A New Heart of Love

"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 tender heart."

(Ezekiel 36:26)

This amazing New Covenant promise from God to all those who are His—born again by His Spirit—gives me so much joy in Christ, and promises me absolute hope, and God's never-ending peace for my life.

*Note: I have not taken Ezekiel 36:26 and used it here as a "proof text" to prove my point of view. On the contrary, I have been moved and inspired by the eternal truth of the precious New Covenant promise from God, in this verse in Ezekiel chapter 36 to give us a new spirit and a new heart. And then I sought out through the Bible, further confirmation of that promise. And what I have found, and continue to find, is that our hearts have been made new.

One of my most precious memories of my relationship with my mom, was her sharing with me how God had given her a new heart.

"Mark, there's one thing I know for sure, and that is, God changed my heart; and that was something I could not do for myself."

The new heart that God gave me, is so profoundly real to me today and I can rejoice, because I know it's not the old "me" - It's, "Christ in me." (Colossians 1:27)

I think back with sad regret on just how selfish, arrogant, cynical, and hard-hearted I was before Jesus drew me to Himself and saved me. Before He changed me, my heart was bitter, mean-spirited, and deceitful. I used to do "nice things" for my wife, but I always had a selfish agenda for doing so. 

I was incapable of loving anyone unconditionally.

But, because Jesus took the heart of stone out of me, and gave me a new tender heart, now I am free to love unconditionally.

Now, I am not saying that when we're born again that we're "perfect" just like God is perfect. But my new tender heart that God gave me—my new inward man—no longer wants to want to sin.  Before Christ was in me, my heart desired to sin continuously. But no longer. 

Now when sin rears it's ugly head in my life, it's not me that wants to sin, it's the old man/sin nature that dwells in me that wants to do evil. 

There's a big difference. 

Sadly, a number of Christians today believe that even after getting saved, our hearts are still wicked. The following passage of scripture is one that I believe is being wrongly applied to born again believers today and is causing problems in the Church:

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

Before we were saved and born again by God's grace through the gift of faith, yes; absolutely, our hearts were wicked and deceitful. But that was before God Himself came in to dwell in our hearts. That was before He took the heart of stone out of us and gave us a new tender heart and put His Spirit in us. 

But not everyone believes God's promises.

After Jesus was resurrected, He came upon two men walking along the road to a village called Emmaus. They were discussing the events of His crucifixion. As they walked along the road it says they talked and reasoned together of all these things which had happened and were sad. Jesus came alongside them, though they didn't recognize Him, and He asked them what they were talking about?

After one of them basically dismissed Him as someone who should have known what happened in Jerusalem over the last few days, they recapped the events of the crucifixion, the burial and the empty tomb, and how they had hoped that (He) was the one who was going to redeem Israel.

Jesus responded to them, and I believe He did so with love and warmth in His eyes and voice, saying:

“O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!” (Luke 24:25)

The point is, the Scriptures are full of promises of His coming, crucifixion, resurrection. But they were slow of heart to believe God's promises.

Why are we sometimes like that today? 

What is this "heart" that the Bible speaks of? Paul writes that we are the dwelling place of God—the temple of the Holy Spirit:

“Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16)

In the physical Temple in the Old Testament, God's presence dwelled in the innermost chamber, in the center of the Temple: The Holy of Holies.

Our heart is the deepest innermost part of our being—the holy of holies of our temple—if you will. And our heart—the dwelling place of God in us—has been made new.

I believe this promise from God's Word:

“That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:16-19)

And this promise:

"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)

Jesus Christ—God Himself—dwells in my heart. In Him, I am rooted and grounded in love. In Him, I know the love of Christ which passes all knowledge. I don't believe that Jesus would come to indwell a heart that is still wicked.

I believe that Jesus came to heal our broken hearts—to make our hearts whole:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.” (Luke 4:18)

The naysayers continue to insist that our hearts are still wicked. However, I believe the solution and answer to this centuries-old debate rings loud and clear in a single word:

LOVE

If our hearts were still wicked, we couldn't love God with all of our heart, or love our neighbor as ourselves. We couldn't love our enemies and pray for those who curse us and spitefully use us. We couldn't have God's mercy or compassion on the lost or hurting. And we couldn't love sacrificially as Jesus did.

Jesus said:

“He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:38)

Jesus' Rivers of Living Water cannot flow out of a wicked heart. And the notion that our hearts are still  wicked is, in my opinion, a lie from Satan.

Think about it.

Who stands to gain anything by trying to get us to believe that God broke His promise to give us a new heart and a new spirit?  Satan.

Now, some of you will be saying, "Yeah, but I still have wicked thoughts or desires. So where does that junk come from!"

From your old flesh—not from your new heart. 

What is the "flesh?"

It's your old sin nature, also called "the old man." It's part of the fleshly body that we all still inhabit, with all of its impure appetites and evil desires. 

Paul writes:

“But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I don't want to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I don't wish to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wants (wills) to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.  But I see another law in my members (flesh), warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members (flesh).” (Romans 7:17-23)

Some key points Paul makes in this section of Romans 7:

1.  "But now (i.e. now that I'm born again), it is no longer "I" (the "I" Paul is talking about is the new man) who do it, but sin (the old man/sin nature) that dwells in me." - Paul says it twice: "It's no longer me, it's sin that dwells in me."

2.  "I delight in the Law of God according to the inward man."  The old man/sin nature does not delight in the Law of God, but the new/inward man does. Some people don't like the phrase "dual nature" saying it's unbiblical, and that we do not have a dual nature as Christians. But I believe Paul's teachings clearly show that we do. The old man and the new man.

3.  "With the mind (i.e. the mind of the new man/inward man) I serve the law of God. - But with the flesh (my old man/sin nature) (I serve) the law of sin."

When I read these verses it becomes clear to me that Paul is saying, 'There's this new spiritual "me" that delights in serving God in my (new) inward man."   - But there's this old man/sinful nature; i.e. my flesh that serves sin. And, when I do sin, it's no longer "the new Me" who does it, it's the old flesh-man who does it. 

This clearly illustrates a dual nature that lives in a man. One man; with two co-existing natures.

Pastor David Guzik said the following, in the "The Battle Between Two Selves" in his commentary on Romans 7:

“Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

a. I find then a law, that evil is present with me: Anyone who has tried to do good is aware of this struggle. We never know how hard it is to stop sinning until we try. “No man knows how bad he is until he has tried to be good.” (C.S. Lewis) 

b. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man: Paul knows that his real inward man has a delight in the law of God. He understands that the impulse to sin comes from another law in my members. Paul knows that the “real self” is the one who does delight in the law of God. 

i. The old man is not the real Paul; the old man is dead. The flesh is not the real Paul; the flesh is destined to pass away and be resurrected. The new man is the real Paul; now Paul’s challenge is to live like God has made him.”

I believe the old man (flesh) and the new man (spirit/heart/inward man) are present in each of us, and we have to decide daily, moment by moment, "Am I going to put on the new man? Or the old man?"

Your new nature - the "new man" is the Born Again, spiritual person God has now made you to be. But you still have that old fleshly body attached, with all of  it's sinful desires. And it is the weak, old sin nature that Satan tries to tempt.  

But your new heart—your new man—doesn't want anything to do with that filthy junk. The new man wants to submit to God, and resist the devil. The new man desires to draws near to God. The new man wants to love, praise and glorify God.

Do you see?

It's your flesh...your old sin nature that is bad. It's the old man; the flesh that sins. Paul made this very clear in Romans 7, "It is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me."

But the writer of Hebrews 10:22 speaks of the new heart, (the new man) and says, “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience…”

We can draw near to God with a true heart in full assurance of faith because our hearts have been washed clean and made new by the Blood of the Lamb—Jesus Christ—"sprinkled from an evil conscience." 

—God is Love, and Love Never Fails.