New Year New Heart

New Year New Heart

Ezekiel 36:26–27

Happy New Year!

There is something about a new year

We wish people a Happy New Year

Every new year comes with fresh hopes.

This will be the best year yet.

We make resolutions.

We set goals.

We promise ourselves, “This year will be different.”

A new diet

New habits

New priorities

A new focus

There is overwhelming evidence

Most of us have lived long enough to know this truth:

A new calendar does not automatically produce a new person.

The problem isn’t the year.

The problem isn’t effort.

The problem isn’t information.

The Problem is the Heart.

Ezekiel 36:26 NLT

And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.

Ezekiel 36:27 NLT

And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.

Here’s why this is such a powerful promise

God is not offering behavior modification

God does want a better you!

But not one you can get from the latest self-help guru.

God is offering a transformed heart.

Ezekiel is speaking to Israel in exile.

They had failed God repeatedly (stony, stubborn heart)

God resists the proud

Yet God is speaking hope

This is God’s grace

God Promises a New Heart (v. 26)

“I will give you a new heart…”

Not a repaired heart.

Not a better heart.

Not a more disciplined heart

Not one with more willpower.

But a new heart

A heart that is transformed by the gospel

A renewed heart

A renewed mind

Romans 12:2 ESV

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

The Problem: A Heart of Stone

“I will take out your stony, stubborn heart”

A stone heart is…

Hard toward God

Unresponsive to truth

Resistant to conviction

Comfortable with sin

You can hear truth and feel nothing.

You can worship and feel unmoved.

You can know what’s right and still not desire it.

The Promise: A Heart of Flesh

This new heart will be restored to God.

It will be cleansed of sin.

The Holy Spirit will come and dwell in your new heart.

There will be a renewed relationship to God.

This new heart will see sin for what sin is.

This change takes place on the inside.

God Provides a New Spirit (v. 26)

“I will put my spirit in you”

Lowercase “s” spirit (our spirit)

God doesn’t just change what we feel

He changes who we are.

A new heart and spirit are not self-improvement

It is spiritual resurrection

You don’t need a better version of yourself

You need a new you — and only God can give that.

God Places His Spirit Within Us (v. 27)

“I will put my Spirit in you”

This is God’s Holy Spirit

This happens at salvation

But that spirit can become neglected.

Our hearts can drift towards hardness

God’s Holy Spirit is always there.

A transformation must take place

God does not merely forgive you.

God does not merely clean you up.

God comes to live within you.

How to fix it.

These five things happen to us.

Distraction (the cares of the world)

Doubt

Disappointment

Discouragement

Destruction

The 5 D’s of the devil

Change begins with…

An act of grace

An act of faith

Faith is surrender (here am I send me)

God calls, God provides

As we step into a new year, here’s the question that matters most:

Am I asking God to help me try harder…

Or to change me deeper?

God specializes in heart transplants.

If you’ll come to Him

If you’ll surrender

If you’ll trust Him