Revelation 21, 22. And I saw
no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are
the temple of it. And the city had no need of the
sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it, for the glory of
God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the
nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it,
and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into
it. And the gates of it shall not
be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there. And
they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.
And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defile
it, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie,
but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life. And
he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal,
proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the
midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river,
was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruit,
and yielded her fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree were
for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse,
but the throne of God, and of the Lamb shall be in it, and
His servants shall serve Him. And they shall see His face,
for His name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be
no night there, and they need no candle, neither light of the
sun, For the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign
forever and ever." With me now, here in Revelation 21, I talked
last Wednesday night about heaven's geography. You know, the new
heaven and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Old things
are passed away and everything is made new. Describe that city. Describe those walls and those
streets of gold and those foundations that were laid. Going to be places
to go and things to do. A whole new world to see and
dwell in. Tonight I want to talk about
our experience. What we'll experience while we're
there. And what will it be like? Well, I know this. that whatever it's like, we just
don't have a clue. You know, other than what the
Scriptures say. And oh, beloved, when we get up to the end of
the time, when our Lord Jesus Christ, you know, they asked
Him, said, what shall be the sign of Thy coming? What shall
be the end of the world be like? And our Lord gave some things
about it. But we do know that all power is given unto Him until
that time. But let's talk about our experience
when we get into glory. You know, for those that have
been saved, those that have been set apart by the Lord Jesus Christ,
by the gospel, for the glorified people of heaven, what will it
be like? Well, first of all, we start out here in verse 22,
And I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and
the Lamb are the temple of it. So here we are, beloved, we must,
you know, this is just a vision. This is a vision. There's nothing,
absolutely nothing on this earth that's sufficient enough to represent
to us the glory of heaven, just absolutely nothing. In fact,
you know, God gave us a few glimpses and gave his people a few glimpses
in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. It's like when
Moses went up on the mountain and he saw the glory of God and
the glory shone on him so much that he had to put a veil over
his face. And yet that glory there was nothing compared to
the glory that we shall see. And when our Lord was transfigured
on the mount, when Peter, James, and John were with Him, and He
was bright as the lightning of the sun, and glistening white,
and God spoke from heaven, that's not even a representation of
it. They all pointed to something greater and much, much greater.
In fact, it pointed to the glory of heaven itself. And these are
realities. that we can't see right now.
Faith makes them real to us. Faith makes them something that
we long to do. But I'll tell you, beloved, the
Scriptures makes it plain that we will have a place that our
soul and our heavenly senses, the senses that God gave us,
our spiritual senses, will be so different than what we have
now that I don't know how to explain it. And it tells something,
if you know, when we read through these scriptures tonight, you'll
see that it gives us some hint of what the partakers of the
inheritance of the saints in life is going to be like. Now,
we'll look at six things, looking at these things tonight. First
of all, there'll be worship. And it'll be an unhindered worship.
An unhindered worship. Look what he says there in verse
22. There behind you, there's no temple therein. No temple. Now you think about
that. No temple in glory. Now the Jews,
that's all they was interested in. They was going to the temple.
Going to the tabernacle, then the temple, and as their custom
was, they went to the synagogue. And just like the Gentiles, us,
they all had their temples. They had their places to worship.
The people in Athens, Greeks, God said they had temples everywhere.
And here in America, you know, you have places, we have particular
places that you go and gather around to worship. But here,
beloved, there'll be no temple. There'll be no place for us to
gather to worship. Huh? And, oh beloved, God had,
in that building that God, you know, in the temple, God's glory
came down in that temple. God's glory, that bright light
of God's Shechemah glory would come down in the tabernacle,
come down among His people. And when they were leaving out
of Egypt, God's glory, His Shechemah glory, that cloud that went before
them of the day and the fire of night, That's just a little
of what we're talking about here. And how in the world are we going
to enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His temple
with praise unless we've got a temple? Well, I'm going to
tell you what the temple is. Look at what it says. I saw no
temple there, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the
temple. You know where we all worship?
Remember where we worship right now, in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Who do we come to to worship? Our Lord Jesus Christ. Who do
we come to for rest? Our Lord Jesus Christ. And so
you see, beloved, they don't need no temple. Christ is there. God is there. We'll see them
as they are. And now, you know, Jerusalem
was destroyed, absolutely destroyed. And the temple was destroyed
in A.D. 70. and all the sacrifices were
obsolete, but when Christ had been slain, the Lamb had been
slain, then, right then, all the sacrifices and temple worship
ceased to be, right then, because Christ was just, all those things
were just a type of our Lord Jesus Christ. But I tell you
what, in Vienna, there's people that believe this, and God have
mercy on them. That they think that when Christ
comes back, they're going to build another temple, like Solomon's
in Jerusalem, and everybody's got to go over there and worship.
Offer sacrifices again. Here it says there's no temple
therein that God and His Son, the Lamb of God, based on Christ's
sacrifice, based on the Lamb of God, who's already shed His
blood, that's who will worship there, because He's the final
temple. He's the tabernacle of God. He's
the great high priest. And He's the once and all sacrifice
that was ever offered to God. And that's why we're going to
worship Him. That's who will be our temple when we get there.
And I'll tell you what, there, the center of life, just like
it is now, is in Christ, in God, in Christ. And the worship there
will never stop. Here, it stops. Here we'll sit
down and have a few minutes of joy, a few minutes of enlightenment
when we're in the Scriptures, a few minutes of understanding,
a few moments of worship. But there, beloved, it'll be
unceasing worship. Never stops. And it'll be a pure
worship. Unhindered. Can you imagine what
it'd be like to come into a service just like we are here and have
nothing absolutely hinder you? But that's the way it will be
there. That's the way it will be there. And you know the scripture
says that in glory we shall forever be with the Lord. And there,
beloved, we will behold the Lord in His beauty and be able to
inquire in His temple. Let me tell you something else
about this. This place and our experience. We're going to have a perfect
worship, unhindered worship. Oh my, no wonder we say, what
a day that'll be. Secondly, look what it says there
in verse 23. We'll have an eternal light,
a glorious light. And the city hath no need of
the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it. No need for the sun? Boy, I tell
you, me and Mary's talking today about, boy, that sun, the sun
just gives you life. You know, you have them old dark
days, and old cloudy days, and old snowy days, and then you
have a day like yesterday, and that sun comes out and warms
you up, just perks you right up. Or you imagine like being
someplace where it's like that all the time, and you don't even
need the sun. We'll dwell in the light that's
uncreated. God created the light for us
in this world, but we'll dwell in the light uncreated. And that
light will manifest the glory of God in himself. And look what
it says there. And there was neither the moon.
You know why they don't need sun and moon? Because it's every
day. It's always day. It's always
light. Oh, the glory of God lighting
it up. And the Lamb. The Lamb. Again,
that Lamb. How many times? Two verses and
the Lamb is mentioned twice already. The Lamb is the might thereof.
I want to show you something. You keep this and look in Isaiah
24 with me just a moment. I'll show you something here.
Talking about the sun and the moon in Isaiah 24. In verse 23. That's what it says here about
it. When our Lord comes. You know, when we get to go to
glory. Oh my! Uncreated life is going to manifest
the glory and presence of God, and then the Scriptures tell
us, we shall see God as He is. We'll behold the Lord. You know,
our Lord Jesus said, Father, I will that they behold my glory. And we'll behold His glory. And
John said, we'll see Him as He is, and we shall be like Him.
Look what it said here in verse 23 of Isaiah 24. Then the moon shall be compounded,
and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in
Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously."
Sun and moon are going to be ashamed there. But He ascends that glorious
throne. And oh, beloved, I tell you,
when it talks about light, for the glory of God lit it up. And
the Lamb is the light thereof. When we're talking about light
in the scriptures, we're talking about spiritual understanding,
spiritual insight, seeing things in a spiritual sense, a vision
that only God can give you. And that's why Paul, when he
says, God who commended the light to shine out of darkness, has
shined in our hearts to give us the light, the understanding,
the sight, the spiritual sight, the vision to see the glory of
God. We're in the person of our Lord
Jesus Christ. And see, beloved, and that's
what this is talking about. That not only will we see perfectly
there, but this light, everything that would hinder us from seeing
perfectly, will be gone. Be gone. We'll have that perfect
vision. The eyes of the blind will be
open. We'll have that perfect vision. spiritual vision and
a physical vision in heaven that only the people of God will have. And it will be light. I'm going
to show you something else, too. Not only will there always be
eternal light, unhindered worship, oh, to worship God. Oh, my. There's been a time or two when
we've just sat here, you know, in the service, And somebody
plays something, or somebody sings something, or some preacher
says something, and everything just gets quiet and still. And you feel the Spirit of God
just come down over us. And you're just taken out of
the world for just a few moments at a time. Imagine being like
that forever. Oh boy. And listen, the third
thing we're going to do, we're going to have love, an unclouded
love without blemish, a perfect love. Look what it says there
in verse 24. And the nations of them which
are saved shall walk in the light of this city, where God lights
it up, the Lamb's the light of it, and this The nations who
are saved shall walk." Now, I don't understand the nations. God,
you know, He has elect nations, and evidently He has nations
that He saves, and He calls them nations. He calls them His people. And this word for nations means
ethnic, or ethnic. Same word, ethnic. Now, in this
world, when you have Ethnicity, it means discrimination oftentimes,
strife, oppression, even extermination, like they're trying to exterminate
the Jews. And people, you know, African-American, Italian-American,
Irish-American, we just cease being Americans anymore. You've
got to have all this ethnicity. You know, we've got to have,
everybody, you know, you can't be this melting pot anymore.
But I tell you something, in glory, in glory, everybody will
be the same. And we'll all be of the same
background. We'll all have the same ethnicity. We've all been washed in the
blood of the Lamb. And we'll walk in the light of
that place. All of us are one in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And when we get to glory, we'll
love one another with the love which Christ has loved us. Paul
said, Christ who loved me and gave himself for me. Herein is
love that Man made out his life for his friends. Oh beloved,
the reason that the kings of the earth bring, look what it
says here in verse 24, and the kings of the earth do bring their
glory and honor into it. I don't mean they're going to
bring, I got no glory, I got no honor. He gets all the glory
and he gets all the honors, even the kings that are saved by the
grace and power of God. And I tell you, they'll acknowledge
the Lord Jesus Christ, they'll acknowledge Him as the King of
kings, and that's when all the kingdoms of this world become
the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, and He'll reign forever.
A lot of all the things that we should desire in this world,
and the first thing it says, faith, hope, and charity, and
the greatest of these is charity. A man can give his body to be
burned at the stake without charity, profiting nothing. Give everything
that he owns, give it to the poor, without charity, profiting
nothing. He can speak in tongues and have
all knowledge and understand all mysteries without charity,
it profits him nothing. And one of these days, one of
these blessed days, there will be a time that we will be able
to love and it will be unclouded, unhindered, by any race, any
ethnicity, any discrimination, any pride, any self-righteousness,
anything that hinders us from loving the way we would love
today, will all be gone, and everything will be perfect. Won't that be something? And
let me tell you something else about this. Wherever you have
this love, this way, you know what else happens? You have perfect
peace. And that's the next thing we'll
have, that we'll experience in glory. What is perfect peace? Look what it says here in verse
25. And the gates of this city, it
shall not be shut all day by day, for there shall be no night
there, but all by day, and they shall bring the glory and honor
of the nations. Oh, my. Listen here. Wherever you have
perfect love, you have perfect peace. a peaceful society. Look how
much peace we enjoy here. When's the last time you hurt
somebody? When you love people and you
trust people, things just right. There's peace and unity where
there's love. And so you imagine we get to
glory where we have this perfect love, this unclouded love, this
unhindered love. When we love one another as Christ
loved us, as He tells us to, it'll be by perfect peace. And
here's the reason why. And the gates of His shall not
be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there. Oh my,
let me tell you something. There'll be such peace there
that when it says the gates shall not be shut at all by day or
night, it tells us that there's no threats. No threats. One of the first things you do
is, do you lock the door? You say, is that door locked? Be sure the doors are locked. Well, there will be no locks
on these doors. No locks on heaven's doors. Why? Because there's no night there.
People sit at night and do things in the darkness. There will be
no darkness there. People do what they do in the dark. There
will be no dark there. And this is literally true. You
notice God's glory will never be turned off? His light will
never be turned off? Oh, my. God neither slumbers
or sleep, and if He don't slumber or sleep and we get there, I'm
telling you, this is one of them great mysteries. We won't slumber
or sleep. You know, people, they only go
to bed when they're tired. And though we're out and they're
weak, and there'll be no tiredness, no weakness, no frailty there
to keep us. And we, this woman, oh my. And I'll tell you something,
beloved, the saints in heaven will be eternally, eternally
active. I really believe that. And when
it talks about no night there, that means that spiritually speaking,
there's no sin there. There's no darkness there. No
darkness there. No sin there. There'll be no
night. No night. You know, we talk about
night here and darkness here. Oh, the darkness that comes and
the clouds that come into our life and the darkness we feel
and the depressions that we feel and all the darkness of our own
hearts and that. Beloved, I'll tell you something.
There'll be no darkness there. No sin there. Our relationships
there will be perfect. There'll be no sin in any of
our relationships. There'll be no sin in our hearts.
There'll be no sin in our mind. There'll be nothing to kinder
us whatsoever when we get there. Perfect, perfect peace because
of perfect love and perfect harmony. Oh, my. Sin is so part and parcel of
us, we can't comprehend it without it. But it'll be eradicated. It'll be gone. It'll be gone. Oh, bless His name. Let me give you the fifth thing
here. And look what it says there in verse 27. There'll be a godliness,
perfect godliness, eternal righteousness. Look what it says in verse 27. And there shall in no wise enter
into anything that defiles, neither worketh abomination, or makes
a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's Book of Life."
There won't be nobody there but godly people, saintly people,
righteous people, people that's got their names written in the
Lamb's Book of Life. There'll be nothing there that
defiles or causes an abomination or makes a lie. Nothing there. What would heaven be like if
a lie got in? What would heaven be like if
we took sin in there with us? What would it be like, what would
our experience be like when we got there? If something that
made an abomination got in there? It wouldn't be heaven at all.
The experience would be destroyed. But I'll tell you, beloved, who
can't get in there, who's not going in there, there shall in
no wise enter in with anything but defiles. I'll tell you, sinners
that have never been converted, people that have never been saved
by the grace of God, people that have never been born again, they
may stand and knock and say, open unto us. And our Lord will
say, I never knew you. Depart from me, you that work
iniquity. Those who said, when they came in to the wedding feasting,
that God then came in and said, how come it's down here without
a wedding garment? Grab him hand and foot and throw
him out of here. Huh? Oh, beloved, those five
foolish virgins that woke up and said, give us some of your
own. They ain't got none. Oh, my. When they go in there,
men and women go in there, anything that defiles. And I'll tell you,
anything that's not in Christ is defiled. Anybody that's not
preaching Christ with all, to be all of our salvation, to be
all of our righteousness, to be all of our sanctification,
to be all of our wisdom, to be all of our redemption, for Christ
to be our all in all. Anybody that's not preaching
that, he's not preaching the gospel. And I'll tell you, men
are not going, what a shame, what a time it's going to be
when they're going to say, Lord, look what we've done. We preach
in your name. Oh, yes, they use the Lord's
name. The Pope uses the Lord's name. But he's a defile. We were watching a fellow the
other day, one of these guys had on one of these red robes,
a red hat, and a big old sash on his And Pete was walking up
to him and kissing his hand, kissing his face. And he'd just
hold it out for him to do it. That makes an abomination. There
ain't nothing for a boy like that. Oh, my. And that's what he says.
The first thing he says, there ain't nobody going in there to
defile us. And that makes it worse than an abomination. And
I'll tell you, it's an abominable thing. It's an abominable thing. Now, listen to me. To make salvation
any other way than through the Lord Jesus Christ and His perfect
sacrifice and His atoning death and His perfect righteousness
imputed to your account. I'm telling you the truth right
here. To make salvation depend on you
in any way, to make salvation depend on you, Ninety-nine percent,
but that one percent being you? Ninety-nine percent, but that
one percent being you? That's the problem. And I'm going to tell you something.
I'm going to tell you something. If God, in His sovereign mercy,
hadn't crossed my path with the gospel and taught me the gospel,
and made Christ known to me, and revealed to me, and somebody
hadn't been honest with me, and preached the gospel to me, and
told me that I was preaching and making a lie. That's just
what they come right out and said, said, you're preaching
and making a lie. God does not use a lie to save
His people. And He was honest with me and
told me that. But I sent down to say this, if I would have
died before I learned the gospel, before I knew Christ, Out of
prayer, it's got to be one of those fellows making a line. But you see, that's the difference.
If your name's written in the Lamb's Book of Life, you're going
to cross your path with the gospel. See, when God teaches truth,
you quit making lines. I got a letter from a lady today,
and I told Mary I should have printed out and brought it. I
got a letter from a woman today. She said, you're preaching. has been a lifesaver for us.
He said, starving to death. And I sent him to my daughter.
Sent him to my grandson. And said, my daughter's got to
listen to him. And now all she can do is go
up to her preacher and say, you're not preaching the right thing.
I'm going to have to tell her. She wants to fight with her preacher. She wants to tell her preacher
what he's not saying. But they talked about how the
gospel has so changed them and taught them and gave them understanding
that they never had before. And that's what he's talking
about here. And listen, you know who is going in there? I'm going
to tell you who is going in there. They which are written in the
Lamb's Book of Life. That's who's going. When did God write that name,
the Lamb's Book of Life? Look in Revelations 13.8 and
I'll show you. Now, he's talking about the beast
and the worship of the beast, but this is the people that won't
worship Him. Revelation 13, 8, "...and all that dwell upon the
earth shall worship Him, whose names are not written in the
book of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." Huh? Our names were written there
from the time He was slain. I didn't, it wasn't written in
there the day I believed. Wasn't even written in there
the day I repented. Wasn't written in there the day I had the clearest
understanding I ever had. I have the understanding I have
now, and I have the faith I have now, and the repentance I have,
because my name was written there, and God calls my parents with
the gospel. You believe that, don't you? Oh my, who's going? Those who
know that Christ paid the penalty of sin. Those who are made righteous
only with His righteousness. Those who made their robes white
and washed them in the blood of the Lamb. And then let me
give you the last one here. Look at the happiness and the
joy that we will have without any bounds to it. Look what he
says here in verse 1 of chapter 22. See, the Bible reveals to us
a place of joy and unbounded happiness and joy. And he showed
me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding
out of the throne of God and the Lamb. In the midst of the
street of it and on the other side of the river was the tree
of life, Yield unto the fruit and the leaves of the trees,
for the hill and the nation, there shall be no more. Cursed
with the throne of God, the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants
shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and
His name shall be on their forehead. No more night, no need of a candle,
nor the light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light,
and they shall reign forevermore." You see, beloved, happiness here,
people just make a lifelong pursuit of being happy. Happy, happy,
happy, happy, happy. Happy, happy, happy, happy. But
happiness just comes and goes like that. It's a loser. At the
best, it's temporary. But, oh, beloved, and this is
why we'll have this joy, happiness in heaven. It's because all of
our human needs, really human needs, are met in heaven. First
of all, it has a river. It has a river. This new city
has a river in it. It has street in it. It has trees
in it. And it has the water of life in it. Where does that water
of life come from? Out of the throne of God and
out of the Lamb. Christ said, I'm the water. He said, if you're
going to ask of me and I'll give you a drink of living water.
Well, that's what we'll have. We'll have water to meet the
needs of our thirst. Christ is the water of life.
We'll actually have water there that comes straight out of the
throne of God. They had the water out of the rock in the wilderness.
We'll have it out of Christ himself when we get to glory. Coming
out of his throne. And then, beloved, trees, you
know, they bear fruit, and this fruit heals the nations. And,
oh, beloved, I tell you what else is so, that the tree of
life tells us, you know, that when Adam and Eve ate of that
fruit of the tree of life in the garden, they were cursed. But when we eat the fruit of
this, it's really life. We have life. We eat it. We don't eat it to get life.
We eat it because we have life. We're already there and we have
life. And look what else happens because of this tree. And we
have this tree of life. And this says in verse 3, look
what else it says here. And there shall be no more curse.
No more curse. Oh my. Never have to sweat again. Never have to hurt again. Never
give another briar in your finger. And look here, and then look what, the throne
of God the Lamb shall be. And look what happens here. They'll
rule on their throne, and look what it says here, and His service
shall serve Him. We'll live in His presence and
serve Him and be happy in fellowship with Him throughout eternity.
And then look what it says here. His service shall serve Him.
And look what happens. Believers are reconciled to Him.
Face, in verse 4, and they shall see His face. They shall see
His face. Oh, my. Face to face with Christ
my Savior. Face to face. And not only that,
but they belong to Him. Look what it says. And His name
shall be in their foreheads. Somebody said to me, a Spurgeon
one time said, if you believe in God's only going to save his
elect once he's just preached to the elects, and I don't know
who they are, but if they all had their name Elect on their forehead,
I'd go hunt them out, and I'd preach to every one of them.
Because no man believed. But he said, I don't see no names
on their forehead. But God sees the names on their
forehead. He said they belong to Him, and
His names is on their forehead. It has nothing to do with the
understanding, see. It has something to do with your mind. He gets
your brain. He gets your mind. He gets your
understanding. He got you. And the Lord knows everything.
That's one of mine. And look what it says here. And
believers are taught by Him. And there shall be no need of
the sun or the night there. No candle. For the Lord God gives
them light. Oh, nobody has to teach them
anything. He'll teach them. He'll give them the light. And
then, beloved believers, we'll rule with Him, and look what
it says here, and they shall reign with Him forever and ever. We're going to rule with Him.
We're going to reign with Him forever and ever. You see, the
gospel is forever. It never changes. Our Lord Jesus
Christ stays forever. New life in our Lord Jesus Christ
is forever. Heaven is forever. But just as
all these things are forever and eternal, Hell also is forever
and eternal. Where we are having eternal life,
they'll have eternal darkness. Where we have eternal life, they'll
have eternal damnation. And that's why, beloved, our
Lord Jesus Christ said, Come unto me. Come unto me. Believe me. Repent. Turn to me. I'm the only one
who'll give you life. I'm the water of life. And let
me show you this in 1 Peter 2, 9 and 10, and I'm done. 1 Peter
2, 9 and 10, and I'm done. My goodness, I preached a long
time tonight. I hope you all was ready for it. Great stuff
tonight. Look what he says here about
it. 1 Peter 2, 9. 1 Peter 2, 9. But you are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, purchased
people, that you should show forth the praises of Him who
had called you out of darkness into His marvelous light, which
in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God,
which have not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy."
That's the folks. that's going to go when they
experience this wonderful place called glory. What a day, what
a day, what a day that'll be.