Ephesians 2

SPEAKER 01 : 0:08

Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. Allen J. Huth shares a Bible passage with comments from over 35 years of his personal Bible reading journals and applies the Word of God to our daily lives.

SPEAKER 03 : 0:23

Today we are in Ephesians chapter 2. There’s a great passage in Scripture, one of the most famous passages in all of the Bible in this chapter. Listen for it as Faith Comes By Hearing reads Ephesians chapter 2.

SPEAKER 02 : 0:37

Ephesians 2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved, and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands, remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that He might create in Himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.” And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

SPEAKER 03 : 3:41

Did you catch the power verse in Ephesians chapter 2? Let’s see if the journals reveal it to us. In 1992, when I read Ephesians chapter 2, I wrote, We are dead in our trespasses and sins, all of us. That’s according to verse 1. But God gives us life in Christ, according to verses 4 and 5. So it is by his actions, grace, not our own works, that we attain salvation. It is a gift from God that we receive, not earn. And I’m referring to verses 8 and 9. And then I went on to write, having no hope without God. And that’s verse 12. And then, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Verse 13. He also eliminated the division between Jews and Gentiles with salvation for all men. In 2002, remember, I was transitioning from a consulting practice into full-time in the Ezra Project. It doesn’t always go easy. There is a reference to that in my journal entry. My former boss and owner is still under my skin over ownership share payoff. He decided to pay me over five years. Unbelievable. And made it contingent upon my abiding by my 1997 employee nine-page contract. Unbelievable. Thankfully, we can take these things to the Lord. So I made a note about my prayer. I wrote a better attitude to put the consulting business behind me. You deal with him as David prayed against his enemies to move on to success in the Ezra project. And then I read Ephesians chapter two. I wrote in that journal, we were dead in our trespasses and sins. We all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh. By nature, children of wrath. And I was referring to verses 1 through 3. But I continued. But God, verse 4, hallelujah, made us alive together with Christ, raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Praise God. Yes, that power verse has been referred to in both my journal entries in 92 and 2002. Let’s see if we can find it again in 2012. In 2012, I split chapter 2 into the first 10 verses on the first day and verses 11 through 22 on the second day. I wrote concerning the first 10 verses, we are all dead in sin, following Satan, carrying out the desire of our body, passion of our flesh, and we were by nature children of wrath. And again, was referring to verses 1 through 3. This is human nature, born in sin. We are not good and learn evil. We are evil, sinful, and must be taught good. Raising children illustrates this. I never had to teach my kids to be mean, selfish, to lie. It all came naturally. But God, verse 4, but God being rich in mercy and love offers grace to make us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved, verse 5, from what? From being dead in our sin, from God’s wrath. Grace is a gift from God to sinners, We cannot work out our salvation, not a result of works. We are dead in sin. God offers us mercy, love, and grace. We accept it by faith and gain eternal salvation through Jesus Christ. Praise God. That ends my journal entries, so let’s find that power verse. We’re going to lead up to it, though, as we look at chapter 2. Oftentimes, we hear the question, is man basically good or basically evil? I think Ephesians chapter 2, the first few verses, answers that question very clearly. Let’s read the first three verses. carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. Are we basically good or basically evil? We are by nature children of wrath, sons of disobedience, following the prince of the power of the air, the devil himself. We are born with a sin nature. But that’s not the end of the story, is it? Praise God for the buts in Scripture. Verse 4. But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses. made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved and raised up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. You gotta shout the hallelujah because of God’s rich mercy, his great love. His saving grace. We can be snatched out of our trespasses and our sins and seated in the heavenly places. Why? How does this happen? And here are the power verses of Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 and 9. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. We can only be saved by the grace of God. No other way. There is no way for us to be good enough. If you were asked why God should let you into heaven, would you say, I’ve been a good person? That’s not what Ephesians chapter 1 through 3 says. We are hopeless, destined for an eternity in hell as sons of disobedience and children of wrath. But God, but God, by his grace, not your own doing. It is the gift of God. Have you ever received that gift, that gift of grace? If so, verse 13 gives us our assurance. It says, but now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. But that’s conditional, isn’t it? It says, in Christ Jesus. That’s for those of us who have accepted the gift of God, the forgiveness of sins by his grace. If you haven’t done it, do it today. Find a Bible, reread Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 and 9, and receive the gift of God’s grace, the forgiveness of your sins. Let’s pray. Father, we thank you for Paul, who makes it very clear that we are sons of disobedience, we are children of wrath, we are hopeless without you. But we also thank you that he articulates the plan of salvation very clearly here in Ephesians chapter 2. It is by your mercy, your great love, your saving grace. that we can join you in the heavenly places. It is by grace that we have been saved through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for the assurance of eternal life from verses like these. And for those who have never received that gift, Lord Jesus, open their hearts today. Let them repent of their sins. Let them call on that great love, that great mercy, and your saving grace. And assure them, Lord, that it’s not about their goodness or their badness. It’s just about you and your gift to us, eternal salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ. To that, we can all shout the hallelujah and the amen. Thanks for listening to Ed Bible today. You probably noticed we are still on the air. To God be the glory. You may remember we went off the air on September 30th, 2025. I’m excited to share the story of how we got back on the air. We went on radio October 1st, 2024, thanks to a very generous donation to the Ezra Project, the sponsor of AdBible. We were careful not to make too many financial appeals initially on our programs. We wanted you to try us out and get a feel for our style. And you did. But to stay on radio, we needed to gain the confidence of our listeners and generate financial partnerships. We made several financial appeals as we neared the end of our contract year, September 30th. Several of you stepped up and sent financial donations. We also started hearing from you. Please don’t go off the air. Southern California needs this program. Northern California needs this program. Colorado needs solid Bible teaching and so on. But it was not enough to sustain another year of programs. So on September 30th, we did go off the air. After a few days, I got a call begging us to get back on the air. It was a successful, blessed businessman in Southern California. He offered to partner with us financially to help us get back on the air in all three locations. Praise the Lord for listeners like him. After a few days of renegotiating with Crawford Broadcasting, we were back on the air. And by the way, they are great to work with. They jump through numerous hoops to make it easy to get AdBible back on the air. So we’re back and very grateful to a generous listener and to the Lord for the privilege to serve you once again. But for how long? Please join this dear brother in becoming a financial partner with us so we can continue to bring you this unique and personal journey through the Bible. He should not have to do it alone. Please consider starting today with a one-time gift or an ongoing monthly contribution. Visit EzraProject.net, find the donate button, and join this dear brother as a financial partner today. Some can send $100, some $500, some $50 a month, or more per month. Our mailing address is also on the website if you prefer to mail in your contribution. If you are blessed of the Lord and blessed by AdBible, please join us as we connect God’s people to God’s Word. Thank you.