And we'll begin our reading at the verse 10 of this chapter. Revelation chapter 21 and the verse 10. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. having the glory of God, and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal, and had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel, On the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. And the city lieth four square, and the length is as large as the breadth. And he measured the city with a reed 12,000 furlongs, the length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. And he measured the wall thereof 140 and four cubits, according to the measure of a man that is of the angel. And the building of the wall of it was of jasper, and the city was pure gold like on to clear glass. And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper. The second, sapphire. The third, a chelosulae. A fourth, an emerald. A fifth, sardonyx. The sixth, sardis. The seventh, chrysolite. The eighth, beryl. The ninth, topaz. The 10th, a chrysophorus. The 11th, adjacent. The 12th, anamethyst. And the 12 gates were 12 perils. Every several gates was of one pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. 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. The gates of it shall not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there. They shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. There shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth. 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 off the Lamb. And 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 fruits, and yielded her fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 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, and His name shall be in their foreheads. 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. Amen, and may God bless to our hearts the reading of this tremendous portion of God's Word even this evening. Let's unite briefly, please, in a word of prayer before the Word of God now is preached. Our loving Father, in the Savior's all-blessed and precious name, we come to your God this evening with ever-grateful hearts. for the day and hour that thou didst save a sinner, a wretch, a rebel like me. And now, O God, giving the task of preaching the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ to this community, we pray, Lord, that thou wilt take the word tonight and apply it so effectively by the Holy Ghost to the souls of men and women there might be a fleeing on to Christ, a readiness to give up sin, and Lord, that willingness to embrace Jesus Christ as he is offered to all in the gospel. So come, fill me now with thy Holy Spirit, and give us power, and may, O God, we have unction, that we may properly function before this people in the preaching of the word, None be seen, but Christ alone. May the Lamb, who is upon the throne, receive the reward of his suffering. We offer prayer in and through the Savior's precious and worthy name. Amen and amen. As I've said to you before, when preachers come to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, they employ a number of methods to convince sinners to leave their sin once and for all, and to receive Jesus Christ as their own and their personal Savior. In crudest terms, they use a combination of both the carrot and stick methods. The carrot and stick approach refers to the cart driver who would have dangled a carrot in front of a mule while at the same time held a stick behind it. The mule would have moved forwards towards the carrot, wanting the reward of the food, whilst at the same time moved from the stick that was behind, since it did not wish to have the punishment of pain. Now where the stick has filled with some in the gospel, thank God the carrot has done its work. In other words, that which comes to the sinner, that entices the sinner onto Christ, that makes Christ such an attractive proposition, that the sinner willfully and gladly leaves their sin once and for all. The carrot has done its work. down through the ages of church history. Well, tonight is what I would term one of the carrot messages. And what is the carrot that I want to use tonight that I trust will cause you to become a follower and a disciple of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? Well, it's heaven. Heaven itself. The eternal dwelling place of the one who trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ. Tonight I want us to consider the saints' first moments in eternity. The saints' first moments in eternity. And I want to frame that message around the five senses that God has given to us in these bodies of ours. The sense of sight, the sense of hearing, the sense of smell, the sense of touch, and the sense of taste. I want to convey to you some of the things that will excite those five senses when the believer first and finds themselves standing in heaven itself. What I simply want to do in this message is to set before you the sights and the sounds of heaven in the hope that it will persuade you to repent of your sin and come to faith in Jesus Christ to make sure that in heaven there is a place reserved for you. In the first place then I want us to consider together what will appeal to the sense of sight when the saint first enters God's great eternity. I believe that with all the senses that we will consider tonight, that without the process of glorification taking place, there would be turned what we would term a sensory overload when the believer enters heaven. Sensory overload occurs when one or more of the body's senses experiences an overstimulation from the environment in which that person is to be found. And without being glorified, without being changed, these bodies of ours, these mortal finite bodies of ours being changed, there will be and there would be a sensory overload whenever the believer would enter heaven in an unglorified state. Their brain Their imagination, not only their brain and imagination, but their heart would not be able to sort through or to process all that will come through the sensory organ of the eye when they first enter heaven itself. So what then? What then will take up the vision of the one who comes to take up residency in the Father's house? Well, in the first place, the Christian will behold heaven's city. They'll behold heaven's city. Now, we're not left to wild speculation as to what the holy city, the New Jerusalem, is going to be like. Because in the passage of Scripture that I've read this evening, Revelation chapter 21, the verses 16 through to 21, informs us of certain things concerning heaven. It speaks to us of its dimensions, a city that lieth four square. It speaks of its walls, its walls are made of jasper. It speaks of its foundations, gates that are made of pearl and the composition of its very streets. And I want you to think about the array of colors, the array of colors that are emitted from the gemstones mentioned here in Revelation in the chapter number one. Jasper is brown, yellow, or reddish in color. Sapphires can be blue, pink, yellow, green, orange, purple, colorless, even black in color. Chalcedony can be white, blue, red, green, yellow, orange, brown, pink, purple, even multicolored. Emerald, we all know. This nation is known as the Emerald Isle, that color being green. We think of sardonyx. that reddish brown mineral in color. Sardis, that mineral that is red in color. Crystallite, white in color. Beryl can be green, blue, pink, yellow in color. Topaz, golden brown or yellow in color. Chrysophorus is apple green in color. Jason's is orange red in color. Amethyst is reddish purple in color. You think of that. You think about going into such a place. and the lights reflecting off the very foundation stones of heaven. I tell you, it would be sensory overload for the unglorified body of the saint of God. But we'll be changed, we'll have a new body, like onto Christ's glorious body. And there our vision will be taken up with all of these colors, the full spectrum of the color spectrum there before us, even in these foundation stones. And then on top of that, you have golden streets. Streets paved with gold. You think of the glistening of that gold there in heaven itself. The light that will be emitted from it, the reflection that will come from that city of pure delight. And then added to those colors we have the emerald green that is going to be emitted from the rainbow that circles the throne of God. Let me read what Revelation 4 and the verse 3 tells us. And there was a rainbow round about the throne in sight like unto an emerald. Many vibrant colors will bombard and flood into the eyes of the glorified saint. And then as you make your way to the throne of God, having passed through the gates of pearl, other wondrous sights are going to be beheld. Other things are going to take up the vision of the child of God. I think of the many mansions. that there are in glory itself Christ said I go to prepare a place for you in my father's house are many mansions if it were not so I would have told you think of all the mansions that our eyes are going to behold when we enter the glory And then think of the river of life that flows through the very midst of heaven. It's called the river of life. It's said that it is clear as crystal, and it finds its fountainhead, its source, in the very throne of God, running through the city itself. And then straddling the banks of that river, there is the tree of life. This tree bears 12 fruits, a fruit for every month of the year. The leaves of that tree are for the healing of the nations. And then I want you to think of the eternal day, the eternal day that pervades heaven. This will cause wonderment to think that the sun will never set. that the encroachment of night will never come, that darkness will never evade the eternal day, a day that will never end, a day which never will have an encroaching night to disrupt the eternal blessedness in which the believer has entered. These are but only some of the sights of the return to heaven city that will enthrall the vision of the saints of God who have come to live in heaven, to see all of these things. Oh, what must it be to be there, to be in heaven, to behold the very city of God? But something else, the Christian will behold heaven's residents. And who are the residents that make up heaven's society? From scripture I read and I know that the holy angels are found in heaven. Hebrews 12 in the verse 22, but ye are come on to Mount Zion and on to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels. Ah, the angels are there, those six-winged seraphim, Those angels of which we read up there in Isaiah chapter 6, who fly around the throne with wings, two wings flying, two wings covering their face, two wings covering their feet. The six winged seraphim are in heaven. I and the cherubim are in heaven. These are a different class of angels. The cherubim that was placed at the Garden of Eden, the cherubim that, as it were, were pictured in the Ark of the Covenant, the cherubim are in heaven. Yes, and Gabriel is in heaven, and the archangel Michael is in heaven. All the angels are in heaven, and we're going to see them. We're going to behold them. And then we're going to behold something else. We're going to behold the saints of God. those who have been glorified. Those who have come out of great tribulation and have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, we're going to behold the saints of God. Those from every generation who have looked to Christ and His finished work on the cross as payment for their sin have taken up residency in this place that the Bible calls heaven. The extensive society of heaven will be composed of the redeemed of God. Just think of some of the people who are there tonight. Ex-prostitute Rahab is there, for she trusted in Christ. Ex-swindler Zacchaeus is there, for he trusted in Christ. ex-persecutor of the church soul of Tarsus is there because he trusted in Christ. Ex-adulterer David is there because he trusted in Christ. And those who in their past were fornicators and idolaters, and adulterers, and effeminate, and abusers of themselves with mankind, and thieves, and covetous, and drunkards, and revilers, and extortioners have come to be there because they have washed, they've been washed from their sins, and they've been justified by the Spirit, and glory to God, I'll be there! I'll be there! I'll be there! and Luther will be there, and Calvin will be there. Yes, many of the saints dying through the ages, but the greatest wonder will be that I'll be there. I'll be there. But will you be there? Now there's a question. Will you be there? Will you be in heaven? Will you join the ranks of the redeemed? Is your name in the Lamb's book of life? That register that carries the names of all those who have placed their faith and trust in Christ, the Lamb of God, to be their Savior. Is your name in the book of life? Now let me say that your mother is going to be there. Your mother is going to be in heaven. And let me say that for some of you, your father's already there. and your sister and your brother, they have made sure of their place in heaven itself, but are you going to be there? What about you? Have you any hope of heaven? Have you any hope of being in the land that is fairer than day? Something else the Christian will behold, They will behold heaven's sovereign. Heaven's sovereign. Speaking of heaven, John says in Revelation 22 verse 3 and 4, 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, underline these words in your mind, and they shall see his face, and his name shall be in their foreheads. they shall see His face. Face to face with Christ my Savior. Face to face what will it be when with rapture I behold Him, Jesus Christ who died for me. What a sight that will be! face of their Savior. Oh, it is a face of majesty. Of course it is. He is the sovereign. He is the king of kings. And yet it is a face that emanates love. There's no face like it on earth. And there's no face like it in heaven, I say. There's no face like it in the entire vast universe for God. It is a face so bright. It is a face so lovely. It is a face so perfect. It is a face so glorious. It is a face so divine. I tell you, whenever we see His face, we'll not be caring about the streets of gold. and will not be worried about the walls of Jasper, and will not be transfixed on the gates of Pearl, or upon any other sight, but rather our sight and our vision will be taken up with the King, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, because our eyes shall see the King in all of his beauty." Fanny Crosby was a blind hymn writer. And she was right whenever she penned the words, oh, the soul-thrilling rapture when I view his blessed face and the luster of his kindly beaming eye, how my full heart will praise him for his mercy, love, and grace that prepared for me a mansion in the sky. Let me ask you, is there any longing in that soul of yours To see Christ? To see Him? To be face to face with Christ? Does that thought thrill you? Does that thought captivate you? Is it the case that there is an inner excitement with regard to the thought that someday I'm going to behold my then I would question the validity of your profession of faith. It is being face to face with Christ. It is being with Christ. It is beholding Christ that makes the believer long for heaven and long for home. It is sight of the glorified Savior that will make heaven the heaven it is for the believer to see him. To see Him, He who loved me. He who endured the sufferings of the cross. He who laid down His life as a ransom for many. He who endured the bellows of God's wrath. I'm going to see Him, see Him one day, and my vision will be taken up with my Savior. But I long to see my Savior first of all. Let me proceed quickly to the second sense that will be in the believers' first moment in heaven. We're thinking about the believer who dies in Christ. And the moment that they close their eyes in death, they open them in eternity. We've thought about the vision that they will see. Now let's think about what they'll hear. What will they hear? The moment that they leave this world and they enter into heaven itself, is there any indication in the Word of God as to what sounds we will hear when we come to spend time in eternity? Well, can I say, first of all, the residents of heaven will come to hear the homage of heaven's angels, the beasts and the elders that are round about the throne. Revelation 5, 11 and 12, and I beheld I saw it first of all, and then I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the priests and the elders, and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand. of thousands saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. The refrain from the lips of the holy angels, the beasts and the elders around the throne, they center upon the worth of the slain lamb, the slain lamb. multitude before the throne of God they give glory to the great Redeemer as they contemplate the mysterious nature of his sufferings on the cross this is why they sing worthy is the lamb that was slain something else that they'll hear they'll hear the adoration of every creature because it goes on to say in Revelation 5 verse 13 and every creature which is in heaven on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are are there in them heard I saying blessing and honor and beyond for all creative things living night in that course to render honor and adoration to him who sits upon the throne and on to the land. And I tell you if we did not have our ears glorified, if we were not in possession of a glorified body and brought to a state even within the soul of that glorified state, I say our hearing and our eardrums would burst They would burst with the very chorus that is heard in the glory. But there's something else that we'll hear. We'll hear, and not only will we hear, but all those who die in Christ, they will hear and they will sing the song of the redeemed. What is that song? Revelation 14 verse 2 and 3 it says, And I heard a voice from heaven as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of great thunder, and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps, And they sung, as it were, a new song before the throne and before the four beasts and the elders, and no man could learn that song, but the 140 and 4,000 which were redeemed, redeemed, rescued, delivered, saved from the earth. This is the song of the redeemed. Mark, there is no jarring, notes there no discord within the harmony just one glorious melodious song sung by those who have been redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ this new song is elsewhere termed within the book of the revelation as the song of Moses and off the lamb and we catch but a few streams a few bars of that song of music in revelation 15 in the verse 3 Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are thy ways, thou King of kings! We'll hear the song of the redeemed, but in the fourth and final place we'll behold, sorry, we'll hear the sound of God's voice. John describes the voice of God in this way, Revelation 1 in the verse 15, and his voice is the sound of many waters. There is majesty in that voice. There is power in that voice. There is authority in that voice. It's no wonder that whenever John heard the voice that he falls down at the feet of the one from whom that voice has proceeded from just as a dead man would fall. The cascading boom of the Niagara Falls and the roar of the Atlantic waves will be but whispers compared to the voice of God. It will inspire awe and reverence and worship for all who hear it in glory, the voice of God, to hear His voice. These are but some of the sounds that will enter the ear of the saint as they enter in to heaven. Let me ask you, will you hear these things? Or will the sound of hell ring in your ears, where there's weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth? Will it be those sounds that you'll hear, from which there will be no rest? no repose, no respite, no end to those signs, those signs of torment, those signs of punishment. Will it be those signs you hear? What about the sense of smell? We're at the third of the five. Quickly, heaven will be a fragrant place Now as to the presence of flowers or plants in heaven apart from the tree of life, I cannot be sure because the word of God is silent on such details and so I'm not going to go beyond the revelation of scripture. But I do read that Jesus Christ said to the dying thief that he would be with him in paradise. And that word paradise means an enclosed garden. And so you can take from that which you wish to take. Now I know that the rose of Sharon is there, and I know that the lily of the valley is there. These are titles of Christ. But there is a distinct aroma that permeates through heaven at this particular time, a fragrance, an aroma. What is it? Well in Revelation 8 verse 3 and 4 we read, having a golden censer, and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar, which is before the throne. And the smoke off the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. The sweet-smelling incense, that, as it were, holy compound, that the perfumer would have mingled together there for the old temple. There now seems to be an indication that there is incense in heaven whereby, as it is added to the prayers of the saints, that aroma goes up before God as a sweet-smelling savor. And can I say to you, could it be that that aroma, that perfume, that fragrance is that which perfumes the streets and the avenues and the atmosphere of heaven. It's added with the prayers of the saints. What a beautiful place it must be. And among those prayers, think of this sinner, among those prayers that are ascending before God with this sweet incense are prayers for you, prayers for your salvation, prayers for your conversion. prayers from a godly mother, prayers from a Christian father, prayers from a faithful minister, prayers for your salvation, your deliverance from sin, your conversion, oh that those prayers would be answered tonight. Because then if it is, heaven's residents are going to hear something else. They're going to break out into joy over one sinner that repenteth. Heaven tonight will have a new sound when the news reaches the glory that another of the redeemed of God have trusted in Christ. What about the sense of taste? Well, twice in Revelation chapter 2, we're told that those who come to be in heaven eat certain things. Verse 7, Revelation 2, we are told that the one who overcometh will God give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. That tree, as I've said, bears twelve manners of fruits and yields her fruit every month according to Revelation 2, verse 22. So whatever fruit of the tree of life is produced, the one who overcomes has the God-given right to partake of the fruit. Revelation 22, 14. Blessed are they that do His commandments to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates of the city. Verse 17 of Revelation 2, we're told that the one who overcometh, God will give to eat of the hidden manna. This hidden manna, in conjunction with the tree of life, is the special food of the redeemed, the eternal nourishment of the new and glorified life, both in body and soul. And then, what do we read in the book of Revelation again? Revelation 19, in the verse number 9, we read about the marriage supper of the Lamb. The marriage supper of the Lamb. Will literal food be served at that supper? I cannot say, but whatever we feast upon, the body will be sustained. The body will be sustained in heaven. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. But this I know, having tasted of the Lord and find that he is good, we will continually feast upon him in heaven. and will hunger and will thirst no more. In the fifth and final sense, we want to consider the sense of touch. Have you ever thought about what you're going to touch in heaven? Because it's a real place. It's more real than earth. Heaven is a real place. And you're going to touch things in heaven, literal things. And I say in the first place that the feet of the redeemed are going to touch the streets of gold. Revelation 21 verse 21 tells us that the streets of the city were pure gold as it were transparent glass. Being received into glory, the weary pilgrim's feet will come to stand on streets of gold. These size nine feet, that I hide behind shoes and I hide under a pair of socks are going to stand on streets of gold. What a marvel. What a mercy. Can you say with any degree of certainty, any degree of confidence what David said in Psalm 122 verse number 2? Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. Will your feet stand on the streets of gold? And our hands are going to touch something. I don't know whether we'll have a harp. There is the mention of harps here. I don't know who's playing the harps. I'm not going to go into conjecture with respect to that, but there's something that we're all going to hold when we get to heaven. And do you know what it is? It's called a palm. It's called the palm. Let me read Revelation 7 verse 9. And after this I beheld and know a great multitude which no man could number of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues stood before the throne and before the lamb. Their hands. The palm of victory. The palm that we have overcome. We're here, we're before the throne, the palm of gladness and joy and jubilation, the palm of victory, indicating that the Christian's days of mourning are over. Hallelujah! And our everlasting days of joy have just begun and will never end. We'll wave the palm of victory. The senses of sight, hear, smell will all be arrested. But the question is, how can I be sure of getting there? Preacher, you've went at my appetite. I want to see these things. I want to hear these things. I want to smell these things. I want to touch these things. I want to taste these things. I said, how do I get to heaven? by faith in Jesus Christ. I believe the book of Revelation answers this question for us. In Revelation 7 verse 13, one of the elders answered saying, And he said unto me, these are they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white. They've been to the cross, cleansed, they've repented of sin, they've embraced Jesus Christ, they're receiving interest now in the perfect love of Christ, they have been born. faith in the personal work of Jesus Christ. We have no right to enter heaven without the new birth. We are not fit for heaven because only those who are born for heaven are bound for heaven. Born from heaven are bound for heaven. Well, you can only be bound for heaven if you've experienced the new birth. You've been born of God and born of His Spirit. Oh, join us in heaven. Join us in the glory. Be saved this very night. We're going home to glory soon. to walk the golden streets of heaven and bathe in God's own light. But some of you are out of Christ and held by many a snare. We cannot leave by Christ. Come by the way of the cross. Come and make sure of heaven. draw you to Christ and may you be brought to faith in the only Redeemer of sinful men. Let's pray in prayer, loving Father. We commit, O God, and we pray for those who are concerned that they will remain to faith in Christ. May the love of God, the fellowship of God the Holy Spirit, and the blessing of the Son remain until the day all shadows will flee away.