Finding Hope in the Winter Narnia 2005
Intro: The land of Narnia was under a perpetual winter for over 100 years. The question we must ask ourselves is what was C.S. Lewis trying to portray with this image. The winter is a picture of what the Bible calls The Fall. It is result of Adam and Eve’s original sin in the garden of Eden. Because of their choice the whole world has been affected.
b. By the way, you say that’s not fair. If it had been you or me in the garden we would have committed the treason even sooner.
c. This curse is real. The darkness is great and it is devastating. Death has become the certain end of each person, human bodies subject to deterioration, evil people try to dominate good people all the time, oppression abounds, the natural realm has became chaotic and there is a great cosmic battle between good and evil … all because of this curse.
d. In a crowd of 200 there are at least 200 evidences of the curse found in this room right now.
1. Some of you are aware that your body is breaking down and your warranty has expired.
2. Some of you are healthy but you carry the burden of another person whos warranty has expired.
3. Some you will this will be the 1st Christmas without a loved one.
4. Some of your marriages are struggling. Great distance between you and your spouse. .
5. Some of you have children rebelling against you and God.
6. Some have larger family issues that seem unresolvable. Some just dread Christmas because all
those old wounds will be opened.
7. Some of you feel overwhelmed with life.
8. Some of you have an emptiness on the inside that won’t go away.
e. All of these and 100 more are evidences of the curse. For many people they are living in a perpetual winter. This curse has stolen your joy. You find yourself in winter without any hope of Christmas.
f. The question before us this morning… How does one find HOPE in a world under the curse?
How does one celebrate when winter is so strong? Romans 8 God gives us three reasons to have hope, even if we find ourselves locked in winter. There is a way to get to Christmas. A way to move from winter to Christmas in your heart. Look at these three reasons why we have hope on this Friend Day.
1st Reason we have HOPE. Our Past Can Be Forgiven. Rom 8:1-4
a. No condemnation for those who have placed their allegiance in Jesus Christ. Circle ..condemnation In
The word "condemnation" here describes a person who’s judged to be guilty of a crime and thus liable to
penalty for that crime. Describes both the verdict and the penalty.
b. But those who have trusted IN Jesus, there’s no longer a guilty verdict or a death sentence.
c. When we believe in Jesus we set free from the law of sin and death.
Law… states clearly that the person who sins must die. Lewis LAW Deep Magic. Says traitors must die.
Law comes from the holiness and justice of God. Law is limited… can’t set us free… if can only condemn.
When people say they are hoping to get to heaven by keeping the 10 commandments, being a good
person, having the good outweight the bad. They are placing their hope in the Law.
The law is powerless to rescue us from guilt, sin and death. Shows us we are guilty but can’t set us free.
d. Implications staggering. Who does Edmund represent in the book? Mankind, everyone of us, we are all guilty.
Edmund will never be set free by the law… law will put him to death.
e. What does this have to do with Christmas you say… Let me read some letters to Santa… .
letters that children wrote to Santa Claus. Some pretty good. One said,
1. Dear Santa, you didn’t bring me anything good last year. You didn’t bring me anything good the year before that. This is your last chance. Signed Alfred.
2. Thanks for the remote control car last year even though it broke the day after. I know you tried and that’s what counts. Alex
3. My favorite: Dear Santa, there are three little boys who live at our house. There is Jeffery, he is 2. There is David he is 4. And there is Norman he is 7. Jeffery is good some of the time. David is good some of the time. But Norman is good all of the time. I am Norman. But we aren’t Normans. We’re Edmunds. Everyone of us has broken the law of God at least once. Because of that we are guilty. We need forgiveness.
f. Here is where the HOPE comes in. Christmas is just another way of saying rescue. Christmas was God’s way to rescue us. Read 3-4. Edmund broken the law. The Deep Magic clear - Traitors must die. Can’t do for ourselves
But Aslan steps forwards and says he will pay the price for Edmund’s treachery.
g. Jesus stepped before the Judge of universe and paid the penalty. We are forgiven. Jesus died for our sin on a cross. He was the substitute for us, the sacrificial lamb of God, bearing the penalty for our sins. What does that mean?
If we are “In Christ. United with Him.” We are forgiven and nobody is keeping score anymore. No condemnation.
KEY…. Faith IN Christ. Illustrate two kinds of faith… Do you believe THAT this chair can hold me?
What is the difference between trusting THAT and trusting IN? When do I really believe IN it? When I sit. Faith in believing IN Christ for the forgiveness of our sins.
h. Here is the good news. You can be liberated from sin, guilt, shame and we walk out forgiven. A way has been provided. Because Jesus died on the cross for you. Hear the promise.
Promise of forgiveness 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we have the courage to confess our sin…. Jesus has the power to forgive it. Confess… say the same. Say the same that God says about it… it is wrong… turn our backs on it.
Psalm 103:12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
Ask him to remove the sin and the guilt….. remove it as far as East is from West. Bury it in the deepest sea…. Put up a no fishing sign. That is what God promises to do. That’s first reason you can have hope today.
2nd Reason we have HOPE. Our Present can be Changed Rom 8:15-17
a. Story that shows people’s relationship with God. Picture God like farmer who gotten married at the country church. He and his new wife, still dressed in her wedding gown, were driving away from the church in his horse drawn wagon. About a mile down the road, the horse stumbled. Pulling over to the side of the road, the farmer got off the wagon, walked in front of the horse, looked the horse in the eye, and said, "That’s One." A short time later the horse stumbled again. The new bride watched, puzzled, as the farmer once again pulled over to the side of the road, got out of the wagon, walked to the front of the horse, looked the horse in the eye, and warned, "That’s Two." They had gone no more than a half mile further when the horse stumbled once again. The farmer reached behind the wagon seat for his shotgun, climbed down, walked to the front, and shot the horse.
"What did you do that for?" shouted his new wife. All the horse did was stumble. The farmer took his seat in the wagon, looked at his new wife, and said, "That’s one!"
We don’t admit it, but that’s how a lot of people feel God is. God wants to zap us. … lightning bolts. .
b. Read 15-17 Circle several words… Sonship, Abba Father, God’s children, heirs and co-heirs.
c. God not cosmic policeman waiting for you to mess up. He is your father. He’s a great father, he loves you with an incredible love. When I became a Christian two things happened. My guilt was forgiven… and I got loved. I got loved so deeply that it still amazes me when I think about it. My value as a person is not determined by the world but by my heavenly Father. The Creator of the universe loves me with an infinite love.
d. Hope comes in when we change our allegiance to Jesus… he changes our relationship with Him.
Move us from slaves to sin on death row…. To sons and daughter in the King’s Palace. That’s moving up.
e. Christians are described as "sons of God, children." The word used here doesn’t describe a young child, but an adult child who has all the rights and privileges that go with being an adult child in a family. When we trust in God’s Son, we become part of God’s family, joined to God as our Father, and entrusted with the rights and privileges of adult children. Co-heirs with Jesus. 17
f. Result is we rejoice and spontaneously call out “Abba, Father” "Abba" is the Aramaic term for "father," and it was a very familiar term, the kind of title a six year addresses his dad by…. Daddy. In the gospels in the NT, this is the term Jesus himself used when he was praying to his Father. Jesus prayed "Abba, Dad."
By giving us this same privilege, Jesus is sharing his relationship with his Father with us, so we can approach God with the same kind of familiarity and intimacy.
h. Single word “FATHER” sums up why we have HOPE even in this world. Because we are loved by God.
i. Check out all the religions of the world and find out how many of them called God Father. The Quran never mentions the word ’Father’ among the 99 names of God. Go check out Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucius, not find God referred to as Father. Even in the OT only 7 times is God addressed this way. But when we turn to the NT 275 times we are directly or indirectly instructed that when we bow before the creator of the universe .. we should call him our Father. Amazing the Love that God has for us. How many love to sing hymns?
There is a great one… I need help singing it.. And Can it Be that I Should Gain? Charles Wesley wrote over 6,000 hymns. Founder of Methodist denomination. There is considerable evidence that this hymn was written by him soon after his own conversion. Song of grateful adoration for God’s great love for us. Go over 3rd verse.
No condemnation now I dread, Jesus, and all in him, is mine!
Alive in him, my living Head, And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach the eternal throne, And claim the crown, through Christ my own.
Amazing love! how can it be That thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Amazing love! how can it be That Thou, My God shouldst die for me?
3rd Reason Hope. Our Future Is Secure Rom 8:18-25 35-39 Three great promises about our future
1. The world will be restored. 18-22 Bible pictures the entire world —and eagerly expecting a new dawn. World is waiting on tiptoes for the final curtain call.Now in a state of frustration and decay. Vs 20. Everything is breaking down. Explains devastation hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, and killer tsunamis.
In Narnia the whole creation experienced this frustration with the curse of the Witch for 100 years. But Aslan was on the move and he was reversing the curse. Winter turned to spring because Aslan cared. The same is taught in the Bible. God cares about the environment… the entire world …1 day God’s plan is to transform his entire creation. Till that day we have to wait. But we wait in hope.
2. We will be restored. 23-25. Paul does not try to hide the fact that believers suffer. Indeed, he highlights it.
These weak, frail, breaking bodies will be restored. Right now Christ’s followers look just like other people do. We get sick, just like other people. We experience heartbreak, failure, broken relationships, anger, frustration, and all the other things that are characteristic of the human condition. But one day the curtain will be pulled away, and who we really are will be revealed: God’s adopted sons and daughters. First John 3:2 puts it this way: "We are God’s children, and what we will be has not yet been made known." Currently God’s children are concealed, but one day they’ll be revealed.
a. But there is hope. And this hope sustains us in our times of frustration. In Winter as CS Lewis puts it.
Start making a list right now entitled, “What I’m going to be joyous about on that day when Jesus Christ returns…… on that day…
• Terrorism will end
• We will live without fear
• The creator will bring back certain extinct animals and birds, and fish, and plants
• The scare of infectious disease will be gone
• No more struggle with sin
• Cancer and AIDS will no longer be a killer
• The devil will be chained
• The pollution on this planet will be removed.
• Death will be defeated
• Personal items…. I will get my hair back ….. I will have the biggest afro…
• I will get my hearing back
• I will finally be able to bowl a 200 game
b. When you hear the next story about some disaster on the evening news, don’t just say “that’s awful.”
Remind God that here’s yet another reason why he should come back today…
Early church….. “Maranatha—even so, come quickly Lord Jesus.” Let matters of fear habitually turn your thoughts heavenward .. strengthen your hope. And let God know how grateful you are that you belong to him.
c. Share with others this hope that is yours. Let them know that 9/11 was a wake up call to convince you more than ever before that the only answer to the massive problems this world faces are to be found in Christ.
3. Third Promise… Your Heavenly Father will never stop loving you. 35-39
Having shown that nothing in our past or present can keep us from hope… now the apostle asserts that nothing in the future will ever be able keep us from hope either. In every imaginable situation, every adverse circumstance, there is nothing that is able to hold us captive and separate us from the love of the Lord. He will never leave us. His love will never be taken from us. Read 35-39 Do we deserve to loved like that? Of course not. Do we deserve to be free? Of course not. We deserved punishment but our Father gives us love instead.
Conc: There are people today that have lived for years in the winter of Narnia.
Today could be the end of winter in your life. The reason there is hope today… "JESUS IS ON THE MOVE!"
If you are locked in a perpetual winter with no hope of Christmas? You don’t have to stay there.
Jesus wants to bring hope to your life today. This very hour.
