Followed By Mercy

You weren’t bad—you were dead, and Christ made you new

• W. Austin Gardner • Season 3 • Episode 30

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What if your story doesn’t start with “I should try harder,” but with “I was dead, and God made me alive”? In this episode, we open Ephesians 2 with raw honesty and real hope, tracing Paul’s unflinching diagnosis and the breathtaking interruption of “but God.” We begin with identity saints and faithful by gift, not grind. Then we face the hard truth, dead in trespasses and sins, so we can finally see that grace isn’t a moral upgrade but a resurrection. This isn’t about moving from bad to better; it’s about moving from death to life and learning to live from that new center.


We talk through the traps we all know: settling for spiritual self-help, comparing our “before” to others, and the false humility that keeps us staring in the mirror. Along the way, we return to chapter one’s anchor points chosen, adopted, redeemed, forgiven, sealed by the Spirit, and show how they hold steady when our feelings waver. We share practical ways to reclaim identity when shame shouts, how to respond when you’ve stumbled badly, and why God has zero buyer’s remorse over you. Grace doesn’t make you nicer; grace makes you new. That truth fuels humility (no boasting), hope (no one is too far gone), and urgency (our neighbors need resurrection, not advice).


If you’ve been carrying the old you like a backpack of bricks, this conversation offers freedom and a firm place to stand. Let the “but God” of Ephesians 2 reset your expectations, restore courage, and reframe your next step with Jesus.


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Austin Gardner:

Welcome back to Followed by Mercy, our podcast where we know that surely goodness and mercy do follow us all the days of our life. And I am back with our oldest son uh Chris, one of my favorite people, and we are going to be talking about Ephesians chapter 2. But I'd like you to remember, though, before we get there, that you need to know your identity. And your identity, Paul writes a letter to the saints and the faithful. We've gone over that. That's not because of what you do, but because of what he did. That's not because you live right and you earned that title. It was a gifted title given to you when God said, I love you and I am saving you, and you placed your you accepted what he did. He has already paid the debt for every person that's ever lived on the planet. He's paid the debt. He's a savior of all men, especially those that believe. Not only that, he has chosen us, he has planned our adoption service when the day he fully recognizes who we are in front of everybody and makes it clear. He has redeemed us. He has forgiven us. He has sealed us with the Holy Spirit of God. And he's done all this work in us. And so before you ever get into anything, know who he's writing and know who you are. Because the day you remember and recognize who you are, it changes everything about you. And so it all happens because we are in Christ. And that's where we are today coming up on Ephesians chapter 2. Go ahead, Chris.

Chris Gardner:

Yeah, I love Ephesians chapter 2, where it starts off and you know, just verse 1 says that, you know, you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sin. And honestly, we could stay on that for a very, very long time. It's kind of a, this is a, this verse is kind of a shock to our system because Paul doesn't say, hey, we're sick, we're struggling. He says we're dead. It's uh, you know, we're dead on arrival, there's no pulse, no haul, no hope at all until later on what we find in Ephesians 2 that Jesus steps in. He doesn't say we're sick, doesn't say we're struggling, doesn't even say we're dying. He says you're dead. That's the most hopeless diagnosis that a person can have is that dead people can't improve themselves, they can't try harder, they can't pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, they need resurrection, and that is provided only through Christ.

Austin Gardner:

And you know that happened all the way back in the beginning when one man's sin entered into the world and death by sin, because the day uh Adam and Eve chose to not listen to God and do what God wanted, but to make themselves God and choose to be God, and and all the human race is doing the same thing. Today we want to make our own decisions. We don't want God to be the one that's directing things, and so we are in Adam. We are dead because all in Adam die, and all in Christ live. Now let me remind you, chapter one, you are in Christ. You are in Christ, and so this is about your past. Before Jesus did a work in your life, before he sought you out and saved you and rescued you, we were dead in trespasses and sins. And what Chris says there when he says about all that about being dead, that's biblically true. That's biblically true. We were like a corpse. We were unable to do anything, but he feels us, saves us, and changes us. I guess before I turn it back to you, Chris, one of the things I like most of all is it says, and you at the quick who were dead. Yep. That's not who we are now.

Chris Gardner:

Yeah, this is this is the before picture and the before and after. If you ever watch those things for diets, you have the big old fat dude, and then you know, with 13 minutes a day, he's able to become a six-pack person that you know all he had to do is take two pills and do three jumping jacks. With it, we this verse here is the before picture. This is the before picture, but this before picture doesn't start with a fat dude, it starts with a dead dude. And so we are absolutely dead. Before Christ, we were not making bad choices, we were spiritually dead. And so, you know, that that makes grace not just helpful, but absolutely essential. And for a lot of us, we grew up with this idea that, you know, Christianity is nothing more than a it's nothing more than a self-help place. You know, give a little grace.

Austin Gardner:

They'll all agree. Well, we need God's help to get started, yeah. To get saved.

Chris Gardner:

Yeah, but but what he's gonna say to us here is this we it's it's by grace are you saved, by grace do you live, by grace you're gonna die. Everything about the Christian is it falls into grace. And so Christianity is not a self-improvement project. Not at all. It's not a morality, not a morality. It's all about Christ living in and through us. That's what it's all about.

Austin Gardner:

I think also what I want all of you to remember is in Ephesians chapter one, to be blunt and honest, the Holy Spirit is almost redundant. He keeps saying, God, he says that he's an apostle by the will of God to the saints in Christ Jesus. And he says, Grace and peace to you from God our Father. And he says, Blessed be God who hath quickened us, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings. And so, you know, the only way out of death is what God did. Yep. And God, that's God the Father, God the Son, and God Holy Spirit.

Chris Gardner:

Yes, it's not from it is not from bad to better. It's from death to life. And it's only that can only be done through Jesus Christ.

Austin Gardner:

Now, can I tell you that life is when you listen to God, and death is when you listen to the devil himself. And I need you to understand that with God, He is all one thing. So in Him is love, not hate, light, not darkness, truth, not dishonesty. And he loves you, but the devil came to you, and you know, you chose, I want to make my own decisions, and I want to be my own man, and that puts you in the realm of those who say, I don't like God, making the decisions I want to make them, which means you want to be God.

Chris Gardner:

Yeah. I I like the way that Charles Spurgeon put it. Charles Spurgeon, he said that it was like corpses on different battlefields. Some of them might appear to be dignified, others they look horribly marred, but they're all dead. They're all dead. It's not about what you look like, not about what you act like. You're dead in your trespassing and sin. Before God, every story starts at the exact same place. A 100% need of rescue that comes from God and God alone.

Austin Gardner:

And I think what you want to realize is this you can easily think I am not the sinner that he is, and you can easily think I'm not as dead as he is. I never was as dead. I was raised in a in a Christian home by a mom and dad that loved God, tried their best, did the best they could with me. And I bluntly honestly have never done any of the gross sins. And so maybe I'm not really dead. But when you're dead, you're dead.

Chris Gardner:

Yeah. And that approach, if we're not careful, we we go looking for a coach, not a savior. If we if we go, we're sitting there, we go, Nay, I need a coach, because I don't I didn't sin too bad. I'm not that bad. I'm better than the next guy.

Austin Gardner:

But the Bible says we want self-help, not salvation.

Chris Gardner:

Yeah, we're we look for a coach. We're not saying we need a savior. We're not saying I know that I'm dead, we're not saying any of that. We're literally saying, hey, I just want to get a little bit better. And that was never the point of the gospel. The point of the gospel is resurrection. You are risen to a new life.

Austin Gardner:

It is really about relationship. When it comes down to it, it's either you're related to God through Jesus or to Satan through Adam. So, in all honesty, when we are doing our own thing, we are dead. And like it says in verse 2, we are walking according to the course of this world. We're doing what other people who rejected God do. We are following the prince of the power of the air. We're following Satan. And that's we're doing the same thing he did. And there's a spirit, it's an un an ungodly spirit, a wicked spirit that works in children of disobedience. That's not who we are.

Chris Gardner:

Yep. And I love the idea. Our story doesn't start. Our story starts with death, but it ends in resurrection because God loves turning graves into doorways. He loves taking and changing our lives and revolutionizing. We are not the same. We are not who we were. We are not self-disciplined enough to be who we want to be. We were nothing but dead, but he has taken and he has chosen us and he has revolutionized every single thing about our being. I really want to go back to this here.

Austin Gardner:

You were dead. Chris is continually mentioning being resurrected. And some of you might be thinking that's about after you die. But no, you have already been resurrected. In Romans chapter 6, we were buried with Christ and we were raised with Christ to walk in the newness of life. You hear that all the time at somebody's baptism, but you were dead. You are not dead now if you're a born-again believer. Because the day you trusted Jesus, you moved in. So I need you to just understand. I know he understands, but you know, the resurrection here is what happened today. You, when you trusted Christ, he resurrected you.

Chris Gardner:

Yeah. And you know, notice the there's a big word that's only two letters in this passage. And you you are in your trespasses and sin. It's not a stain. You weren't eating soup and dropped a piece of something on you. This ain't, oh, I got a little bit of something on me, a little bit of a problem I need to fix. No, you are in it. You are absolutely in it. This is you're in a swamp. You aren't just doing sin, you are drowning in sin. You are in it. You are you are submerged. You have no hope. There's you know the the thing that happens with this verse, three things happen with this verse. Number one, we find the humility factor, because this verse demolishes spiritual pride. If we were dead, we can't we can't brag about finding God. He found us. That's right. So it's humility. The second thing we find is the hope factor. Do you do know that the worst the diagnosis is, the worst the the when a person gets a bad diagnosis, the one thing that he loses that changes everything is he loses hope. The worse the diagnosis, the greater the miracle. We need to understand who we are. We were dead, and that's we but we look at it, and then in verse four, we're gonna find that he says, but God. And then the third factor that we have to understand if you're a follower of Christ is the urgency factor. People around us aren't just confused, they're not just misguided, they are without Christ, they're spiritually dead, they need resurrection, and it's our job to reflect Christ.

Austin Gardner:

So I'd like to talk to you, so you're listening right now, and some of you are still really fighting with the old you. And you honestly are taking the old you as your identity. So you think, well, I can't get over my depression, I can't get over PTSD, I can't get over all, and you've let whatever happened in the past become your identity. But you need to realize this about you. If you are in Christ, you were dead, but you are now made alive. You were a sinner, you are now a saint. You were unfaithful, but you are now faithful in Christ. And so get a hold of your identity because we're still really in the identity part of Ephesians. Ephesians 1, over and over, somehow who you are. And in chapter 2, he's letting you know you were dead, but it says, You hath he quickened. He has resurrected you, he has made you alive when you were dead.

Chris Gardner:

Yeah, and here the the big I I love asking questions when I'm reading a passage, and one of the questions I would ask is why is Paul being led by the Holy Spirit to write this? Because we know from Ephesians 1:1 who this is written to. This is not written to those who are not saved. This is written to those that are already saved. These are people that know Jesus Christ as their savior. But here's what he's doing: he's reminding them of what they were before grace. Because, you know, what's sad is this you get saved and you realize that you were brought from death into life, but you're saved for a few years and all of a sudden you think you weren't all that bad and you weren't all of that. He's reminding them do not forget how hopeless, hopeless was for you. Do not forget that. Because before Christ, we weren't struggling swimmers. We weren't just sitting there going, Oh, I need to send me a life vest. We were floating corpses. Do not forget where God brought you from.

Austin Gardner:

I think uh I think that's extremely important and extremely good. But I think sometimes another on the other end of the spectrum, some of you that kind of got lazy in your spiritual life and the the devil beat you up. Sin grabbed you and you fell back and you you got away from God and you're humiliated, you're humiliated, and you're embarrassed. But I need you to know that your sin's not you. Your sin is not you, your failure is not you. You are a new creature in Christ. And that's not a one-time temporary thing. It is old things are passed away. Behold, all things are made new. And so, and you were dead, but you are now made alive, and you are now a saint, and you are now faithful in Christ, and and I you need to stop with the whining and the thinking, you know, I'm just really messed up, and I'm I can't get my life back under control, and I don't know how to deal with this, and I don't know how to handle it. So, what would you say to those? There are some people listening that I personally know, and they honestly feel like I am so messed up I'll never get my life back.

Chris Gardner:

It's funny because they think that they were dead and they tricked Jesus into saving them. The truth of the matter is what you have to understand is this God looked at the sticker price of you. And when he saw it, I don't know how many times you've gone through a you've gone to a mall to one of those expensive places, and you look at, and there's a beautiful shirt there, and you're like, man, that is my shirt. That is going to look great on me. And you go, you look at the shirt, and you look at the sticker, and you're like, oh, never mind, I must have gotten the wrong one. That sticker is way too much for me to pay that for that. That's what we call sticker shock. What you have to understand is this God Almighty in heaven looked at you, and when he looked at you, he said, How much is it gonna cost me to purchase this one for myself? And this one means you. Yeah, it's it's you. It's it's the person that's whining all the time. It's the person that's complaining all the time, the person that's why.

Austin Gardner:

They're gonna say they don't complain all the time. Yeah, well, they're but you know, it has become a habit with you that you're doubting who you are.

Chris Gardner:

Yeah, you but it's false humility almost. And false humility is nothing but a disguised pride. That's all that it is. But they're sitting there, oh, I didn't deserve that. Oh, I'm so bad off. And God Almighty is looking down, going, Do you really think I was swindled? I knew exactly how much it was going to cost. You were worth the price of my only begotten son. For God so loved the world. And I am not sorry I bought that. I'm not sorry I bought that. There's no buyer's remorse. I know exactly what I did. I am the God of the yesterday and of the today and of the tomorrow. And when I look down from heaven and when I see you, I am not there's no remorse in me that I purchased you and you are worth every little bit that I bought. That should help you stand up with a smile on your face, not knowing how good or bad you are, but now knowing how good your God is.

Austin Gardner:

And I want you to realize that in Ephesians, we've been working in Ephesians now time after time, and it's not really about you. It's about what He is doing. And He made you faithful, He made you a saint, He walked you all through it, He chose you, He predestined you to the adoption, He redeemed you, He reconciled you, He forgave you. And so one of the things that might cause some depression, and you can address this a little bit, Chris, but it's because you think too much about you and what you wished you had and not about God and what He has done.

Chris Gardner:

Yeah, oh absolutely. You know, we're looking in a mirror thinking it's all about us. And man, we serve a God in heaven that has done so much for us, and we need to look at that and look at that with with Thanksgiving and everything else. Well we have to understand is this grace does not make us nicer, grace makes us new. And so is it you you you a diff- you don't grace makes us what? New. It makes us new.

Austin Gardner:

What's that mean? If we're not who we used to be. And what if I'm not living up to that? Well, no, that's not your identity, though. No, no, no. You gotta stand, I've been messed up. I've been I've had some I've had some really down days. I mean, I've had it only.

Chris Gardner:

I would I would love for you to take a piece of paper and write down the absolute worst thing you could ever do and then look at God and say, God, what do you think of me now? And you know what God would think of you if you did everything on that piece of paper? I don't know that I could forgive you for the stuff that you might write down, but he's gonna look down at you and he's gonna say, You're still my son, and I still love you. It's actually gonna say, Oh, if I forgave you before you ever did it. I knew you were gonna do it. Before the foundation of the world. Yeah, this is not new. And I still loved you. You didn't surprise me. I and I still have no sticker shop.

Austin Gardner:

Wait a minute. When did he when did he when did he die? He said, While we were still ungodly. Yeah, while still sinners. We're yet sinners, yeah. And while we were weak. So I need you to know that I know preaching and self uh or performance-based religion is making you feel like you have to, you have to, you have to. But you need to understand salvation is he did. Yeah.

Chris Gardner:

He did. And here's, you know, my my the closing line, the closing thing I would say is this you'll never truly understand grace until you truly understand the grave that you came out of. What God did for you. You are made new. You are a new creation. You you can't reform death, you can only resurrect it. And that's exactly what God did for us. And that's he says, I want you to know I've quickened you, I've made you alive again. You were past tense dead in your trespasses and sin. Things were bad, but guess what? I am God and I am good.

Austin Gardner:

And I have quickened you, I have resurrected you, I have made you alive. Well, I know Chris said that's a finished line, and it ought to be, but let me just say this: just because you don't feel something doesn't mean it's true. Yeah. Or not true. Feelings will mess you up. So you need to trust that God has done what he said he is and believe God. That's who you are. Well, I really appreciate you listening today. I hope it's been a blessing to you. And uh hope that it'll help you and your walk with the Lord. And uh, we will be back with Ephesians. Thank you very much, Chris, for the blessing you've been today. Thank you so much. Enjoyed it. All right, folks, thank you, and we will talk to you next time.

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