Special Talk

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Special Talk

• Biblical Themes Insights in
• The Chronicles of Narnia
• February 3, 2006

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C. S. Lewis

• Oxford Professor
• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950)

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1) Turkish Delight

• Temptation Lured by cravings
• Starts with just one bite
• for she knew, though Edmund did not, that this
  was enchanted Turkish Delight and that anyone who
  had once tasted it would want more and more of
  it, and would even, if they were allowed, go on
  eating it till they killed themselves. Ch.4
• but ends in a nightmare.

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Prisoner of sin

• Sin
• Takes you farther
• Keeps you longer
• Extracts a higher price
• Flirting with sin destroys your life
• Alcohol, drugs, lying, cheating
• e.g. Everquest

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False advertisement

• Imitation Turkish Delight
• will never satisfy.
• Likewise, sin is merely a cheap imitation (of
  true Joy/Happiness)
• Only God can fill our deepest desires
• Pascal There is a God-shaped void in every
  mans heart

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e.g., King Solomon (970 BC)

• Super rich, many wives, a scholar, a zoologist, a
  botanist, poet, etc.
• Confesses in Ecclesiastes 210-11
• I denied myself nothing my eyes desired I
  refused my heart no pleasure. Yet when I
  surveyed all that my hands had done and what I
  had toiled to achieve, everything was
  meaningless, a chasing after the wind nothing
  was gained under the sun.

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Words of wisdom

• Ecc. 121 Remember your Creator in the days of
  your youth, before the days of trouble come and
  the years approach when you will say, I find no
  pleasure in them.
• ? Turn to God, our one true pleasure

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2) Desire to be king

• Hearts true desire I want to be king!
• With servants under me
• Peter, Susan, Lucy
• Bring me trays of Turkish Delight!
• Bow down to me!
• Call me Your majesty!

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Whos the true King?

• Aslan is the true King of Narnia
• Son of the Emperor from across the sea
• Created Narnia by singing a song
• But Edmund usurps the throne
• Is a traitor against Aslan
• Even betrays family loved ones

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The one True King

• Since Aslan is the creator of Narnia, he is the
  true king of Narnia.
• Since God is the creator of this world, He is the
  true King of this world.
• ? Jesus should be our rightful King

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3) What a traitor deserves

• Treason Heinous crime (against king
  country)
• Blackstones Law of the Land (18th c.)
• Traitorsbe hanged by the neck, and then cut down
  alive.
• That his entrails be taken out and burned, while
  he is yet alive.
• Women were burned for the sake of decency.

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But instead of death

• Justice Sin of betrayal paid by death
• Aslan doesnt punish Edmund
• but gives himself in Edmunds place.
• Mercy grace instead of punishment
• For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of
  God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
  Romans 623

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Victory over death

• Aslans death ushers life!
• When a willing victim who had committed no
  treachery was killed in a traitors stead, the
  Table would crack and Death itself would start
  working backwards. Ch. 15

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Gods amazing Love

• John 316 For God so loved the world that he
  gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes
  in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
• Jesus was that living sacrifice for me
• The Son of God
• A sinless victim
• And yet, died on the cross for all traitors
• ? Gods amazing love displayed in Jesus

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4) A New Hope

• Ordinary children
• transformed into Kings Queens!
• Aslan gives each a new name
• King Peter the Magnificent
• Queen Susan the Gentle
• Queen Lucy the Valiant
• King Edmund the Just!

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New life in Christ

• 2 Corinthians 517 Therefore, if anyone is in
  Christ, he is a new creation the old has gone,
  the new has come!
• ? This transformation is possible for all