This message is the second of a three part series on Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. The "SLIDES" below are power point slides used during the message. The picture slides were copied from web sites or scanned from an illustrated book on the Chronicles of Narnia.
WHAT IF THERE WERE NO CHRISTMAS?
Choices in the Wardrobe
Genesis 3:1-7
Introduction:
It is the Christmas season and many of us will be traveling. I am reminded of a story of a couple that traveled to Disneyland during the holidays. The husband needed to use the restroom, so he left his wife to go to the bathroom. Wife decided she needed to go to bathroom, so she walked into women’s restroom, looked under the stall doors to find an opening, and noticed some familiar shoes in the first stall. It was her husband.
Sometimes it’s funny when you make a mistake. Other times it’s tragic.
This last week an airplane at Midway airport in Chicago slide off the runway, hit a car, and killed a six year old boy. This tragic mistake had a terrible result
Today we come to the place in our story where Edmund makes a tragic mistake, a mistake that ends in death.
Last week I told you about the Land of Narnia. This is an alternate reality that four children in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe entered through the wardrobe. This wardrobe was a piece of furniture that was used to hand fur coats in the spare room of the Professor’s house where they were staying. The youngest sibling Lucy discovered Narnia by herself one day during a game of hide and seek. As Lucy walked through the wardrobe she discovered a place where it was always winter but never Christmas. This was because Narnia was under the spell of the evil White Witch.
Shortly after Lucy’s original entry into Narnia, Lucy again went into the wardrobe Edmund followed Lucy into the wardrobe.
SLIDE: PICTURE OF EDMUND AND LUCY
Lucy and Edmund become separated as Lucy goes off to visit Mr. Tumnus, the faun. Edmund comes upon the White Witch.
SLIDE: PICTURE OF EDMUND SEATED WITH WITCH
The witch at first seems bothered by Edmund, but then asks him if he is cold, offers him some hot drink, and asks him if he would like something to eat. Edmund responded that he would like Turkish Delight. Turkish Delight is a type of candy.
SLIDE: PICTURE OF EDMUND BEING OFFERED TURKISH DELIGHT
A dwarf of the witch produced a container that turned out to contain several pounds of the best Turkish Delight. Each piece was sweet and light to the very center and Edmund had never tasted anything more delicious. As the queen asked him questions about his brother and sisters he couldn’t get enough of the Turkish Delight.
As we see this scene, we are reminded of some truths about the evil one in our world as well.
In Genesis 3 we read that after creation, when Adam and Eve are in the Garden, the evil one, satan takes the form of a serpent and approaches Eve.
Turn to Genesis 3
SLIDE
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’” Genesis 3:1
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IN OUR WORLD, AND IN NARNIA, THE EVIL ONE WANTS TO:
1. Get you ALONE
When we are alone Satan will tempt us to turn away from what God wants.
Edmund: alone with the Witch
For some, while away on business trips, alone at work, greater temptation
For others, while away from the church, their faith grows cold, make bad decisions and sometimes don’t know it.
Today, there maybe some of you who have wandered off, you are alone, apart from God. Maybe you have been away from the church, away from a Bible study, away from friends who will help you stand strong.
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“You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. Genesis 3:4
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IN OUR WORLD, AND IN NARNIA, THE EVIL ONE WANTS TO:
1. Get you ALONE
2. Tell you LIES
Narnia: Queen wanted Edmund to bring his brother and sisters back to her castle so she could kill them, so she told him lies.
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Bottom of 38-39
“It is a lovely place, my house,” said the Queen. “I am sure you would like it. There are whole rooms full of Turkish Delight, and what’s more, I have no children of my own. I want a nice boy whom I could bring up as a Prince and who would be King of Narnia when I am gone. While he was Prince he would wear a gold crown and eat Turkish Delight all day long;
Satan wants to get you alone and tell you lies.
Lies that question God’s goodness
Following God’s way is too restrictive. I think my way is better
Lies that question God’s character
If God really loved me this wouldn’t happen to me
Lies that question God’s truth
I’ll just ignore what God wants
Slide
“For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:5
SLIDE
IN OUR WORLD, AND IN NARNIA, THE EVIL ONE WANTS TO:
1. Get you ALONE
2. Tell you LIES
3. Make sin look GOOD
Ed had never tasted anything like Turkish Delight before.
SLIDE
THE REALITY OF NARNIA (and Our Own Reality)
SLIDE
THERE IS A PROBLEM: WE HAVE ALL SINNED (EATEN TURKISH DELIGHT).
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23
We are all Edmund. We have all sinned.
Sin: not measuring up to God’s standard.
None of us measures up to God’s standard.
Ex. If I had a long stick from here to the ceiling, and we each had to rate ourselves in terms of our goodness, where would you be? If the floor were the bottom, maybe I would be midway up, maybe you would be a little higher, maybe Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who helped the poor and diseased, would have been closer to the ceiling. The problem is that God’s standard is the sky. We have all fallen short of God’s glory.
SLIDE
1. Sin has POWER over us
Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” John 8:34
We are slaves to sin. Sin has an addictive power. Once we sin it is much easier to do it again
For Edmund, the Turkish Delight not only caused him to want more and more, but it led him to the Witch’s Castle
SLIDE
PICTURE OF EDMUND WALKING INTO CASTLE
Once in the castle he was put in chains.
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PICTURE OF EDMUND IN CHAINS IN CASTLE
When the promised Turkish Delight was given, what was served up ended up being nothing but stale bread.
That is exactly what sin is for us. There are some here today who are under the power of sin in your life. You have fallen deeper and deeper into destructive patterns in your life and you need a way out.
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“Sin takes you farther than you want to go, keeps you longer than you want to stay, and costs you more than you want to pay.” Steve Ferrar
Had Edmund kept eating Turkish Delight it would have killed him.
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2. A PENALTY must be paid
For the wages of sin is death…. Romans 6;23
A wage is something we earn. And the reality is that each of us deserves death.
As we identify with the character Edmund today in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe we see this as a story of a boy who has chosen to follow evil. He didn’t realize the consequences. In fact he hadn’t even met Aslan, the Lion, the true King of Narnia, the Christ figure. Yet, because he has sided with the Witch, he is a traitor and blood must be shed.
In Narnia, Aslan takes the place of Edmund,
SLIDE
PICTURE OF ASLAN AND EDMUND FACE TO FACE
Aslan himself willingly lays down his life. He gives himself up to the white witch, and offers himself up to die in the place of Edmund.
In the same way, for us there is a solution. Jesus willingly came to the earth, born as a baby. His singular purpose in coming was to die on the cross for our sin. We have all sinned. It has power over us, and a penalty must be paid. Jesus went the cross and paid the penalty of sin for us by dying for our sin.
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THERE IS A SOLUTION: JESUS DIED TO BRING US LIFE.
But God demonstrates his love us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
We may not understand this, but this is the power of the cross. Jesus willingly came to earth to die in our place, while we were sinners.
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1. The power of sin is BROKEN
This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. Romans 3:22
We are no longer in bondage to sin. There is a wonderful life with God, following Jesus that we are freed up to experience.
SLIDE
2. The penalty of sin is PAID
“She (Mary) will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21
What if there were no Christmas?
If there were no Christmas, there would be no Savior.
But Jesus came for us, he died for us so that we for God. This is the good news of Christmas.
APPLICATION:
1. Will you receive Jesus into your life by faith?
2. Will you battle the evil one, resist his temptations, and discover a new way of life in Jesus Christ.
