Brother Floyd has told his story,
lived his life, and there is not anything that
I could say that would change what is for him. Not one word. But I know he had a blessed hope.
I know he had a blessed hope. He's got books and paper upon
paper upon paper. He knew the gospel very well.
Let me say just a few things about him. Many, many preachers
have called me and written me and talked to me. They all said
one thing they're going to miss when they come is Floyd not being
able to help them preach. Because he'll certainly help
you preach. Paul Mahan, a dear friend of
ours, called him last week and talked to him. He told Paul over
the phone, he said, these last few days have been the happiest
days of my life. And the happiest days of his
life when he knew he was getting ready to go home. The doctors
asked if he wanted to do anything for you to help you live a little
longer. He says, no, why would I want to do that? He was really,
really ready and willing to go. Really enjoyed looking forward
to go. I'm going to say some things about him that you probably
don't know. First of all, he loved to talk.
Didn't you all know that? He loved to talk. And he'd preach
to you at the drop of a hat, and he'd drop the hat himself.
And I'm not trying to be funny, but that's really the way he
was. I mean, he was ready. And, oh, beloved, he was exceptionally,
exceptionally generous to me and my family. I couldn't tell
you the times he'd bring us a bunch of fish or a bunch of meat or
a bunch of stuff. He'd pick his stuff out of his
garden and even bring it to me. And him and Elmer have been exceptionally
generous to us, and I am so thankful that God has allowed me the privilege
of knowing them, because they have certainly, certainly been
a great, great blessing in my life. And I'll tell you something
else about Floyd. He loved the Lord Jesus Christ.
He did love the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, he loved Him. He loved
Him. And the Lord Jesus Christ loved
him. This is the thing and it never got over. That God loved
him with an everlasting love and with cords of loving kindness
drew him. Drew him to himself. Drew him
to his rib and side. And not only that, but he loved
the church. He loved the Lord's people wherever they were. He
traveled with me many, many times. When my father died, him and
Bruce Daly loaded up in their car and came up there to be with
me when my own father died. To be with me because he knew
I'd be alone. And he loved the church and he
loved God's people. Oh, how he loved them. And he
was faithful to his Master. Faithful to the Scriptures. Faithful
to the church. Faithful to me. So in my life,
and in his family's life, and in the church, there's going
to be a great, great void left. A great void left. There's going
to be a great void left. There really will. Now here I'm
going to bring a message, God willing. Say a few things here.
I know it's hot. They've got the air conditioning
going as hard as it will go. But it said in Job 5, verse 26
and 27, it says this, Thou shalt come to thy grave in the full
age, like as a shock of corn cometh in his season. Lo, this
we have searched, so it is. Hear it, and know thou it for
thy good. Eleanor told me that the last thing she said to her
was when he fell that Sunday morning. Turned him over and
he said, I'm dying. He said, I'm dying. And the Bible
is full of people dying. Full of death. Life is full of
death. But when a believer, when a believer, it's not really dying. It's passing from death to life.
It's leaving this veil of tears and going someplace where tears
exist no more. Freud is enjoying things and
doing things that you and I could not possibly ever enter into
at our best moment and most spiritual moment. And I tell you, all for
whom Christ died, every single soul for whom Christ died, they
passed from spiritual death to spiritual life in this world.
They passed from spiritual death, the death of their sins, Christ
calls them. The Holy Spirit applies that
redemption that Christ has shed blood of Christ to them. And
He calls them through the Gospel to Himself. And, beloved, He
brings them to life. And they hear the voice of God.
They hear the voice of Christ. They hear the voice of their
Master. He calls them His sheep. My sheep know my name. And, beloved,
when a saint dies in this world, in this world, he awakes in another
world. And Floyd told me this when he
wrote a letter, and the last line in that letter was, I'll
see you in the morning. And I thought about that and
thought about that. You know, when he went to glory, it was
morning for him. It was a brand new day. God said, behold, I make all things
new. All things new. He went to glory. And the morning started for him.
And when I go, I will see him in the morning because it will
be my first morning. And when you go, you'll see him
in the morning because that will be your first morning. So I'll
see him in the morning. Oh my. But beloved, it's like
Lazarus. When our Lord raised him from
the dead, he was called back into this world. When Christ
calls his people from this world, they go to a brand new world.
Brand new world. But let me show you a few things
here in these verses. In verse 26, it says, Thou shalt
come to thy grave in a full age. The death of a believer, the
home going of a believer is inevitable. It says, Thou shalt, shalt come
to thy grave, shalt come to thy grave. And because of sin, Because
of sin, death is passed upon all men. All men are going to
die. Every single soul in this building
tonight is going to die. You are going to die and you
are going to be just like this here. You are going to lay before
a group of people one of these days and somebody is going to
get up and say something over you. And then you're going to
have to be taken out and buried, whether you're a believer or
you're a non-believer. And it's sin, that's man's problem, it's
sin that causes death to come upon a man. And beloved, this
sin, Ford would tell you that he longed to be free from this
body, because he knew that sin was why he was going to sin is
why he's laying there tonight. The curse was put on us. When
Adam fell, we fell in him. When Adam sinned, we sinned.
When he died, we died. And the only way we can have
life is for Christ Himself to come and give us life. And beloved,
and the difference between believers and unbelievers is, is the believer
knows that Christ put away his sin. You know, Christ came as
the Lamb of God to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
And that was His hope. He says, Lord, I've heard him
say this many times, Lord, I come to you and offer the only sacrifice
that you'll accept. I'll come to you with the only
offering that you will accept. And that's with the offering,
the sacrifice, the blood, the righteousness of your Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the only offering
we've got. We knew that Christ put away our sin. I mean, when
Christ put away a man's sin, then, beloved, when he goes into
heaven and faces God, he has no sin. People say, well, you're
going to face the judgment. He faced the judgment in the
Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. If God punished Christ for his
sin or my sin, then, beloved, I'll have no sin and I have none
now because Christ done paid for it. Is that not right? It
can't be any other way. He surely wouldn't call for me
to pay for him after he's paid for it. He surely wouldn't call
me into account for my sins after Christ has given account for
my sins. And that's His blessed hope. Oh, bless the Lord, I tell you.
You think about this. That somebody put in the way
your sin. And if you face God without Christ,
you've got to face Him in your sins just the way you are. And
if Floyd was here, he'd tell you the same thing. But he'd
go like this with his fingers, and he'd start rolling his fingers
and going point at a time. And so I'm telling you, listen,
you must, must have somebody to deal with your sin because
you can't deal with it yourself. You don't want to face God in
your sin. You don't want to face God in your flesh. You don't
want to face God as you are without Christ. The reason Jesus Christ
came into this world was to put away sin by the sacrifice of
Himself. And if he put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself, and that's why God said, this is my beloved
son, hear him. Our Lord Jesus Christ says, come
unto me. Oh, I mean, we're going to come. And listen, I tell you, the death
of a believer, his home going is acceptable. Look what it says
here again. It says, thou shalt come to thy grave. And it says,
Thou shalt come, come to thy grave. You know what that means? You don't have to be drunk, screaming
and crying, I don't want to go. I don't know of one believer,
not one believer on this earth, not one, that don't want to go when the
Lord wants them to go. I ain't going to go, I don't want
to go. No, no, no, no. Ain't no place like home. And
everybody, when they get away from home for a while, they want
to go home. Well, every believer in this world, they want to go
home. But they don't want to go until
the Lord's time comes. But we want to go. And that's
why He says you'll come. We don't come unwillingly. And this reveals a willingness
for us to go. You know, the Apostle says to
be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. And
he says this earthly tabernacle, this tent, when it's dissolved,
we will dwell in a house eternal, made without hands, the eternal
in the heavens. And I tell you, beloved, I mean
this is as real as God Himself, that we go from this life, we
want to go home. No wonder we say we're strangers
and pilgrims in this world. We want to go home. Abraham spent his whole life
looking for a city whose builder and maker was God, who had the
foundation that God laid. Well, he found that city. He's
in that city. He's walking in that city. He's
enjoying that city. And guess who's the light of
that city? The Lord Jesus Christ is the Lamb. He's the light of
that city. And he's walking in the presence of his blessed Lord.
Rest just a minute. And he wanted to go. How many
times did he say, and have you ever heard him say, I wish the
Lord would just take and flip me off like flipping off a switch.
I wish he would turn me off just like turning off a fountain.
How many times did he say that in the last month? Well, Lord,
flip the switch. Oh my, but you know what he said
to the unbeliever? He said, this night, this night,
thy soul shall be required of thee. That means it will be demanded
of thee. There's going to come a time,
God says, I demand your soul. I demand that you leave this
world right now. But oh my, God's people's not that way. God's
dear saints are not that way. We aren't forced to leave this
earth. We're not forced to be with Christ. Oh no, we willingly,
gladly, joyfully look forward to the time that we go be with
Him. And as we came to Him in faith, We came to Him in faith. We'll go to Him in death. Gladly. Joyfully. Thankfully. And let
me show you something else about this. Not only is thou shelt,
but you're going to come. Come, thou good and blessed Servant.
Come, thou blessed Servant. Inherit the foundation prepared
for you, the kingdom prepared for you before the foundation
of the world. Come and enjoy your blessed Savior. And I'll
tell you something else. The home going of a believer
is timely. It says here, thou shalt come to thy grave in a
full age. A full age. What do you reckon
that means? That means you go just exactly when you're supposed
to go. You know, when you go in the
fullness of the Lord's time, in the full age. If the Lord
would have left him here until Friday, he would have been 79
years old. And that's something else. He'll never have another
birthday. Never had another birthday. He started life brand new that
morning. He knows nothing about time anymore. Knows nothing about
a birthday. But you know, we come in a full
age, in the fullness of the Lord's time. Our time on earth is determined. Every single one of us in this
building tonight, believer or unbeliever, every single one
of us, our times are appointed by the Lord. where every one
of us got this appointment. And I'll show you that over,
and you don't have to look. Well, I know you ain't got your
Bibles with you, but it says... I'm used to telling, you know,
everybody at home, they bring their Bibles and we go through
the Bible, you know, and they don't take it for granted. I'm
going to tell them, I say, turn with me. But in it, God said
this. He said, seeing his days are
determined, the number of his months are with thee. Thou hast
appointed his bounds that he cannot pass. Do you know why he went the morning
he did? That was the time before we were determined. God had his
bounds set. God had my bounds set. And I
don't care how many doctors you go see. I don't care how many
surgeries I have. I don't care how much goes on
in this world. You're going to leave at your
appointed time. Ain't that right? And I'm grateful
for that. I'm not left in the hands of
fate. I'm left in the hands of God
just like He is. And I tell you, no believer dies
before or beyond the Lord's age. And regardless of it, the length
of it, it's a full age. I remember a dear preacher friend
of mine. His son got killed in Vietnam. He was over there ten
days and he got killed. They brought him home, his oldest
son. Somebody said, it's a shame that he died so you know, he
didn't get to live a full life. And that preacher said, he lived
every day that God gave him. Every minute that God gave him,
he had the life that God gave him. Whether it's 19, 9 or 90,
or 9 days or 9 hours, our times are appointed. Our times are
appointed. And ain't you grateful that's
right? I'm ready to keep that appointment, ain't you? You have
an appointment here and you have to wait and wait and wait and
wait. We'll all wait on this. Oh, we come at a full age. A
full age. And oh, let me tell you this.
I know it's hot and I'll try to hurry a little here. But a
believer's home going is with victory and fullness of redemption. It's said over here, he said
this, He said, Thou shalt come to thy
grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in its
season. Like a shock of corn in its season. You know, and that's the way
we are. We have to get ripe. God has us ripe. But you know,
if corn's harvested before it's ripe, it wouldn't be fit for
use. Get it before it's time, it's
just a little blister, you can't eat it. It ain't no good. If
it's left in the field too long, it'll come to nothing. But here's
the difference. Our salvation in Christ is complete. Perfect. Complete. We don't get
harvested too soon. We're not left in the world too
soon. Or too long. I mean, beloved, our salvation
is complete in Christ. He hath made us sufficient. He
hath made us able. He hath made us worthy to be
with Him in glory. He said He would present us holy
and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight. And I tell you,
beloved, and that's what he said, like a shock in his full age.
You're going to come. And you know, he said, I'll harvest
you. He'll bring us into his garner.
And when the Lord's purpose, and He has a purpose. God does
everything on purpose. No accidents. God's a God of
purpose. There's not a thing in this world
that doesn't happen on purpose. And when the Lord's purpose on
this earth and in this church, It's served. And it's over and
done with. When that believer is like that
shock of corn, ready to be taken in, taken from the field, and
taken and put on the table, our Lord comes and gets His people,
takes them, and sets them at the table at the marriage feast
of the Lamb. Huh? Oh, my. Going to come and
set at the feet of the Master. Go from this field, this old
field of labor and toil, this field of sorrow and heartache,
this field of trouble, sickness and pain and fear and anxiety. Oh my, to be taken from it. Taken
from it. And then last of all, the home
going of a believer is for his good. Eliaphaz is the one who
is talking here and he says this, Lo this, we have searched it. We have searched it. We've studied
it. We've studied these things. And they're true. They're true.
And then He exhorts us to hear it. Hear it and know that it's
for your good. For your good. You know, people
quote Romans 8.28 all the time. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, who are the called
according to His purpose. And beloved, that not only means
in this world, and everything does. Everything goes for our
good. It may not appear at the time,
but it is. But that means from the day you're
brought into this world till you leave this world, everything
that God orders for you in this world is good. It's good. It's good. It was good when the
Lord Jesus Christ come to the womb of a virgin. It was good
when the Lord Jesus Christ assumed human nature. It was good when
our Lord Jesus Christ lived our life that we couldn't live. It
was good when the Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross. It
was good when the Lord Jesus Christ, when they came to take
Him out of the garden, He said, if you want Me, leave these alone.
Take Me. You can't have Me and My people
at the same time. And it's good when our Lord Jesus
Christ, when the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all. It
was good when the Lord Jesus Christ was wounded for our transgressions. It was good when the Lord Jesus
Christ was numbered with the transgressions. It was good when
the Lord Jesus Christ cried out, It's finished! It's good. Salvation was done. Complete. Perfect. For who? His people, everyone
who will believe Him, and trust Him, and look to Him, and never
trust themselves ever again. Never trust themselves ever again. And I tell you, if you trust
yourself, that means you ain't trusting Christ. If you're trusting
Christ, you can't trust yourself before the Lord. Is that not
right? And it was good. It was good. It was good. when the Lord Jesus Christ taught
His path. It was a good thing that the
Lord Jesus called him by His grace and revealed Christ to
him. It was good when the Lord Jesus
Christ tried him. It was good when the doctors
told him that he had that cancer, rare, rare form of cancer, in
a rare, rare place. He said, I've received good at
the hand of the Lord. Shall I not also receive evil? Not many people like that. Could
you say that? Bless the Lord. Oh, my soul. And he'd say that a half a dozen
times in a service. And I guess if you've been in
his home, you've heard him say it many times. We'll see you,
old friend. See you in the morning. See you
in the morning. Some of you see Him in the morning.
Some of you won't unless God does something in your heart.
Some of you will never see Him again if God don't do something
for you. I'm not talking about what you do for God. I'm talking
about God doing it for you. God doing it for you. Our Father, in the blessed, glorious
name of Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, Thank you. Bless you. Praise you. Blessed
be your glorious, holy, strong, righteous name. Thank you for
this man. This man that's already in glory
and enjoying your presence for these many days. I thank you
for the life. Thank you for the friendship,
the fellowship, the tears, the joy, the hurt, the pain that
we all endured together. Thank you for the love you put
in his heart for your people and for you. And I thank you,
Lord, that you ended his suffering in this world, and he'll never,
ever know what it is to suffer again. Never shed another tear.
Never, ever gasp for another breath. Never, ever stumble or fall or
sin or dishonor you. ever again. Oh, Lord, bless your
holy name. Father, thank you for this family.
Oh, what a blessing, what a blessing, what a blessing. Thank you for
every single one of them. For the children, the grandchildren,
Eleanor, the girls, the sons, Darren, Gordon, Paul, Steve,
Kim. Oh, Lord, we thank you for them.
Thank you for his many friends that come out here to pay respects.
All those that knew him, loved him, labored with him, hunted
with him, fished with him, talked with him, visited with him. Thank
you for every kindness that was shown to him by those that loved
him. For all the meals they took,
for all the prayers they offered, for all the tears they shed,
for all the condolences and sympathies they gave. We thank you for every
one of them. God, you get the glory, you get
the honor, not under us, but under thee. In Christ's name
we bless you. Amen. Amen.