But God — Ephesians 2:1–10 | Season 2, Episode 4

Have you ever tried to change something about yourself and found that no amount of effort, resolve, or doubling down could actually do it?

Paul has a reason for that — and two of the most powerful words in all of scripture to answer it.

In this episode of the Set Free Stay Free Bible study podcast, host Matt Dawson opens Ephesians chapter 2 and Paul draws the sharpest contrast in the entire letter. Before Christ? Dead. Not struggling, not wounded, not mostly dead — fully, completely, without-hope dead. And dead people can't do anything to save themselves.

But God.

So rich in mercy. So full of love. That even while we were dead, he gave us life. Not after we cleaned ourselves up. Not after we proved ourselves worthy. When we believed — that's when grace moved.

Using the SOAP method (Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer), Matt unpacks why this passage is one of the clearest summaries of the gospel in all of scripture, revisits the gift card versus discount card illustration to show why we can't contribute even a dollar to our salvation, and lands on one of the most encouraging truths in Ephesians: you are God's masterpiece, created for things he planned long ago.

This Ephesians Bible study is for anyone still trying to bring something to a gift that was already paid in full.

In this episode:

• Why Paul starts chapter 2 with the bleakest possible picture of our starting point
• What "dead in trespasses and sins" actually means — and why it matters
• The gift card vs. discount card illustration of grace
• Why salvation can't be a reward — and what that frees us from
• What it means to be God's masterpiece created for good works
• A closing prayer of gratitude for grace that required nothing from us

📖 Passage: Ephesians 2:1–10 (New Living Translation)

🔍 Keywords: Ephesians Bible study, Bible study podcast, SOAP method Bible study, Christian Bible study, Scripture-first Bible study, Set Free Stay Free, Matt Dawson, walking through the Bible, Christian discipleship podcast

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to the Set Free Stay Free Bible Study Podcast. I'm your host, Matt Dawson. This is episode four of season two as we are diving into the uh the book of Ephesians, this prison epistle uh that Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus. But I want to start with this uh just this first couple questions, all right? Have you ever tried to change something about yourself that you found either difficult, so difficult that you just couldn't do it, but you continued to double down, promise more, try harder, resolve to do better? I think I find this happening a lot with New Year's resolutions and things where it's like, I'm gonna make these massive changes. But maybe you've tried that over the years and it's something you just can't do. Paul's gonna address this, and we're starting chapter two in Ephesians, where he starts giving us a contrast of what the kind of change that Christ does in us is so drastic, such a drastic contrast. It is not about effort, it's not about things that we could do or double down about. It is you are once this way, and it's so far from where you want to be. And then the words he uses, but God, and then he describes that change. We're gonna look at again chapter two, using the soap framework, scripture, observation, application, prayer. And if you don't know what the soap framework is, I'd love to give you a free resource. You can click on the link in the description or in the comment below. I also want to make sure that you're aware that it's available to the youth. If you want to DM me and let me know, I'd be glad to get you this resource. That's no problem at all. And let's open up to chapter two, and we are gonna read uh just a few verses, ten verses together here. I'll try to maybe only stop maybe once, okay? Here we go. Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil, the commander of the powers of the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature, we were subject to God's anger, just like everyone else. Verse four. But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. It is only by God's grace that you have been saved. I'm gonna just pause here. Okay, this is this is some passages and some verses that people read a lot, and so I don't I'm gonna make just make sure we don't just stick this in the bucket of oh, I've heard that before, and I stick in the bucket. Again, when you start to think about how he's gonna introduce some things here in chapter two, he's gonna build a contrast that there is some incredible things that happen because of what we read in chapter one about the work of Christ in us and the Holy Spirit that now resides in us. He goes kind of as a reminder hey, once, right, you were dead in trespasses and sins. And guys, this is a foundational doctrine of faith, right? We did not have a sin issue that could be solved with a band-aid or a boo-boo strip or whatever the case is. We weren't, as the they said in the Princess Bride, mostly dead, right? Which means you're just a little bit alive. You know, that's that's just some play on words, but the truth of the matter is that the foundationally we were absolutely dead and without hope because of the state we were in. Hear that. Had nothing to do. Even before you had the ability to sin, you were already born in sin. So that he goes on to talk about this state, this idea that you were already disobedient in your in many sins because you lived sinful lives in this world. He's talking about the actions, but he goes on to talk about this was the state that you were we were all in. We all had this state. So he goes on and says, all of us used to live that way. And I think that's important because Paul wants them to hear it wasn't just the Gentiles. It wasn't just that it's the even being people of God, all of us sort of he goes on to talk about being falling short of the glory of God. That's in Romans. He's like, all of us were born in the state, all of us lived, and he watch these words, to the passionate desires and the inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature, we're subject to God's anger, just like our bells. Meaning the state that we lived in, not even the disobedience and the sin itself. Some people have been like, well, I haven't done anything that bad. Doesn't matter. The state that you started in was dead. You did not start with life, you start dead. And then I love where he just gives that flip, he gives that contrast, right? But God, right? But God so rich in mercy, so rich in love that even though we were dead, right? Even though we were dead, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. Man, that's just, I mean, Ephesians 2, if you ever want to take people there that struggle to really understand the gospel, right? And sometimes you you want to take them through the story of Christ, you want to take them through the gospels, maybe take them through John. I think that's a great idea because they can read the words of Jesus, but I think sometimes we miss, you know, the way Paul describes this in these first few verses in Ephesians 2 is so powerful to take people to understand. Man, this is this is the the cliff notes, this is the summary, this is the highlights, if you will, of the way the gospel works. You are dead, but because of God, you are now alive. Let's go to uh verse six. That's where we dropped off, okay? For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness towards us as shown in all that he has done for us who are united in Christ. God saved you, and now he's getting really to the Ephesians. God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this. It is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things that we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God's masterpiece, he has created us anew in Christ Jesus so that we can do the things He planned for us long ago. I want to go back and just look at so much there in those passages, but I think the biggest one that we can talk about is the fact that I love, and you've heard me probably say this before, when we read in context the scripture, we read who wrote the letter and who it was to. This is to the church in Ephesus at that time. That is who this letter is to. But what I love about scripture is that it's written for us, right? In terms of even the future ages, even now, 2,000 years later, it's still written for us. It wasn't written to us, it was written for us. And so if we learn so much by going, okay, even Paul calls it out. Hey, it's not just, right? It's not just you. Our example, what's going on in Ephesus, what's going on even with me, Paul in prison, what's going on is gonna be an example for future generations. Future generations are gonna look back on this and see the grace of God. See that what happened when you were dead in your sin, but God, so rich in mercy, saves you. Does that make sense? Like it's just, I just want to come back to it over and over and over again that it is just so amazing. The grace of God that saves us is the same grace that changes us, goes from death to life. And in this case, he wants to continue on that path just to clarify that we understand the position of grace. God saved you, and this is where we can put ourselves in that situation, by his grace when we believed, not after we achieved. Everybody with me? He didn't save us by grace after we achieved and proved that we were good enough. He saved us by his grace when we believed, when we believed in the work that Christ has done. And it goes on to say that there's a reason for this. You can't take credit for this. Now, sometimes I give people the example of grace and I talk about, um, and this is really, God, by the way, every example always falls short of the glorious nature of God. But anyway, it's a great example just for sometimes people to get their mind wrapped around the difference between a gift card and a discount card. I don't know if I've given this to you before, but here we go. When somebody wants to give you a thousand dollar gift card, thousand dollars, I don't care. It does, it could be a million dollars. I want to give you this gift card. It's a gift to you. You did nothing, you owe nothing, you earned nothing. I'm giving it to you, and you can't accept it. Right? There's something about you that you cannot accept this gift. And so you say, right, well, let me, I mean, it's it's worth a thousand dollars. Like, let me give you a hundred dollars. Let me let me give it, let me give you a hundred dollars, and I and I'll still take it, but let me give you a hundred dollars. And the person goes, no, no, no, it's a gift. And the guy goes, Okay, okay. Let me give you ten dollars. Let me give you, let me give you ten, ten dollars. Let me give you ten dollars and I'll take it. I'll take this this gift card for a thousand dollars. And the guy goes, no, absolutely not. And they say, Oh, look, let me just give you a dollar, right? I have a dollar, let me give you a dollar, right? Let me just give you this dollar. I know it it's not even close, but let me just give you this dollar. And and so the guy goes, Okay, fine. Give me the dollar. And I want you to know what happens in this moment. When you give the person a dollar, ten dollars, a hundred dollars, doesn't matter, the thousand dollar gift card is no longer a gift card. It is a discount card, right? It is a discount card, it is something that you put something towards it, and you get more than what you put in it. That's a discount card. And I'm just telling you guys, one of the hardest things for the human nature for most Christians is to accept the fullness of the grace of God without feeling like we can't put just a little something into it. We can't give, uh yeah, but isn't it? Can I just do a little and be a you know, and we want to we want to shortchange and really just destroy this gift, which is why Paul is so emphatic when he says it. You can't take credit for any of it. Salvation is not a reward, right? Because if we did something where we kind of felt like maybe even though it wasn't that much, we kind of felt like, well, maybe just possibly I deserve it. That would be a reward. Salvation is like, well, you, I mean, it was only a dollar, but you did something, so here's your reward. He says, No, that is not what salvation is. That's not salvation by grace. Sola gracia. It is by grace alone. Okay, the five souls, it is by grace alone. And he says, You can't do it. Salvation is not a reward for the good things that you've done. You can't boast about it. There's nothing, there's nothing you can stand on your laurels about it. He says, and I love that his last verse he says, we are his masterpiece. We are the thing that God is doing and working and doing things in. And when he made us anew, a new person in Christ. And again, this is a theme that he's going to follow all through the book of Ephesians. So he's laying the foundation now. You become this new person in Christ, this workmanship that God is uh working so that you can do the things he planned for you to do long ago, that you could actually accomplish the things that God has wanted you to accomplish. So again, I don't know, those are some of the observations. I don't know what God has for you in terms of this. I don't know if you needed to hear the contrast, you know, that it's such a massive difference. Once you were, but because of God, like just maybe that's I got the the new sign on the wall, gratitude. Like, we got to know what we've already got, right? That's part of the first step in gratitude is realizing uh what we already have, right? So this is kind of part of this understanding of living this way, but God's so rich in mercy. And then when he goes on to pointing it to future generations, guys, we we get to learn from the this group in Ephesus. And maybe, maybe you have struggled to accept the fullness and the understanding of the grace of God that something, again, about our human nature just wants to have some portion of control. We just want to have some say in it. We just want to have something that we said, well, I at least did this one measly tiny thing. And something so great about Paul's letter of the Ephesus to the church in Ephesus is that it's so clear you can do nothing. Why? Because you were dead, and dead people can't do anything. That's why. You don't get to boast about anything because you didn't do anything, because you were dead. You were dead. Dead from the very beginning, and the constant state of deadness was where you lived, and you didn't even live, you were dead, so you dead there, and only because of the richness of Christ, in a richness of God in Christ, did he raise you up and give you life. So when he ends there and says, this new life, this workmanship, is to help accomplish what he's called us to do. We're gonna read more about that in future episodes. In episode five on, we're gonna read about what does that work look like? What is he calling us to in terms of how we live? But let's pray the application over this passage today. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your word. And I do thank you that that there is such a contrast to where I started, to where I am today. And it's it's nothing about me, what I've done, what I could have done because I was dead. Uh and God, I just pray that that would be something that brings freedom today, that people would would end this session of reading your word and maybe listening to this podcast or or video and just walk away in a in a new foundation of freedom, a new sense of, you know what? I could do nothing. I did nothing. It is all by the grace of God. I live and walk in this confident hope, this freedom that you've given us through your word and through the work of Christ. Thank you, God, for the Holy Spirit to seal that promise in us. And we pray all of this in your name, Jesus. Amen. Don't forget to like, comment, and engage with us here on YouTube. Don't forget to rate and review if you're listening to us on podcasts. I look forward to walking more through chapter two with you in the next episode. See you soon.