Well, dear church family, this Lord's Day our concentration will be from Ezekiel 36, verse 26, that precious text. Verse 26 of the word of God, a new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you. I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh. A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. We see here, of course, the radical process and transformation that must take place, do we not? in true conversion. Someone must undergo a great operation of the Holy Spirit. We see here very clearly that which is vital really for true biblical salvation, a new heart. a new heart and the old heart being removed and a new spirit. And how Ezekiel, the prophet of God, the messenger of God really knew this. But sadly only a remnant actually in his day actually took heed to this warning. There were only a few people in his day that actually took heed to the word of God. Ezekiel really, just a little of the context before we look at the verse, Ezekiel was of course a prophet of the exile, wasn't he? He was carried off into Babylon some years before Jerusalem fell. In fact he was one of the first to be, because of where he was located, to be taken off. And so his ministry really was before and during the exile. He never, of course, got to see the restoration of the temple and he never saw that. But he remained faithful, did he not? Even though he didn't see the restoration of the temple in Jerusalem. And he lived around the same time as his contemporaries Daniel and Jeremiah. He lived around those same days. And we know from Jeremiah's accounts, do we not, that he is called the weeping prophet, isn't he? because him and Ezekiel and others they preach fervently the word of God. They reveal the mind of God to the people of God but yet very few people actually took heed to the word of God. These were very turbulent days for of course Israel and Jerusalem and Judah. God's judgment was upon the land of Israel because of their sin and because of course of their idolatry. Ezekiel prophesied of this both, like I said, before and during the captivity. The name Ezekiel actually means God has strengthened me, or God strengthens. And of course Ezekiel needed this strength from God, did he not? He needed to be strengthened for this calling which he was called to do. Because we know, if you look at chapter 24 of Ezekiel, we're told of his wife's untimely death, and how this was symbolic of God's justice to Israel, and that he could not even mourn over his wife. And it was symbolic, really, of how Israel had treated God. A great ingratitude, really, to the Lord God. And Ezekiel's particular calling by God was that of a watchman. We're told in Ezekiel 3.17 that his particular calling and commission was that of a watchman. Ezekiel 3.17, Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel. Therefore, hear the word at my mouth. and give them warning from me." So he was a watchman, he was a guard, he was to be vigilant for the house of Israel. Ezekiel was to declare God's word faithfully and to bring the people to true repentance and faith. Ezekiel 3 18 really comes to mind. When I say unto the wicked thou shalt surely die and thou givest him not warning nor speakest to warn the wicked from his way to save his life. The same wicked man shall die in his iniquity but his blood will I require. at thine hand. So he had a solemn responsibility to be absolutely truthful and faithful concerning the Word of God. Whether people liked it or not. Whether people would receive the Word of God or not. He wasn't out for a popularity contest. He was called to be a watchman. He was called to be faithful to God despite what that may cost him. Now Ezekiel the prophet was not only to proclaim God's word, at times he was also to act it out. And some of it's actually quite interesting when we see he wasn't only to proclaim it, it was actually to act out God's word before the people as well. It was a form of kind of symbolism of what God would do to Jerusalem. In Ezekiel 4 he was to build almost like a mini set of Jerusalem he was to lay a tile on the ground and he was to put an iron plate or a pan as it were before this tile and then he was almost if you think of like a Lego set or something like that and he was to almost make the set where he was to to come beseech Jerusalem and then he was to lay his back against Jerusalem And of course we know this was prophetic, do we not? He was warning against, again, many people did not take heed to God's word and God reluctantly came, of course, against that great and holy city and besieged it. And the tile and the iron pan, of course, the iron pan was a representative of the Babylonians coming in with their iron, as it were. And, of course, he would lay on his back or on his side for so many days, as it were, with his back against Jerusalem. And of course all of this was symbolic, wasn't it, for so many days. God had continued to pour out his heart and his love to a people and they just would not listen to him. And also we're told, are we not, in Ezekiel chapter 5 that he was to take a sharp knife and he was to take a blade. So in Ezekiel 5 we're told that he was to take a sharp knife And he used to take a sharp blade and he used to cut his hair off his head and his beard. So again he was to act these things out. And he was to burn a third part of his hair. And he was to smite and literally kill a third part of his hair. And then he was to literally scatter a third part of his hair. And then the kind of the remnant of the hairs that were left over from all this. You can imagine this. The remnant of those hairs he was then to put in the skirt of his coat, as it were, probably next to his heart. And that would be secure, wouldn't it? And of course we know that this was all symbolic. This was a prophecy that God would come up against Jerusalem, that holy city. And a third of it would be taken obviously by fire. A third of it by the edge of the sword as it were. And a third would be scattered. And of course a remnant of God's people like Ezekiel, well he was taken before that, but others God would look after that remnant. They would be very close to God's heart. Those who feared the Lord, who loved him, that trusted in him, they would be kept very close, of course, to the Lord God. In chapter 37 of Ezekiel, he was told to preach to a valley of dry bones, wasn't he? That's kind of very well-known passage. Such was the spiritual deadness of that place. And sometimes we go out into this valley of Tivitin. We come down to the valley of Tivitin. And we go out and we proclaim, we warn of our accountability towards our maker. We preach the gospel. We try to reveal the mind of God to men. And that's what we're commissioned to do. And sometimes it's like preaching to a valley of dry bones out there, isn't there? Is there any spiritual life out there? It's like preaching to a valley of dry bones out there sometimes. Very little people are responding to the Word of God. Well, when the Word, of course, was preached to this valley of dry bones and the Spirit of God blew upon the Word being preached, well then we see life, do we not? Coming upon those dry bones. Them dry bones began to have life. as it were and so up until really chapter 18 the focus changes really from Israel as a nation and this is the main emphasis this is why I'm giving us the context behind this because up until chapter 18 we see God's judgment upon Israel, upon Judah, Jerusalem And so it begins with God's judgment upon a nation, a blessed nation, a nation that were given all the means, all the privileges to lead them to salvation. And it shifts to the individual. And this is really the point. This is where it all kind of converges. It shifts from a nation to really the root cause of any nation. It's the heart. It's the individual's heart. You see, it all shifts. And this is the main emphasis. It's an individual standing before God. Israel were told to remove their high places. They were warned about their idolatry, about giving their heart to the creature and the things of this world, and living for the things of this world instead of the Lord. You know, they were religious, but they were not living for the Lord. They refused to listen, and God's judgments came upon them swiftly and suddenly. And so we see here, do we not, a shift from a nation, God's judgments upon a nation, to an individual. The root problems and issues of any nation is the problem of the heart of the individuals of that nation. It's the spiritual character of that nation. Righteousness exalteth the nation, does it not? And that is the great problem with Great Britain today. We can't call ourselves great anymore. We can't. That's a problem with America today. We've got people from all different nationalities here today. There's a problem. And the problem is is the heart. And this is what Ezekiel's prophecy is coming down to. It's shifting to the root cause of a nation's problems. It's the heart, you see. That's the heart of the matter. It's the matter of the heart. And we see, do we not, in this context, Ezekiel 18.20, the soul that sinneth It shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father. Neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him. And the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. You see it's narrowing down. It's almost like Ezekiel saying, you're missing the point. I want you to love me from your heart, to seek me from your heart. I'm fed up of these sacrifices and your heart's not in it. I want your heart and your mind and your soul to be in it. That's what he's really saying here. And the message the prophet of God is giving us, it cannot be any clearer, can it not? You cannot be saved on account of the nation you belong to. You cannot be saved on the nation that you belong to. Sadly, many people think because I come from such and such a country or such and such a country, I'm more deserving than other people to be converted. Not so. Neither can you be condemned on account of the nation you belong to. You can't be condemned either on the nation, and we know right throughout the scriptures it teaches this. You cannot be condemned by the faithlessness of a parent or parents either. If you've come from a family that has an ungodly father or an ungodly mother or even a heritage of ungodliness, you cannot be condemned in that respect either. Or you cannot be saved by your parents' faith. If you have parents that truly love the Lord and are living for Him by faith and are daily being conformed to Him and seeking to serve Him in their life, well you cannot be saved on account of their faith either. Sadly, many are under the impression that because my father or because my mother or because I come from a whole lineage of believers throughout my father or my parents, they were all these wonderful, noteworthy Christians. Therefore, I must be a Christian. Not so. Not so, friends. Not according to the Word of God. And similarly, friends, there are those who know nothing about the Christian faith because they had not a godly upbringing. And so they think it's nigh impossible to be saved. Well, I haven't got this upbringing, you see. I haven't been taught the things of God. Well, the word of God is very clear, isn't it, this Lord's Day morning through the prophet Ezekiel, God's messenger. Every soul will be judged in a very personal way on whether they have truly responded to the teachings of God and have responded to the gospel. It comes down to the individual, doesn't it? To what's in man's heart. It may be you come from a Christian home. and an influence and whether you do or not, salvation cannot be inherited from your parents or any other noteworthy person. This is something you must settle between you and the Lord in a very personal way. You've got to do this yourself, you see, before the Lord. And likewise, you can be one that has been given a very godly, has not been given any godly heritage. And you can despair, really, because no one in your family is converted, or very few people. And you come from a legacy of people that not many people have been saved. And you despair over that. Well, how can I be saved? How can I be of any influence in this dark world? Well, you know what you do. You know what you do when you come from that type of heritage. Perhaps a broken family. Perhaps a legacy of unbelief and wickedness in the family tree. You know what you do in that situation. You begin the godly heritage in your family. You start the godly heritage in your family by the grace of God. You do that. You be a blessing to others. You be a blessing in your marriages, with your children, in your church, in the neck of the vineyard that God has put you in. You be the blessing. You be the heritage that will last by faith to generation to generation. You can be a blessing. to hundreds, yea to thousands by having a personal relationship with God. It starts with you, doesn't it? And I, from the heart. And this really is the message and remedy of Ezekiel to people who are under God's judgments. This is what he's saying. You want to know where the issues of life come from? Like we thought about in Proverbs, they come from the heart, don't they? Out of the heart are the issues of life. Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of them are the issues of life. You want to know why God's providence is lowering you, is humbling you, as it were? It's a great mark of grace, that God often humbles those, brings them to the dust, as it were, to see their great need of the Saviour. Because God wants you in a very personal, intimate way. He wants your heart, He wants your mind. He that hath made the heart and mind, will he not know what's within it? and hence today's sacred text Ezekiel 36, 26. A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart and heart of flesh. You see how the context makes all the difference, doesn't it? from the nation to the root cause of the problem, the heart and the spirit that's within a man. That's the problem, isn't it, friends? And this is not what you and I can do for God. This is not what we can do for God, is it? It's all about what the Lord God has done for us, isn't it? This text makes it very clear. It's not us as we're trying to build a ladder up to heaven by good works, by doing all these things. It's what He's done for us. It's the finished work which He's done for us on the cross of Calvary. A new heart will I give you. A new spirit will I put within you. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I, God, the Lord God, will give you a heart of flesh. It's all about what He has done for us, is it not? Upon Calvary. Ezekiel, like a master surgeon here, really magnifies. We think of a surgeon. He almost has that magnifying glass, as a surgeon would. And he looks at the root cause of Israel's disobedience, or their idolatry, of their hypocrisy in many areas, their religiosity, but their heart's not in it. And he, like a master surgeon, takes and he looks and he says, ah. That's the problem. The heart is the problem. The spirit is the problem. And that's the problem of course with all of us. We are all in desperate need of a spiritual operation. We need it. There's no kind of patching over. If you were to go to a surgeon, and the surgeon is like, you need a heart transplant. And he said, I just want to patch it up. Just patch it up. No, no, you need a complete heart transplant. No, I just want to patch it up. I don't want to go, I'm sorry, you're going to die. And it's sadly how many people respond to the gospel, patching it up. You're going to die if that's the case. Ezekiel, like I said, is like this master surgeon who magnifies the root cause of Israel's problem and our problem. The heart and the spirit of man by nature is not right with God. We are not right with God in our natural condition. And indeed this is the problem with all of us by nature. Jeremiah, Ezekiel's contemporary, had the same message, didn't he? The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. That's not a good heart. That's a heart that is desperately wicked. That's on the run from God like Esau, like Cain. It's on the run. And we can paint over the sepulcher as much as we want and be religious, but if our heart and our mind is not set upon the Lord, it's a wicked heart, isn't it? It's an excusing heart. And dear friends, by our very nature, we are born with stony hearts, aren't we? The text is so clear. And this is a heart that has been hardened by sin. It's a carnal heart, isn't it? All of us know of this. If we've become a Christian, we know what we've been brought from. It was a carnal heart, wasn't it? A worldly, unbelieving heart. This is a heart that loves the creature more than the creator, that wants to live for the creature more than the creator. This is an impenitent, hard, cold, stony heart. Not much spiritual life can grow in this heart, can it not? And if there is some growth in there, Of course, it only rises for a time, and then it's soon plucked up, isn't it? You can be religious for a time, and then of course it's gone. If it's not a testimony of time, if you're not rooted in Christ the Saviour, you see, such as a heart that is void of true daily repentance towards God and faith in His Son. That is a cold heart. If there's not true daily repentance of sins of the heart, not just being caught out, but sins of the heart and sins of the mind. If you don't have such a heart that is repenting over sins, not only sins of omission, but sins of commission. I haven't done that which is right. I'm not living a life of faith. Have we repented over those things? Is there such a heart within us, you see? And such a stony hard heart is not as soft and a mouldable heart as it were, that lives by the word of the living God, by faith. It's not such a heart that's mouldable and shapeable. A soft heart, it's a heart of unbelief, friend. It's a worldly and a covetous heart. It's a selfish and an unforgiving and a greedy heart. It's a stubborn and inflexible and resentful heart. It's a cold and spiritually senseless heart. Do you have such a heart, friends? What I'm describing here. Do you have this heart I am describing? Well, I had this heart for years. I had such a heart all throughout my teen years and into my twenties. I had this heart, friends, this cold, stony heart of unbelief. And I would have called myself a Christian. I had this for years. And you know, the heart gets harder, doesn't it? The more we resist the Spirit of God, the heart becomes harder and the busy become busier. And before you know it, God's judgment is looming upon you, as it were. Do you have such a heart, friends? Well, the prophet is very clear. If you do have such a heart, you will surely die in your trespasses and sins. It doesn't matter what other people think of you. If you have the heart I'm describing, you will die in your trespasses and sins, and you will face a Christless eternity without the Saviour. What a thought! You see friends, who can remove such a wicked and corrupt, faithless heart? Who can remove it? Can I remove that for you? I can't, can I? Can you remove that for you? Can you reform your life and be this good Christian as it were? You can't, can you friends? You see, only the almighty, omnipotent, all-powerful, all-wise God knows how to remove that wicked heart of unbelief. This poor man cried unto the Lord and he saved me out of all my troubles. I cried to him, I could do nothing. And he saved me, he changed my heart. Friends, only the almighty God through his son the Lord Jesus Christ and through the gospel of grace in Christ can give you a new heart, a heart that truly believes in him, a heart that truly by faith puts their arms upon the Lamb of God by faith and believes when Christ died for me upon that cross of Calvary, he did it out of love for me. John 3.16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. God so loved you and me, sinners, that he is willing to sacrifice, as a perfect sacrifice and atonement, his son. on that cruel cross of Calvary to die for all of our sins, past, present, and future. To take the penalty which we deserve, we deserve death, we deserve hell. And God so loved us, he gave us his son. To live a perfect life of obedience that we can never live. Always doing that which is righteous. Always obeying the law. Not only not stealing from his heart, but always giving. always living a righteous life, always honouring his father. Can you say that? Can I say that? I can't, can I? None of us can say that. But God in his love to you and me, sinners, so loved us that he was willing to lay down his precious only begotten son's life out of love. To be that perfect sacrifice and atonement for our sin. Not for some of our sins. Not just for our past sins. But for every single sin. Past, present and future. The work of salvation is complete. And all you need to do now is by faith take hold upon the Lamb of God and all of your sins, like in the old system, will be transferred to the Lamb, the spotless, the blemishless Lamb of God. perfect, holy Lamb, the Lamb that John the Baptist spoke of, behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world. Oh yes, even your sin, even my sin, every sin, every sinful heart, every sinful motive, every sin that manifests itself, every ungrateful thought that we've had, every sin has been dealt with, such was His love. Such was the cost which it cost Him to bear away our sin upon that cross. One can only imagine what it cost God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit to bear away my sin and your sin upon that cross. You can imagine it. Such was the agony of body and soul that the world went dark. God the Father who willingly gave his son, and the son willingly, in obedience to the father, in honour to the father, pours out his wrath, his just anger upon sin. And Jesus Christ, bearing our sin, takes the penalty of our sin as a substitute upon him, for us, so that we can be free to love him, to serve him. You know, if that will not melt that stony heart, friends, nothing will, will it? If God's love and divine mercy will not melt that heart into tears of love and gratitude and to be motivated by that love to live for him a holy life, to serve him, what else will? And this is the message really of Ezekiel, it's personal. Have you come in a personal way to the Saviour, friends? Have you sought Him as the pearl of great price? Do you believe that you're a sinner? And have you turned from your sin? Not what other people think of you, but what God thinks of you. Have you turned from your sin? Have you done a 180, as it were, a complete turning to the Lord Jesus Christ, and you've repented of your sins, and you believe that when He died for you, He died for all of your sin, and He loves you, and you belong to Him, and He will always love you. You can never lose your salvation. It's a free gift. Not of works, lest man should boast. It's a free gift. He wants to gift you. Today, He wants to gift you with something which this world can never give you. The praise of men, the riches of this world, what will they come to in the end? What will they come to? Where is the wise man of this world? Where is the rich man of this world that has gone in past? Where are they now? We brought nothing into this world and we're going to leave with absolutely nothing. Naked I came into this world and thither shall I return again. Only that which is done for the Saviour is going to last, you see. Is your heart right with the Lord? Have you a new heart? You see, when you believe in the gospel, you will receive a new heart, to love him, to serve him. He becomes first in your life, a moldable heart, a contrite spirit. Oh yes, friends, do you have that? I trust many do here, but I cannot be sure that everyone has one. I'll never presume who is the Lord's and who's not, but do you have one? It's not gonna matter what anyone else thinks. It's going to matter of your standing before the Lord one day. Do you have a new heart to love him, to serve him? Is he first in your heart and your life? That's what the gospel demands, you see. Have you come as a sinner to Jesus Christ? Do you believe that Jesus Christ now lives? He lives! That song, he lives, he lives, Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and he talks with me along life's narrow way. Do you know that? Do you know that song in your heart? You don't have to know that, but do you know that he lives? Does he live in you? Do you love him? Do you feed upon him? Do you think upon Him? Do you serve Him? Do you honour Him with your life, with everything in your life? He lives, He's overcome all of our enemies. Sin, the consequences of sin, death, this wicked world that's going to burn. He's overcome them all, the devil. He lives, and He ever lives to intercede for us, doesn't He? Will you trust Him today, friends? Will you come to Him? Will you give him your heart? Will you receive him into your heart? Well, I hope and pray we will all do this, friends, by his grace. Amen. Feel free to contact us at Sovereign Grace Church in Tiverton. Email us at grace2seekers at gmail.com. That's grace2seekers at gmail.com. Alternatively, you can visit our website at www.sovereigngracereformedchurch.co.uk. you