“ The Departure W h ich is Far, Far Better Sermon preached by Rev. T. C. Horton at the funeral service of GEORGE F. GUY Vice-President of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles
Talk about books. There is no book in the world like this Book. Can you imagine that picture? Some good glad day it will come true,—that shout from heaven, the shout of Christ, the shout of the God man, the shout of Him who is waiting to have His own with Him, that the church might be complete, gathered together with Him up there. The “Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout,” and at that trumpet sound of God our dear brother will have his resurrection body. Our loved ones that have gone on before wiil have their resurrection bodies and we who are alive and remain will be immediately changed into His likeness and be caught up together with Him. Can you think of a picture comparable to that? Visualize itl All that have died in Christ and those of His people that remain here on earth, in a moment, in the.twinkling of an eye, changed into the likeness of His glorified body. Wouldn’t you like to see it come? For fifty years it has been my privilege to pray every day, “Lord Jesus, come quickly 1” I want to see Him. I want to see Him because I love Him. If I had a thou sand lives I would give Him every one of them. I would give them to Him who saved me, a poor sinner. .He saved me and imparted to me His own life by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. I am bound to Him with a tie that no power on earth, or heaven or hell, can ever break, and I am looking forward,-and I hope you are looking forward as our loved dnes are looking forward yonder, to the day of all days. Maybe it will be today, tonight, tomorrow; but whatever the hour, it is the one great joy that fills our hearts. The beloved wife, the children, his loved ones, his friends, those that know the.Lord, are united with him in the consciousness that the best is before us. Then, is it strange that to some o f us comes this longing in our souls, as it did to Paul the Apostle, this desire to depart and be with Christ? Oh, it is far, far better than anything there is down here, and there is a little tug at these hearts of ours. It is the drawing of love from our hearts to the great heart of the Christ of God, whose love has been shed abroad in the hearts and lives of people and in whose hearts there is a great longing for the time when you and I shall be with Him. What comfort for these dear onesl What comfort to all of us, his friends! Though we are conscious that he is gone and that we shall miss his face, his voice, his touch, we can keep in touch with him for he is in touch with Christ and the gates are open and heaven is real, far more real than earth. Heaven is real 1 You can get your own vision of it. Christ is there in His glorified body,—marks upon His hands and marks upon His feet, and the wounds in His forehead and in His side. The Man Christ Jesus, the Man in the glory is the Man that is waiting for the day when we will be with Him and be like Him. . If we are Christians we rejoice in. what Christ has accomplished, and there should come into our hearts a longing that many other men might be raised up to .be God’s men, for He needs them. Do you know that God cannot get men? There are a good many men here today, and I want to say to you that God is unable to get men. Did you ever think of that? He cannot get them. If He could get a thousand, if He could get ten thousand in Los Angeles today, He would take them all and use them as He did this dear man, but He cannot get them. Why can’t He get them? Why is it that the compassion and love and sac rifice of Christ has so little appeal to the heart of people? He want, them. I pray that He will get some here today who have been drawn close to His great heart, and that both men and women will' say, “Lord, from today I will yield my all to you and lay myself at your feet and kiss your feet, and from henceforth I want to be your real ser vant” If this is the-case, God will be glorified, and the heart of the dear man who has gone yonder will rejoice through all eternity. Amen!'
HAVE lost a friend. I say I hire lost him,—he J l is no longer on this earth. I loved him. He was a business man,—a business man that: was a real Chris es tian man with a real heart for men. I shall miss him. Many will miss him. It is a part ofj the provi dence of God, and we recognize all that He does as being for the best So often it has been the case that in the departure of some one of God’s dear ones, He has used it to bring to the hearts of some people a lesson out of which would come great things for God and for others. I knew Mr. Guy for a good many years and loved him. It was always a comfort to be in his presence and to clasp his hand. It was always a comfort and a joy to have the consciousness of his love and his prayers, and of this we have been deprived by the wisdom of God. The world needs men of his kind and the church needs them, and perhaps out of all of our hearts today there may come, in the consciousness that God has taken him to be with Himself, a real prayer that God will raise up others like him. .. . , , There is always a little cloud over the departure ot a loved one, but‘ beyond the cloud there is always, the con sciousness of the Light that shines down and dispels .the cloud. Would he want to come back? Oh nol Is it a holy desire to want to be where he is ? Oh yes 1 Paul says, “ I have a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.” , . Pity the men and women that have never had a desire like that! Pity theml Pity them that they have had no desire to be with our Lord, the crucified, risen One. Pity them that have never had the heart, pull from yonder, where He is, to be with Him and be like Him. Paul had it He knew what he was talking about when he said, “For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far, far better. Better than what? Better than anything that this poor world can ever give,—far, far better 1 We fix our eye* upon Him today, if we have accepted the Lord and Master as our Saviour, and there is a kind of a pull upon these hearts of ours that we might be with Him (for we are to be like Him and we are to be with Him), and when this change takes place and we are there with Him, the desire i of our hearts is fulfilled. T . What gives this draw and pull upon our hearts? it is Christ. It is the conscious knowledge of Christ; He is our ideal; He is our Lord; He is our Master; He is our sac rifice who poured out every drop of blood in our behalt that our sin might be put away and that we might be born anew into His likeness,—this wonderful God man, different from all others that ever lived, who'came down out of heaven to mingle with men that He might manifest Him self to them and take upon Himself the burdens and cares and sorrows and sins and woo to Himself men to be with Him and be like Him. , . . . . T Oh, yes, to depart and be with Christ is far better I . 1 am saying that for the comfort of all of us who are mis sing this friend,—for the dear ones in the home,—it is far, far better to be with Christ, and I say to you frankly, never in circumstances like these—and I have been in them n?apy hundreds of times—has there ever been a time but what there has been a little pull upon my heart to be with our brother who has gone. Oh, the revelation that has cotne to him there, and he is there with so many loved ones; he is there with so many of the saints. He is there looking for ward to the day of all days when the Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout. Did you ever read that? Did you ever meditate upon it? "The.Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, ’and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall nse first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the^Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”
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