A New Heart and Spirit

Ezekiel 36:26-27: And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

When I was a kid, I loved Keith Green’s “Create in Me a Clean Heart,” which takes its words from Psalm 51. If you don’t know, the Lyrics are simple:

Create in me a clean heart, o God,

And Renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from thy presence, O Lord

Take not they Holy Spirit from me

Restore unto me

The Joy of my salvation,

And Renew a right spirit within me.

To this day, this song still haunts me. You might recall David wrote it after God had passed sentence on David for taking Urijah the Hittite’s wife, Bathsheba, and murdering the man. In the process, he lost the son that came from the affair, even though he married her. All David could do was fast, pray, and appeal to God. In the same way, I think we all ought to examine our hearts.

We may not have done anything like have an affair or murder someone, but each of us is guilty for the sin that put Jesus on the Cross. When we stand before God in His righteous judgement, it will not be for our neighbors, spouses, or kids sins that we are held to account, but our own. And so our own sin, my own sin, is worse than any other, because it is my sin that I will be judged for. Our hope lies in the promises of the Old Testament fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Through Ezekiel, God promises to remove the heart of stone from His people and to give them a new Spirit and New Heart. And through the Cross, that is exactly what Jesus offers. Jesus offers new life, which means a new Spirit and new heart, one that is not endeared to sin and the selfishness that goes with it, but a heart that reflects Christ and the love of the Father. The Holy Spirit of God comes to dwell within us, renewing our own Spirit, and He comes and, throughout our lives, shapes us in to the image of God we were meant to be. So I will pray, as David did, “Create in me a clean heart.”

Psalm 51

Have mercy on me, O God,

according to your steadfast love;

according to your abundant mercy

blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

and cleanse me from my sin!

For I know my transgressions,

and my sin is ever before me.

Against you, you only, have I sinned

and done what is evil in your sight,

so that you may be justified in your words

and blameless in your judgment.

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,

and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,

and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Let me hear joy and gladness;let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

Hide your face from my sins,

and blot out all my iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from your presence,

and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Then I will teach transgressors your ways,

and sinners will return to you.

Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,

O God of my salvation,

and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.

O Lord, open my lips,

and my mouth will declare your praise.

For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;

you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;

build up the walls of Jerusalem;

then will you delight in right sacrifices,

in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;

then bulls will be offered on your altar.