Sermon Cloud

I grew up in Baytown, Texas.  If you ever saw the John Wayne movie entitled “Hellfighters”, you will remember scenes of men fighting oil well fires.  Much of that movie was filmed in Baytown because of the abundance of oil well derricks along the shores of Trinity Bay and the Houston ship channel.  The very first scene in the movie depicted one of the Baytown derricks on fire.  And who better to call in an emergency than John Wayne, right?   

Along the shores of Trinity Bay, close to where I lived, there were hundreds of these derricks, marking what had once been one of the richest oil fields in the world.  They were as tall as a water tower.  So naturally, my friends and I one day decided to scale one of them by means of the metal ladder that accessed the top of the structure – and for no other reason than to be able to brag to our friends that we had done it. 

So up we went, each taking our turn.  Hand over hand, I remember holding on for dear life to the metal rungs as I made my way to the top.  The higher I went, the more I could see, and the more I could see, the more I remembered how far up I was and how far down the ground was.  So I reached the top and quickly began the journey back down.  My hands were getting tired now.  But going down is much easier than going up.  And the lower I went down the ladder, the safer I began to feel.  Forty feet.  Thirty feet.  Twenty feet. Ten. Five.

And then, I felt my right foot and then my left foot touch terra firma.  And I found out that standing on solid ground can actually feel good!  I felt free from the rungs my hands let go.  I could breathe more easily and the palms of my hands were no longer sweating.  (Ladder rungs and sweaty hands are a bad combination.)

I would not have known how good solid ground can feel under my feet if I had not gone up the ladder.  Insecurity makes security seem so much sweeter.  And the feeling of solid earth under my feet prevented me from ever wanting to go up another oil derrick.   I decided I like life much better at ground level.   I can honestly tell you that I have no plans to climb another one. 

Security is a basic need everyone has.  And nothing robs life of its joy and wonder like insecurity with God.  Adam and Eve disobeyed God so they hid from Him in insecurity and fear.  For the very first time, they dreaded the approach of God in the garden.  They knew they had done wrong.  And as He came looking for them, He called out, “Where are you?”  

But He knew where they were.  And I believe His heart was broken.  But He had a plan in mind. 

Last Sunday’s message dealt with what is often called “eternal security.”  I’d prefer we call it “eternal grace.”  It is “grace that is greater than all our sins” as the hymn says.  It is grace that never lets go even if we are afraid we might.   It is grace that does not require our hanging on to the rungs with sweaty palms as we ascend toward heaven.  It is grace that doesn’t require climbing a ladder at all – only a cross.  On that cross, the Son of God gave His life for us.  And at the foot of that cross is the solid ground of eternal grace on which to stand.

 And because of that cross, we are changed, transformed, born again, never to turn back.  How sweet is the security we have in Jesus when we think back on how insecure life was without Him.    How wonderful it is to know that our security is neither temporary nor conditional.  We belong to Him for all eternity.  We are forever changed and we are forever saved!  

Jude says it well:

4       ?Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to ??make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with ??great joy,  to the ??only ??God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, ?be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, ??before all time and now and ??forever. Amen.   Jude 24-25

I can’t wait to see what is on the next page!  

Oh, by the way, John Wayne got the fire out and saved the day.  We’d expect nothing less from him.

Gary