New Year Sermon - New Heart, New Spirit, New Beginnings
Ezekiel 36:22-32
{Audio File: https://mega.nz/#!7FUH0YxD!ppsMf0WQL9ED0JjGR-iiQLgdy3IwyoUTOTY7Jh1oa7w}
This is not the first time I’ve taught on these Scripture verses, and I doubt that it will be the last, because of just how powerful they are, especially as a New Year rolls around. And as I look at what has been happening in our church this past year, and where we’re going in our new series on the Holy Spirit, I feel these verses have special significance, because I believe God wants to give us and our church a new beginning, but such a new beginning can only happen when we possess a new heart and a new spirit.
As we approach the coming of the New Year, many of us are thinking and making resolutions about those things we know we have to do, like losing weight, exercising, eating healthier and taking our vitamins. And for many of us this list not only continues to be reprinted every year, but it grows as well.
We also begin our spiritual to do list, like reading the Bible and praying every day, using our gifts and talents in God’s service, to be more loving, Christ-like, and obedient to God’s word.
The only problem is that while we resolve to do these things, our resolve dissipates because we really don’t have the power within us to keep them, and what is also brought up in our passage, and that is our not dealing with our sin according to God’s word.
And so we need a new beginning, which starts with a new heart and new spirit. This promise is given to us through the prophet Ezekiel.
Read Ezekiel 36:22-32
Ezekiel’s prophecy and God’s promise wasn’t given to people who didn’t know God, rather it was given to His chosen, His elect, those who knew Him and had experienced His divine favor and judgment.
Therefore, Ezekiel’s prophecy and God’s promise has direct relevance for believers and the church today, in other words, us. We know God, we are His chosen and elect through faith in Jesus Christ and the blood He shed upon the cross for our sins to be forgiven. Therefore, in accordance to God’s word, we need the same thing God promised to the Jews back then, that is, a new heart and a new spirit.
However, to receive this new heart, new spirit, and therefore, a new beginning it takes several things the Lord brings out in our passage.
1. God’s Restoration
“For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land.” (Ezekiel 36:24 NKJV)
God’s promise was to restore the Jewish people to their rightful land, the Promised Land, that which they were taken out from because of their disobedience. It’s a promise God had made way back to Abraham that this land would be theirs for all time.
After Abraham’s nephew, Lot, left him, God took Abraham aside and said,
“For all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever.” (Genesis 13:15 NKJV)
And so in Ezekiel’s prophecy, the Lord is reaffirming this covenant agreement and will restore them, not only from their Babylonian captivity, which lasted 70 years, but also from the diaspora, when the Roman Empire removed the Jewish people from the land and shipped them around the world, and this dispersion lasted for almost 2,000 years, and ended when God brought the Jewish people back into their land, the land of Israel, and made them once again a nation, which was recognized by the world in 1948.
God is in the restoration business. Today, however, God’s promise of restoration is not to a specific piece of property, but rather to Himself. God wants to restore our relationship with Him, and He has done so through the next step.
2. God’s Cleansing
“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.” (Ezekiel 36:25 NKJV)
God would cleanse them from their sin, which was to be done through the sprinkling of water. In Numbers chapter 19, there is the law of purification, that not only involved the sprinkling of water, but also of blood.
King David understood this cleansing after His sin with Bathsheba.
“Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.” (Psalm 51:2 NKJV)
David and Ezekiel both saw themselves before a Holy and Righteous God, realizing that nothing could be hidden from God, especially our sin and disobedience. Through Ezekiel the Lord states,
“Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and your abominations.” (Ezekiel 36:31 NKJV)
King David also understood that such a cleansing was needed, but He also knew that the methods used in the Law pointed to a further sacrifice, one of the heart and spirit.
“For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart.” (Psalm 51:16-17 NKJV)
God’s law makes it clear that without blood no real cleansing can occur. Quoting the law in Leviticus 17:11, the writer of Hebrews says, “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22).
So what was that further sacrifice that cleanses? The writer of Hebrews gives the answer.
“Having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way…let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” (Hebrews 10:19-22)
Rituals do not cleanse us; rather it’s the blood of Jesus Christ shed for us upon the cross that cleanses us from sin. And the writer of Hebrews tells us that this is the new and living way.
This is a beautiful picture of what God has done for us. He calls us, cleanses us, and puts within us the Holy Spirit so that we can obey His commands and be productive for the kingdom of God.
Yet, many of us do not feel productive. We feel as if we’re missing what God has planned for us. And the reason I can say this is because if we were, then we wouldn’t have to make all these New Year resolutions. We would already be doing what God has called for us to do.
So why aren’t we experiencing the fullness of God in our lives and in the church? I believe the reason is because we’ve allowed our hearts and spirits to grow cold.
And so the Lord gives to us this promise
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.” (Ezekiel 36:26-27 NKJV)
And so this new beginning the Lord promises starts with a new heart and new spirit.
A New Heart
“I will give you a new heart ... I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26 NKJV)
The Lord is talking about a heart transplant, not a physical transplant, mind you, but a spiritual one. The heart is more than a bodily organ that pumps life-giving blood to the rest of the body. The heart is symbolic of all that it means to be human.
There are about 3,500 heart transplants done every year around the world, and we may well be the first generation to understand how a new heart can replace an old one. Therefore, we may be the first generation who can understand how a new heart can radically change and alter us forever.
And having such a new heart will give us a strange and wondrous feeling that Someone greater than ourselves is living inside us, and how grateful we are to the One who has given it to us so that we may live. We can be grateful, because beating inside of us is God’s own heart.
Often times when we think of the heart, we think of it in terms of love, romance, and compassion. And while the heart may be that, in the Bible the heart is the seat of wisdom; it’s where all of our decisions are made. Solomon said that as a person thinks in their heart, that is who they really are (Proverbs 23:7a).
But, that isn’t as good thing as it sounds, because it’s from our hearts that most of our problems develop. The prophet Jeremiah makes this observation.
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” (Jeremiah 17:9 NKJV)
And so the condition of our hearts is extremely important.
Jesus said, “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45 NIV)
And while this is the main reason why we need a new heart, that is, our hearts are evil because of the sin nature inside of us, we also need a new heart, a heart of flesh, because our hearts have become hardened by the trials and cruelty of life.
Jesus gives a unique perspective on this when He taught the parable of the seed and the sower. And the basis of this parable is that it’s the condition of our hearts that determines the penetration of God’s word in our lives.
Take for instance the first soil. It represent hardened ground, ground that has been beaten down and hardened like a path. In fact, it has become so hardened that it can’t even respond to the good news of God’s love. This hardened heart, therefore, needs to be replaced by a new one, one that is open and will respond to the good seed of God’s word and produce a bountiful harvest.
Today, especially during the holiday season, maybe our hearts have become hardened due to others stepping all over them, or through the various trials that accompany life. But, God can give a heart transplant, where He’ll remove our stony heart and give us a heart of flesh, that is, a heart that is open to all God has.
So how can we receive a new heart? It begins by accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, becoming what Jesus called being born again. It’s a heart that believes Jesus died upon the cross and that His blood was shed for the forgiveness of our sin. And because He rose from the dead, He gives to all who believe in Him new life, a brand new start with a brand new heart.
Therefore, let’s ask God to do some cardio-vascular surgery to get our hearts pumping once again with that life giving and life saving blood of Jesus Christ.
But beyond a new heart, God also wants to put a new spirit inside of us.
A New Spirit
Look again at what the Lord said through the prophet Ezekiel
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you … I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.” (Ezekiel 36:26-27 NKJV)
God gives us the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of power. More literally, the Holy Spirit is the wind beneath our wings. The Holy Spirit is described as the breath of God. In the Old Testament that word for Spirit is “ruach,” which means wind or breath.
Some of us have a hard time catching our breath, especially those with COPD. And it’s really hard to do something when we cannot breathe. In the same way it’s hard to fly a kite without wind.
And so God gives us the Holy Spirit, a new breath of life to assist us in our time of need. Literally, God is giving us breathing assistance and keeping us spiritually alive through the Holy Spirit, and keep us going through those critical times until our transformation is complete.
The Apostle Paul said, “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6 NKJV)
Like the new heart, the new spirit begins when we come to faith in Jesus Christ. This is seen when the disciples first encountered the risen Jesus, and it says that Jesus breathed on them, that is, He breathed into them the very breath of God, the Holy Spirit and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22).
Just as God breathed into Adam and made him into a living soul, so Jesus breathes into us and makes us into new creations in Him, spiritual beings ready for heaven once this life is over.
Prior to His accession into heaven, Jesus said, “You have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (Acts 1:4-5 NKJV)
And so the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples 10 days later at the feast of Pentecost as the sound of a rushing mighty wind. And notice something about wind, wind is air that is moving; not stagnant.
The Holy Spirit is constantly moving. Maybe to say it like this, the Holy Spirit is an unstoppable fact of life. To ask the Holy Spirit not to move is like asking fire not to burn, or water not to be wet.
But still we need to ask the Holy Spirit to move in our lives, and that’s because we don’t see Him moving as we should, and that’s because we’ve become overly sensitive to the draft. And because of it, we’ve closed the windows and shut the door to the Holy Spirit.
So, what we need to do is to reopen those windows and doors and let the Breath of God, the Holy Spirit come in and renew us once again.
Therefore, when we possess that new heart and new spirit, God will give us …
A New Beginning
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV)
There is a wonderful old saying that says that while every saint has a past, every sinner has a future.
We can change!
But we cannot change on our own. Change comes from within. The promise given by God through Ezekiel is that we’ve been given a new heart and a new spirit, that is, God’s word written on our hearts, and the Holy Spirit placed within them.
The Lord says, “I will take away your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh,” and “I will put My Spirit within you” (Ezekiel 36:26b-27a).
This morning if there is anyone who hasn’t taken that step of faith asking Jesus Christ into his or her life as Savior and Lord, then do so. Ask Him to place inside of you a new heart and new spirit, so that you can have that brand new beginning.
And if you are already a believer in Jesus Christ, then today, let King David’s prayer be yours
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10 NKJV)
Remember, this promise isn’t for those who haven’t heard, but for those who have, for those who are His. It is for His church, and as His church it’s for you and me.
And so as we look to start this New Year, let’s do so by asking God to give to us a heart that is new, a heart that has been cleansed through confession and forgiveness, and then ask the Lord for a renewed spirit through a genuine Holy Spirit revival in our lives and in the life of the church.
