, on the same wheel, make one vessel to eat my dinner from and make it a very honorable and beautiful vessel, and the other to make it into a trash can? Do I have the right to do that as the potter? Does the pottery, after I've made the choice, have the right to say, how come you made me the trash can instead of the dinner plate? That's Paul's point. We're the pottery. We're the clay. Human beings, in total, are the pottery. And yet, he goes on to say, what if, and this to me is one of the most powerful statements or questions anywhere in the Bible, verse 22. Paul says, making a defense for the Lord in his role, he says, What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? Prepared by whom? Prepared by themselves? Ultimately? In the big picture? No. The idea here is in the pottery. the pottery imagery of a potter preparing vessels for different purposes. What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He also called? Alright, let me just sum this up. Paul's point here is this. That God's main motive of His heart, the primary motive of His heart, is simply this. That God did all that He did in history, in the original creation, in the summing up of all things, and in eternity. for the sake of His own name being glorified. And He's going to accomplish that two ways. He's going to have His name glorified on side one by the praise of His glory for His grace. And he's going to do that on side two by causing his name to be glorified in his sovereignty by making other aspects of his nature known. See, what it means when we say the glory of God is his motivation, the glory of God is one of those concepts that's kind of hard for us to wrap our minds around. What the glory of God actually is, is the nature of God in manifestation. When God shows what He really is to mankind, we see glory. Now when God shows His graciousness, His mercy, His love, then what we see when we see those things, if we're spiritually perceiving them, we see glory. But when God shows His holiness, His righteousness, His justice, and His wrath, what we also see, if we see those things rightly, is we see His glory. Because the justice of God is just as much part of the nature of God, an aspect of the nature of God, as His love, and His graciousness, and His mercy. So the mercy of God can't be fully known and can't be fully seen unless the justice of God is also expressed side by side with the mercy of God. You remove the justice and there is no praise for the glory of His mercy. When we stand before the throne on that final day and because, only because of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, we receive ultimate mercy from God. It will mean even more to us and everyone else who's observing it, angels included, because, and specifically because, there are also going to be those on his left hand that are assigned an eternal punishment that is well deserved. As we talked about last week, the punishment fitting the crime, they're going to be punished only according to what they actually deserved. So, what does this mean for us in our understanding? What this means is that hell exists for the glory of God. The people that will spend eternity in hell will be for eternity doing what they failed to do in their lives here on earth, and that is they will be glorifying God. Not out of their mouths, not out of their hearts, not willingly, but by their actual existence in hell, the reality of their existence will continue to cause us to glorify God forever and ever. For what purpose? For His mercy and His graciousness that's been extended to us. I don't know if you ever had this experience growing up, if you were raised with a brother or sister or more than one, Did you ever have an experience? I know I did, more than once, where something in the household happened, and came time for judgment, as myself and my sister stood before the judges of the household. And more than once, I observed my sister receiving punishment, and I escaped. Now, it wasn't that in my heart and mind I said to myself, I am just so good I don't deserve any punishment. I knew I deserved punishment, you know, because most of the time I was involved in it at one level or another. But there were times when I was, as the younger one, I was given mercy that I didn't deserve. And I appreciated it. And I appreciated it more deeply because I saw what my sister received. in terms of punishment. Had she never been punished or had I never been punished, would I have had a real appreciation for the concept of mercy, the concept of graciousness. It's only in, and that's why I say there are two sides of one coin. It's only in the contrast, and it's only in the significance of that contrast, that we come to a real and deep and true and spiritual appreciation for the graciousness and the mercy of the Lord. Hell, ultimately, will stand as an eternal testimony to the glory of God in the Savior, the glory of God in our salvation, the glory of God in His graciousness and His mercy to us. Let's pray. Father God, as we have spent just now seven weeks studying something that stretches our hearts and stretches our minds, I pray, Father, for your grace to be upon our hearts, that we would be able to embrace even the deepest teachings of your Word, that we would be able to embrace what you declare is true. And I pray that you would shape and mold our hearts and minds, and you would cause, Lord, the renewing of our minds, and that our thoughts would not be so distant and so different than your thoughts any longer, that we would learn to think about you the way you reveal yourself to us to actually be, and that we would learn to glorify you for your graciousness, and to glorify you for your justice, and to learn to appreciate the fullness of who you are and the fullness of your great plan, not only for our lives now, but for all of eternity. I pray that it would shape us, it would mold us, and that you would, as a result of that, receive greater glory and be more glorified through our lives from this point forward. I know you're able to accomplish that, and we trust you for that. In the name of the Lord Jesus. We also ask, Lord, for your blessing on all of the fathers and sons that are coming back from the camping trip, the contenders camping trip today. I pray that you would watch over them on the road home, and thank you for your blessing and how you bless them in their time away. Thank you, Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.