Well, we all need saving. We know that much. But what are we saved for? This question of why we are saved in the first place is essential and important. And it was a question John Piper tackled in a message titled "Created for Joy," preached at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in D.C.

back in 2002. Here's what Pastor John said. "Gospel is good news about something, but it doesn't say what the good news is. So it's not adequate to simply say, 'Christians believe gospel.' That doesn't say anything. That doesn't tell you anything. It's just, that's a zero. Good news about what?" So you could add, "Good news about forgiveness of sins against God, who created the universe, and who is angry at us because we have offended him so badly and have fallen short of what we were created to be in his image." And so there is just wrath against us, and we can be forgiven, and that would be our gospel.

But if you analyze the word forgiveness, that's, somebody could say, "Well, so what? Who cares about being forgiven?" Because forgiveness in and of itself doesn't mean anything. The only value forgiveness has is if there's a relationship that's been wrecked, and you really, really like to have it restored because the restoration would be so pleasant to you.

And so forgiveness in and of itself, if I say something really crabby to my wife when I wake up in the morning, and she's offended and I'm feeling angry, and I walk out of the room and we go down to the kitchen, she's in the kitchen, standing at the sink, and I'm over there pouring my cereal, and there's ice in the air.

I know what needs to happen. I need to be forgiven, and I need to ask for forgiveness. Why? I want her back, right? I don't want, when I walk over to the sink and kiss her on the back of the neck, I don't want her to jerk away and walk out of the room.

I'd like her to turn around and reciprocate. So the only value that forgiveness has is to get my wife back. So to say, "Gospel," doesn't say anything. It just leads us somewhere. "Good news about what?" You say, "Forgiveness," and that doesn't mean anything, because it's all about what forgiveness opens the door to.

So we have to go further and say, "Well, what does it open the door to?" Does Christianity say this thing called "Forgiveness opens the door to," and then you could use another nice Christian word called "salvation," "saved," and that doesn't tell us anything. "Saved from what? For what?" It's just an empty word.

See how amazing these words are? They don't say much. You've got to press them and press them and press them until you arrive at something that sounds good, and they don't sound good yet. I mean, "saved" sounds sort of good, but you don't know what you're saved from or what you're saved for.

So let's say we're saved for, well, everybody would say "from wrath, judgment, hell, condemnation." Yes, good. Nobody wants to be condemned. But for what? Maybe it would be, you could say, "eternal life," John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should have eternal life." You say, "There, you could have life if you are forgiven." And you say, "Well, maybe I don't want it, because it might be boring.

Endless boredom is not interesting to me." And so even with the word "life" we haven't gotten anywhere. Isn't it amazing how many words we can use to describe Christianity without saying anything yet, that sounds good to anybody? So I have to say, "saved for what?" And we can say, "life." And then I ask, "What kind of life?

Where? With whom? Will I want this life? There are lives I don't want to live." Maybe the one you're living now you don't want to live, which would be a very dangerous position for you to be in tonight. And I'm glad you're here, because I would like to turn that around.

So my answer, and I'm going to take this from an Old Testament passage of Scripture, in the Psalms, number 16, verse 11, goes like this, "You, O God, show me the path of life," and then it defines it like this, "In your presence is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore." And now you're talking language that sounds like goodness.

Fullness of joy, pleasures that never end. Gospel might not have meant very much. Forgiveness might not have meant very much. Saved might not have meant very much. Life might not have meant very much. But pleasure, I want that. Joy that's full and never ending. You see those two modifiers?

Full means not 90% proof, but 100% proof. Pleasure, joy. And then everlasting, that means it never comes to an end. I'm not interested in your offer of 800 years of pleasure. No thank you. I want it to last forever. If this text is true, big if, right? If this text is true, Psalm 16, verse 11, the one place that can be found is in God.

And Jesus Christ, Christianity teaches, the gospel is Jesus Christ came into the world to die in the place of sinners so that we could be forgiven, so that we could be saved from the opposite of that, for that life which is everlasting and ever-increasing pleasure in his presence. I grew up in a home with a dad who was a believer, who prayed every night that God would be glorified in all things, which creates a problem for me now with this particular train of thought.

Because here I've arrived at a point where it looks like I'm saying, the gospel is all about my joy. And my dad prayed in a way that taught me the gospel is all about God's glory, his beauty, his power, his justice, his truth, his goodness, his mercy. It's all about making much of him, lifting up him, honoring him, worshipping him.

So now I've got my heart longing for this joy over here, and the Bible saying the end of all gospel, salvation, forgiveness, life, is pleasures at God's right hand. And I've got these other passages of scripture over here that say, you're created for his glory, everything is for his glory.

In other words, to show how great he is and to magnify him. Now here's my discovery, and I learned it indirectly from the Bible, through Jonathan Edwards, who lived 250 years ago. And my way of saying it is this, to bring these two together. God is most glorified, honored, praised, made much of.

God is most glorified in me when I am most satisfied in him. Amen. That is what we are all about at DesiringGod.org. God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. You can go to our site to find more. At DesiringGod.org we have thousands of books, articles, and sermons to fill out what this means, to be saved, to delight in God.

Again, our site is DesiringGod.org. Special thanks to podcast listener Andy Cimbala, who emailed us and suggested that we play this clip in the podcast. And it's a great clip. Thank you, Andy, for suggesting it. John Piper will sit down with us again tomorrow to address the questions that you keep sending in.

Please keep sending those questions in. I'm your host, Tony Reinke. Thanks for listening to the Ask Pastor John Podcast.