Is Your Hope on The Joy of Heaven

I'm just going to be honest with you. You know, do I hope there is double cream in the refrigerator when I get home? I do. Do I hope that a certain football team in the United States might win this weekend? Yeah, I do. And do I hope that the Lord gives Ruby and myself an enjoyable time on my day off tomorrow? I do. But if I shoot straight with you, I would give up all those things in a second. There are some things that I hope for that I would never give up the hope for. I want to see Christ. I want to behold the glory of God. I don't know what we might or might not see of the Father. I want to see God and I want to dwell with Him. And I want to be sinless. I want that and I hope for it. Brethren, when you think about the Christian hope, you just think about 2 Corinthians. To be absent from the body is to be what? Can you imagine the moment you see Him? It's not going to be like Isaiah 53. When you say, oh, there's no form, there's no comeliness. You're going to be floored. There is going to be such beauty that it will suck the breath out of you. Do you know what Scripture says? Scripture says, in your presence, it's not just you're going to see Him. In your presence is the fullness of joy. Do you hope for joy? I do. We all do. But it's the basis upon which that's hoped. People can hope for it in all the wrong places. Here's the thing. Christ made me and He made me to be this bundle of desires that we all are. But you do recognize He's the one that designed us. He designed us to be ravished and overwhelmed and awed by Him more than anything else. You recognize that when we are glorified, we will be in such a state where we are designed to absolutely have our joy pushed to the outer thresholds by Christ, by the Triune God, more than anything else. There will be a satisfaction. In His presence, there is a fullness of joy. And in His right hand, pleasure. This is the Christian hope. This is, I mean, Scripture says to us that, have you ever read, well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over a little. I'm going to set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. I mean, if there was a way to describe heaven, we have a track on death. You probably, you that have tried to hand that out, no, I don't want to think about that. No, I'm not ready for that. Well, it's not just death. It's what comes after. There's horrors of hell out there. But on the other hand, there's a richness of pleasure and there is a joy of the master. I mean, if you wanted to just define heaven, it's the joy of the master. This is what Scripture is talking about. He said to his disciples, look, I'm going to prepare a place for you. Can you imagine Christ? Christ told them that 2000 years ago. I mean, he can he can create the universe in a moment. And he says, I'm going to prepare a place for you. I mean, look, you've walked in a garden, the most beautiful of gardens. You have some of the most beautiful gardens I've ever seen in my life here. And you can walk out in the most beautiful garden. And what is this place? This is a fallen earth. There's a new heaven and a new earth that he's gone to prepare. And he's going to take us. And you know what he said? He said, Father, my desire is that they may be where I am to behold my glory. This excerpt comes from the full sermon, Taking the Helmet of Salvation, Our Hope, in which Tim considers how the hope of final salvation helps us in the present in our battle with the kingdom of darkness.