“Discovering Nania – 4. What is beyond your wardrobe?”
Gladstone Baptist Church – 12/2/06 pm
Tonight is the last night that I want to talk about the Narnia movie and the message that it contains for every single one of us. If you haven’t been with us over the last couple of weeks, we’ve been on a bit of a voyage of discovery – finding out that our situation here is just like that which the characters of Narnia find themselves in. Just like Narnia, our world if cursed. It is not how God created it to be and certainly not how he would like it to be. But we are all under a curse of sin and because of that, we are condemned to be punished as each of us deserves.
Then we looked at Edmund – the traitor. He sold his brother and sisters out to the White witch for a couple of pounds of Turkish delight. He did it in innocence, I know. He didn’t know it was so serious – – all he wanted was some more Turkish delight. But the fact remained that he still committed the act of betrayal and his actions nearly cost the lives of Peter, Susan and Lucy. He didn’t know either, the consequences of his actions for his own future. But by his act of betrayal he condemned himself to death. We are guilty of a kind of betrayal also which has a dramatic impact on others and on our own destiny. We are all lawbreakers and our actions impact others around us in negative ways, but they also mean that we also stand condemned before God. We have to pay the penalty for the crime and the penalty is death.
Last week we looked at the character of Aslan. He is the saviour of Narnia and Edmund and he is a picture of Jesus. Jesus in a similar way to Aslan, offers to give his life for you and me though we don’t deserve it. We are guilty, yet Jesus offers to pay the penalty for our sins and die in our place. That is an incredible sacrifice because Jesus didn’t have to do that. Yet he loved us so much that he wanted us to live and have a relationship with him. So Jesus died. But just like Aslan – he rose again and conquered death.
We finished off last week by saying that Jesus will return and rescue those who are loyal to him and destroy those who oppose him. There are two groups of people here – those who are loyal and those who oppose - and you will find yourself in one of them. For or Against. 2 groups of people with 2 completely different destinies.
Tonight I want to explore with you a little more what your ultimate destiny is by asking what is beyond your wardrobe.
In the "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" a big old wardrobe was the door between the real world that Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy knew and another world – a very different world to the one they knew.
Have a look at this clip. [Show clip from movie or trailer of the children entering the wardrobe]
I don’t think that there is a wardrobe in the attic of some old house in London that is the doorway for us to another world, but I do think that there is another world that operates in parallel to ours. And there is a doorway to that world that we will all walk through one day.
Let’s have a look at the characteristics of this other world, before we look at the doorway to get there ….
Recognising the Spiritual World …
Tonight, I want you to understand that there is a parallel world to ours that exists and is very real. The Bible reveals that there is a spiritual realm in which God has created beings of a supernatural order.
But it is difficult to know too much about it because it is Invisible – We can’t see it, we can’t smell it, we can’t physically hear it, we can’t touch it and for many, that means they don’t believe it exists, but it does. Just like when you see the light come on when you flick the switch – you know there is electricity running through the wires. You can’t see it, but you know it must be there because you see the effects of it. I know there is a spiritual world, because I see the effects of it. Some of the effects of this world are negative, because the spiritual world has some evil beings in it.
Satan and his demons are active in this spiritual world. We read in 1 Pet 5:8 that Satan is a roaring lion roaming around seeking to devour us. We are in a battle against the evil forces of this spiritual world and Eph 6:10-12 says
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Satan is trying to attack us and we need be ready to resist him. Evil has infiltrated our world, just like in Narnia and has spoilt the perfect world that it once was. Evil has also infiltrated our world and it is not as it should be. Compared to the Garden of Eden, our world is rotting and decaying – a stinking mess.
But not all the effects I see in our world are negative. There are also some positive effects of the spiritual world. God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit and all the angels who are loyal to them operate in this spiritual world also and their effects are extremely positive. God is described in my bible as love and he brings love to this world. God is described as being just and he brings justice to this world. God brings kindness, compassion, joy, peace and all good things to this world. And it is these things which make life bearable here on earth.
One of the themes of the "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" and in fact, any good book is the struggle of Good versus Evil. And the spiritual world is no different – there is a struggle going on – Good versus Evil; God versus Satan. Yet in reality, the battle has already been won. There is no question who has won the battle. God has. Satan has lost.
Listen to me … When Jesus died on the cross and rose again, He defeated Satan and broke the grip that he had on this world. We talked about that 3 weeks ago. Jesus broke the curse that Satan had over this world. Satan is defeated, but hasn’t been destroyed yet. “Why not” you ask? Because the final destruction of Satan and of evil coincides with the end of this world as we know it. When God finally blows the full time whistle that will be it for life on this earth. This world is so corrupt and spoilt that God is going to make a new earth that is perfect. He can’t get rid of evil and leave this earth scared and spoilt. So at the end of time, all life will end and the earth will be renewed.
“Great” – you say “bring it on. I’d love to live in the Garden of Eden.” But wait up there a minute … If God renews this earth tomorrow, then our lives and the lives of every other person on this earth would end. We would all face judgment and many would be condemned. Are you ready to face judgment? Are your friends, family and neighbors ready to face judgment? We talked about that last week. God has to judge us because that is the highest law and can’t be broken. We will stand condemned as lawbreakers because we all have broken some law in our lives. We must answer for our crimes and for all of us, that will mean we face the prospect of eternally being separated from God (The bible uses several terms to describe this - hell or spiritual death.). Only relatively a few people will be able to stand before God’s judgment and escape it – not by anything they’ve done, but because they’ve discovered a way to be free of guilt. I’ll talk about that some more soon.
So God doesn’t want to destroy the earth just yet, because he wants more people to have the chance to escape his judgment before they die. You see death is the doorway to the spiritual world …
Death is the Doorway to the Spiritual World
Every single person who has ever lived has a part of them which will end up living in this spiritual world. It is called our soul or spirit. When we die, our spirit doesn’t expire. No … our spirit lives on for eternity.
Listen to 2 Cor 5:1-5… (CEV)
1 Our bodies [That’s our physical bodies – the flesh and bones] are like tents that we live in here on earth. [They are tents – temporary dwellings – flimsy, weak, fragile] But when these tents are destroyed, we know that God will give each of us a place to live. These homes will not be buildings that someone has made, but they are in heaven and will last forever. [When we die and our tent like bodies are destroyed there will be something waiting for us which will be more permanent – it will be a permanent home, rather than a temporary tent] 2 While we are here on earth, we sigh because we want to live in that heavenly home. 3 We want to put it on like clothes and not be naked. 4 These tents we now live in are like a heavy burden, and we groan. [Our bodies are fragile, they get bruised and suffer cuts, aches and pains. They are a heavy burden and make us groan] But we don’t do this just because we want to leave these bodies that will die. It is because we want to change them for bodies that will never die. [Our eternal bodies won’t die and won’t be burdensome, weak or fragile like our bodies now] 5 God is the one who makes all of this possible. He has given us his Spirit to make us certain that he will do it.
I go camping a lot and Deanna and I have a couple of tents. The first tent we owned is now about 11 years old and it is getting pretty fragile. In fact last year we went camping and it developed a large tear in it. So we had to sew some lovely purple strips on it to reinforce it so it hopefully lasts a couple more years. Tents aren’t meant to last for ever, but homes are another thing. If you ever travel through Europe, you can see some homes that are upto 1000 years old. A tent would never last that long. But a home can
God says that when we die, that is not the end, but the beginning. Death is the doorway into the Spiritual World where we will live forever in a new world and a new body. Just like the children in the "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" walked through the Wardrobe to get to Narnia, the entrance to our spiritual world is accessible through a door - death.
Have you ever noticed that many people fear death. The big unknown. Why is that? The Bible also says in Heb 9:27 “man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.” After our life, we face judgment and our final destiny depends on that judgment. I wonder if people are fearful of death because deep down their spirit knows that they must face judgment before an almighty God. It is a bit scary when you think about it.
The wardrobe in the "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" was a 2 way door. You could get to the other world through it and return back by the same door when you wanted to. But unlike the wardrobe in the book, death is only a one way door. Once you have passed through the door of death, there is no coming back. There is no second chance and this is why I think why deep down many people fear death. They don’t know what is on the other side and what ever it is, they have no way of returning to have a second chance at it.
The other night, I was watching the half pipe snowboarding at the winter Olympics. It was the women’s final and I was watching Torah Bright, the Australian do her run. She was going well, but then had a big crash which basically gave her a hopeless score with no hope of the medals. But the competition wasn’t over for Torah, she had one more run to go and so she got back up and went down again for her second chance. She chose to play it safe, with no mistakes and got a better score, but it wasn’t enough to place her in the medals. You know life for us isn’t like the Olympic half pipe competition. You don’t get 2 goes at it. There is no returning to have another crack at it if you don’t like the judgment you get at the end of your life.
“Man is destined to die once and after that to face judgment.” So we have to make sure that we have done enough to escape a negative judgment in the spiritual world. But how do we do this?
You have to choose between Life or Death in the Spiritual World.
Open your bibles if you have them to John 5:24 … Jesus is speaking here and he clearly presents to his listeners a choice they have to make before they die. Their choice determines their eternal destiny. They can either choose to live with God for ever and enjoy life to all its fullness – that is what the bible calls spiritual life, eternal life or just living. Or they can choose to live apart from God for ever – that is what the bible here calls spiritual death
24 “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life [spiritual life] and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. [he has escaped judgment and spiritual death and has gained spiritual life] 25 I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead [the physical dead] will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in himself. 27 And He has given Him authority to judge because He is the Son of Man. [So all those who are physically dead and 6 ft under will one day be resurrected for the purpose of being judged by Jesus.]
28 “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done good will rise to live [enjoying Spiritual life for eternity], and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned [They will face spiritual death for eternity]. 30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but Him who sent me
Jesus says here that there is a time coming when all who have died will come back to life. They will rise from their graves and at that time there will be a judgment. Jesus says that God has given Him authority to sit in judgment and to separate out those who will enjoy eternal life from those who will face eternal condemnation. So on that day we die and step through the door into the spiritual world, we will stand before Jesus to give an account of our lives. Those who have done good will receive life – eternal life we are told in vs 24. But those who have done evil, will rise to be condemned.
What does it mean by doing good and evil here? Do we have to do good deeds like the scouts do or like a child getting a smiley face on a good behaviour chart in order to get eternal life.
No, the only way you can earn your way to heaven is if you are perfect and never broken any law. If you break just one law, you will stand condemned. So it’s not how much good you do, but whether you’ve done no bad. So what does good mean here? The answer is in the passage we just read … Vs 24 - I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned. It is not a good deed, but it is a good belief that determines a person’s ultimate destiny.
Jesus says that eternal life comes from those who have heard about him and believe in him.
… Belief that Jesus was God’s son.
… Belief that Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for law’s we’ve broken.
… Belief that you can be forgiven if you ask for it
… Belief that Jesus has risen from the grave and will one day come back in victory.
A good belief not a good actions is the key.
If this is the belief of those who have done good. What is the belief of those who have done evil? It is exactly the opposite… They
… Belief that Jesus is irrelevant for them
… Belief that they don’t need anyone’s help to pay the penalty for the law’s they’ve broken
… Belief that God will accept them as they are and that they don’t need forgiveness.
What do you believe here tonight? Would it measure up as being good or would it measure up as being a bad belief.
The choice is your. It is an individual decision. I can’t believe something for you and I can’t make you believe something you don’t want to. Your belief is your decision. What do you honestly believe about Jesus? Jesus says that your belief will determine your destiny – life or death, acceptance or judgment the choice is yours. You will be judged based on your belief about Jesus.
Let’s quickly recap … There is a spiritual world out there (just like the world of Narnia) which is invisible to most people, but has good and evil forces doing battle. In our spiritual world, the victory has already been decided. Jesus has triumphed, though he allows evil to continue to impact this world in the hope that more people have the chance to choose a good belief. Whether we have a right belief though is our choice.
When we die and walk through our door into the spiritual life, we will be judged based not on the good things we have done, but on our beliefs. We have all done bad things and so are condemned, but the difference between those who will be accepted into an eternal life in heaven or condemned to the eternal punishment of hell is what they believe about Jesus.
Those who believe in Jesus and have asked him to forgive them – will be forgiven. They will stand before the judgment seat and although they’ve been a lawbreaker most of their life, they’ll be able to point to Jesus and say – “My penalty has already been paid in full. I don’t owe a thing. I have been forgiven.” Jesus will say to them “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world” (Matt 25:34).
Those who don’t believe in Jesus and haven’t received forgiveness from him – will stand before the judgment seat and will stand guilty as a lawbreaker. But they won’t be able to look to anyone else for help. They have chosen to go it alone and so alone they will have to accept the condemnation and judgment by themselves. On that day Jesus will say to them and I quote “‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” (Matt 25:41) That is eternal separation from God - it is the place we call hell.
When we pass through our wardrobe … One of two eternities awaits every single person on this earth. What is waiting for you beyond your wardrobe door? What is your eternity going to look like? Is it going to be eternal life or eternal death. Is it going to be an eternity of love and fellowship, happiness and joy; or is it going to be an eternity of hate and loneliness, anguish and regret.
The only person that controls your eternity is you. You make the choice of what you believe now and that will determine where you end up for eternity.
I pray with all my heart that you take this stuff seriously. Life is not like the Olympic half pipe competition – there are no second runs to make. You die, you pass through your wardrobe and you face judgment - a judgment that determines your eternity!!!! WOW. So you better have your life in order when you die … And unfortunately none of knows when this is going to happen, so the wise among you will get your life in order now before it is too late.
What is beyond your wardrobe tonight? Are you happy with what awaits you? If not, I encourage you to talk to someone tonight before you go home. Don’t walk out of here without talking to someone – too much is at stake to gamble it away like that. I’ll be down the front after the service and I’d love to help you know for certain that what awaits you beyond your wardrobe is acceptance and love.
Let’s pray …
Lord, we acknowledge tonight there is a spiritual world we know very little about, but what we do know is that there are 2 destinies one of which we don’t want to
