Dexter Morgan
"And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)," (Eph. 2:1-5, NKJV).
The following text has been transcribed from a sermon entitled
"But God," by the Rev. Rankin Wilbourne.
Dexter is a very likable guy. But Dexter has a secret. He lives a double life. He fights crimes during the day and he is a serial killer at night. He kills by the code. HE hunts down people who have killed. The interest in this show is revealing. Why do we identify with Dexter? It is not because we are serial killers. We have a shadow side. We have a secret life. It alienates you from others.
In the last scene of season #1----"Sometimes I wonder what it would be like for everything in me to be revealed, but I will never know. I live my life in hiding."
This is what it must feel like, "to walk in full sun light--my darkness revealed, my shadow side revealed."
The director is saying, "Who cannot identify with Dexter?"
Reviewers identify with Dexter. This show seems so cutting edge.
It is so Ephesians 2. This is true. When our most penetrating artists get to the pinnacle of their work, they find King David, Paul, and Jesus waiting for them.
I shot a man in Reno just to watch them die!!!
What is wrong with us?
Ephesians 2 is the text in the Bible where you would take someone to see the Biblical definition of the fall of humanity. We are all "by nature" dead. In other words, there is a parallel between a physically dead person and a living dead person. If you are not alive, to who God has revealed himself to be in Jesus Christ, you are living dead. A corpse is un-responsive to stimuli. It sometimes seems ridiculous. You are dismissive. Corpses are also unable to act. We do not have the strength within us to turn to God.
Paul then concludes in verse 3, "We are children of wrath." We are not simply people that commit sins, it is our inherent condition, but we are actively opposed to God.
Some people say they do not like Paul!!! What does Jesus say, then? The end of the gospel of John in 2nd chapter, Jesus is in Jerusalem. People follow him. Jesus does not put much stock into what people say about him. John 2:25. "He knew what people were really like." Even Jeremiah knows this. "The heart is deceitful and desperately sick. Who can understand it?"
This is paradoxically so liberating, and also intellectually credible.
--A lion wants to eat meat---
--We also want to be self interested---
---We are selfish---
---Among whom we all once lived, in the passions of our flesh---
Flesh. It is almost never talking about the skin pulled over your bones. It does not mean our material body. This has had bad consequences.
"Sexual immorality" is equated with the flesh due to Galatians.
And thus, God hates sex. And so we have a heirarchy of sins.
Porn is worse than envy therefore, or, greed.
We all struggle with that. This view is pervasive.
Flesh is therefore not about our corporeal existence. It means the "whole disposition" of a person against God. You flesh is your desire to be your own God. Your desire to be your own savior. "Autonomy."
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"And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)," (Eph. 2:1-5, NKJV).
Before we knew Christ we were dead.
When you hear about the goodness of God, the particular goodness of God in your own life. We must own our need for the gospel.
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Why are we the way we are?
Unless we listen to God's word about "who we are" we are completely confused.
You have three options other than the Bible.
1) Naturally innocent--but this is nieve today given our bloody century
2) Morally nuetral---we are a blank slate. We have a bad situation. You can always choose differently. If it is purely a matter of our environment then why can we never find a culture
Recently the world was shaken by the death of David Foster Wallace.
"Everything in my own immediate experience supports the idea that I am the absolute center of the universe...It is our default setting. It is hard wired into our boards at birth. There is no experience you have had that you are not the absolute center of."
Wallace understood us so well. Where did his insight lead him?
We buy into a Biblical anthroopology without a Biblical remedy.
"The person in whom agony reaches a certain level they will kill themselves in the same way a trapped person will jump from the window of a burning high rise."
This is a life and death matter. People who committ suicide understand half of the gospel completely. Life without God is hopeless. We are ina desperate situation. We have a problem. But we have not the resources to remedy it. No one can cure our loneliness. These people are remarkably clear eyed.
We run hard so that we do not come face to face with this reality. As your pastor I do not want you to spend your life running heedlessly.
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It would be dreadful if Paul left us there.
In the greek there is no period after verse 3.
These are the two most beautiful words in the Bible.
But God.
This is the whole gospel in two words.
WE were dead, but God.
We were objects of wrath, but God.
Only Christianity allows it to be both.
Salvation is of the Lord.
I was dead, but my salvation is completely and utterly by the grace of God.
But God, being rich in mercy.......
We deserved nothing but hell, but God...
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The three most prolific writers in the Bible
David
Paul
Moses
What do they have in common?
Jewish males.
They were all murderers.
Therefore, if God can use them, then he can use anyone.
There is never a period, but always, but God.
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