The Stony Heart Removed

THE STONY HEART REMOVED

Ezek. 36:26-27

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR

1. Jeff Doty, Radiologist, had a lady come to his office for abdominal X-rays. She was heavily sedated. But he still had to ask her a lot of questions.

2. The last question was, “Ma’am, where is your pain right now?” Through her medicated fog she replied, “He’s at work.”

3. [USHERS PASS OUT STONES with hearts drawn on them.]

B. ANNUAL CHECKUP

1. Doctor’s recommend that once every year, you have a checkup. Here, at the beginning of a New Year, God wants us to have a spiritual checkup.

2. The condition of your heart - what you are in secret - plays a big part in what kind of a person you are. Jesus and others talked a lot about what kind of hearts we have.

3. WHICH KIND OF HEART DO YOU HAVE?

“Stubborn” Mk. 3:5...........................“Noble and good” Lk. 15:8

“Calloused” Mt. 13:15......................“Pure in Heart” Mt. 5:8

“Hardened” John 12:40....................“Open Hearts” Acts 16:14

“Going astray” Heb. 3:10...................“Burning Hearts” Lk. 24:32

“Entertaining evil” Mt. 9:4..................“Christ dwells in” Eph. 3:17

“Far from God” Mt. 15:8....................“Guard your Heart” Pr. 3:24

“Turning back to Egypt” Acts 7:39.....“Set on Heaven” Col. 3:1

Word “snatched” Mt. 13:19................“Love God with All” Mt.22:37

............................................................“Purify your Heart” Jm. 4:8

4. We need to say with David, “Search me O God & know my heart: Try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Ps. 139:23-24, KJV.

5. We’ve all heard of DeBakey & Cooley, pioneer heart surgeons, and the first heart transplants they performed. But God was performing heart transplants long before doctors. I believe God wants to do some heart transplants this morning!

C. TEXT & THESIS

1. “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” Ez. 36:26-27.

2. ILLUS. “We Must Be Ready”

a. John Boor worked in a bakery while he went to High School. One day the telephone rang, and the employee who answered it yelled, “He’s Coming!” The ladies ran for their hair nets and the men for their clean aprons & caps. The boss gave everyone special cleanup duties.

b. John wondered who was coming. In a few minutes a man in a suit walked through the front door with a tablet and started checking for cleanliness and health hazards. He worked for the State Board of Health!

c. After he left everyone breathed a sigh of relief and went back to work. One of the ladies explained to John Boor that all the businesses help each other out; when the inspector shows up, they call the surrounding businesses to give warning.

3. When Jesus comes again there won’t be time to receive warning and prepare yourself; you have to stay ready. [Davon Huss] The title of this message is “The Stony Heart Removed.”

I. THE STONY HEART & ITS DANGERS

“I will remove from you your heart of stone” Ez. 36:26.

A. WHY ARE HUMAN HEARTS COMPARED TO STONES?

1. BECAUSE, LIKE A STONE, IT’S COLD.

a. You can heat a stone in a fire, but it won’t stay hot very long; it quickly returns to its natural coldness. If you have stone floors in your house you know how cold they get in winter.

b. God sees some people’s hearts just like that. He sends revival services, or more of the Spirit, and they get warm, but quickly cool back to their natural coldness. There is no natural in-bred fire in them; only coldness toward God. The Lord said, “The love of many shall wax cold.”

2. LIKE A STONE, IT’S HARD.

a. There’s a real heart condition that turns people’s hearts into stone. Around our hearts is a protective sac. In “constrictive pericarditis,” the body begins depositing calcium inside the sac around the heart (like a stalactite in a cavern). It gets stronger & thicker until the muscle of the heart can no longer beat against it. Their heart slowly turns hard as stone! This also happens spiritually!

b. Our spiritual hearts can become so impenetrable that even the razor-edge of the Word won’t cut it & the Holy Spirit’s pricking ceases to wound our consciences.

c. God can rebuke us again & again through circumstances, but we, like Pharaoh before Moses, harden our hearts against God’s dealings. (I pray that’s not true of you!)

3. LIKE A STONE, IT’S DEAD!

a. Paul talked about people being “dead in sins & trespasses.” Eph. 2:1; Col. 2:13.

b. The prodigal son was said to be “dead” when living in sin, Lk. 15:24,32.