you. Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings. Their way was before me as the uncleanness of a removed woman. Wherefore I poured my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it. And I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries according to their way, and according to their doings I judged them. And when they entered in unto the heathen, and whither they went, they profaned my holy name. And when they said to them, These are the people of the Lord, and are gone forth out of this land. But I had pity for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, and whither they went, Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God, I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine own holy namesake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went. And I will sanctify my great name. which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them. And the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean. From all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. 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 of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my judgments and do them. And you shall dwell in the land that I give to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. I will also save you from all your uncleanness. And I will call for the corn and will increase it and lay no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen. Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you, be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel. Thus saith the Lord God, in the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities, I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the waste shall be builded, and the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that pass by. And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced and are inhabited. Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I am the Lord. Build the ruined places, and plant that which was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken it, and I will do it. Thus saith the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them. I will increase them with men like a flock, as the holy flock as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts. So shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men, and they shall know that I am the Lord. One of the things I have appreciated about living in New Hampshire is the sense of community care. Having lived in a large, rather impersonal city most of my life, I have grown to love and appreciate the personal touches of now living in a smaller town. One such personal story comes to mind. If you live in Litchfield or in Londonderry, you will likely have heard about a young girl by the name of Alison Corfe, who lives in Litchfield. Allison, an 18-year-old girl, has been diagnosed with leukemia. The only hope for this girl is now a bone marrow transplant. Of all patients, best chance of finding a compatible donor is finding a sibling. Allison's sister, Michelle, is not a compatible donor. The Korff family must now search for a compatible donor, a stranger, who might be instrumental in saving Allison's life. Allison's parents are both teachers at Matthew Thornton School in Londonderry, and for that reason, both towns have been greatly affected by this girl's needs. A bone marrow typing drive is scheduled for today at Londonderry High School between the hours of 11 and 4, and anyone between the ages of 18 and 60 can go and determine whether or not they can be a potential donor. The testing fee has been paid by local fundraisers so that there would be every opportunity of people coming to see whether or not they can be of assistance in time of need. I hope and I do pray that their efforts will today prove to be most successful. You know there are at least now 21 different organs and tissues organs such as heart, liver and kidney and tissues such as corneas and bone marrow that can be transplanted into the life of another person and that person can expect healthy years of life shortly after. Each year in this country 20,000 people can expect internal organ surgeries where, in most cases, the surgeries are successful. 20,000, that seems a lot. The sad thing is there are 80,000 Americans waiting on long lists, like the list Allison is on, hoping to find a suitable donor. I think it is the urgency, the urgency that inspires towns like Litchfield and Londonderry to do what they can to help. This morning I want to bring to your attention an even more alarming need than that of the 80,000 Americans who wait various transplants. It is more alarming because it affects not some of the population, but it affects all of the population. It is more alarming because the stakes are higher. It is not a matter of life or death. It is rather a matter of eternal life or eternal death. I want to draw your attention this morning to a scriptural organ transplant. This is interesting for organ transplantation has only been practiced for less than 50 years. Yet here is an account in Ezekiel's prophecy dating back thousands of years where we read of a true transplant. I draw your attention to verse 26 of Ezekiel 36. 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 of flesh. The theme this morning is simply the necessity of a spiritual heart transplant. This is an urgent matter. Oh, that as much attention and urgency and zeal were directed toward this need, because man is sick. Man has a heart condition that cannot be repaired. There's no amount of surgery that can help his need. There is no medication or exercise regime that can rectify this ailment. The great physician has made his diagnosis. And the only hope for sinful man is a new heart. I want you this morning, if you will, to come with me into God's operating room, where I hope you will see, first of all, his diagnosis. and then the danger of the diagnosis, then the remedy, and finally, the results. Notice, first of all, the diagnosis. The Lord says here through his prophet Ezekiel, 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. That's God's diagnosis. It's the stony heart. Now, why does the Lord employ the stone and liken it unto the heart of fallen man? Well, in a very simple way. There are at least three observations we can make. Each one of them has strong scriptural proof. The heart of man is compared to a stone, first of all, because of its coldness. We use, in an idiomatic way, the phrase stone cold. During our years in Ireland, we lived in a solid stone house with no insulation. We had to put our son to bed at night with his hat on and with his gloves on. It didn't matter if it was the summer or winter. When you go to Ireland and live in such a home, it gives a new meaning to the word cold. It's not the cold of 30 below. It's a bone-chilling cold that is found in such damp climates as Ireland and over in the British Isles. You know as much as if you have opted for ceramic tile in your home. Now that's not spoken to usurp our brother Al's trade. Ceramic tile is a good thing, but you know that ceramic tile can be very cold. Now you can heat stone. People have tried to utilize a heating system that heats from the ground up, so as to warm the floor and to warm the ceramic tile. Perhaps some of you are old enough to remember days in New England when you went to bed with bricks Bricks that were warmed and put in the sheets to keep your feet warm. But you know the heat never lasted for long, because the stone always returns to its native coldness. That brick that gave you comfort at ten o'clock awakes you with a panic at two o'clock for fear you touch your toe on it. It returns back to its native coldness. Such is the heart of man. A man's heart is warm enough toward sin. A man's heart is warm enough toward lust. In that sense, we might say that his heart is burning over with lust. But the natural heart of man is as cold as ice toward the things of God. Romans 3 and 11 says, unequivocally, there is none that seeketh after God. There is none. That doesn't mean there's a small population of religious, God-fearing people. There is none in his natural state that seeketh after God. Now, there are plenty of people seeking after religion. There are plenty of people seeking after ritual. There are people who are very devout, and they follow churches, and they follow pastors, and they follow priests. But if Romans 3 and 11 means anything, it tells us that there is no man with his natural heart that seeks after God. Now, perhaps you object and say, well, I know many that seek after God. The only way a man will seek God is when his heart has been made anew. When he has lost his old heart and he's been given a new heart, that's the only time man will ever seek after God. And until then, he may seek a God, and oftentimes it's a God of his own making, a God that allows him to do what he wants to do, and a God that censures what he censures, but that's not the God of heaven. I heard a radio address on Saturday I believe it was Friday, and men were disputing as to whether or not God had anything to do with the Hurricane Katrina. And they kept saying, well, I think God is like this, and I think God is like that. That's the God of this country for the most part. It is a God that is manufactured in the mind of man, and essentially everyone has become their own God. When you make God, you play God. So you're not seeking God, you are seeking yourself. even though you use the same language. The heart of man in its natural state is stone cold toward the things of God. Now, sometimes it can be warmed by one thing or another. Sometimes the heart is warmed by eloquence. There are many people gifted in preaching. There are many people gifted in witness and testimony. And there are times when Stone-cold sinners sit in pews like these, and they hear the word of truth, and their heart is marginally warmed. But you know, as soon as they leave the service, that heart that has been warmed for a short time returns to its native coldness. Sometimes men and women are warmed by the warmth of motivation or persuasion. Do you remember Agrippa? Paul preached unto that man and gave him his own personal testimony, and Agrippa's response was almost almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. His heart was warmed for a season by the consideration of what the man said. But that heat soon dissipated. I want you to contrast the heart of man who has had already the spiritual heart transplant. He loves God. He loves God. Listen to David. As the deer pants after the water brook, so my heart pants after thee. Not only does he love God, but especially he loves God's presence. David said, One thing have I desired of the Lord. You think of all the things that we do desire. David said, One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. He wanted nothing else. How contrary is that to Adam and Eve, who ran from the presence of God? Now here's a man with a new heart. He wants nothing more than to be in God's presence. A man with a new heart wants to be with God's people. There is no censure against believers having friendships with the unsaved. But you will find that more often than not, it's the unsaved who prefer not to be with believers. Whether it is that we become their conscience, whether it is they have nothing to connect with, the fact of the matter is here, as a people with new hearts, they want to be with God's people, because that's their people. And they find greatest comfort with the saints, those who have had similar surgery. This man who has had his heart then made new, or been given a new heart, he not only loves God, God's presence, God's people, he loves God's precepts. Consider how I love thy precepts, is what the psalmist said. Oh, people look at the word and they despise the thought of keeping God's commandment. Yet the man with the new heart, it is his love. Not only his precepts, but his purposes. and we see tragedy and when we see devastation, many people would be quick to blame God and question his purpose. The psalmist said, as for God, his way is perfect. God's way is perfect. That is a statement of a man whose heart has been made anew. Now, if you are such a man, you love God's people, God's presence, God's precepts, and His purposes. You sometimes come to those who have cold hearts and you spew out with flaming passion as to the things of the Lord. And how do they respond? Oftentimes, you're made a fool because of your enthusiasm. You can't do anything to warm another man's heart if he has a heart of stone. No matter how passionate your heart is about the things of God, in his natural state it does nothing for him. If he's warmed briefly, it returns to its native coldness before too long. The diagnosis then is a stone-cold heart. And not only is a stone cold, but a stone, as you know, is hard. We know something about hard stone in New Hampshire, do we not? Some of the hardest stone. are hewn from granite beds, and you can hammer all day, but you'll make no impression. In the Bible, the heart of man is likened unto a millstone. And in another instance, it is likened unto an adamant stone. I didn't understand it and didn't realize it until I began to make investigation. It is translated by the word diamond in our New Testament or in our King James Version. But the word is not truly a diamond. An adamant stone is harder than a diamond. And if you want to challenge that because you've been told from when you were this high that the diamond is the hardest substance, you go home and query and you'll find that it is true. An adamant stone is harder. It cannot be cut, it cannot be broken, it cannot be moved. That's what God says our hearts are like. Now there are many hammers that come upon such a heart. The Bible speaks of His law as becoming a hammer. And many times people sit under the law of God and the law of God has no impression upon them. What is the design of the law? The law was designed so that every man might see himself as guilty before God. That law is to be the means whereby he is driven to Christ to find redemption and forgiveness. But you can tell a man all day the law. The hammer of the law will not penetrate such a hard heart. The Word of God is called the hammer. It's not my word like a hammer that smashes the rock in pieces. There's the hammer of the Word and there's the hammer of God's providence. Sometimes we look and we say, well, surely people will be moved and melted by a certain providence or another. Maybe some of you have evidenced your hardness in recent times. Maybe you've become sick. Maybe you've suffered some internal A problem. And one might think that your sickness, because it is a reminder of your frailty, would make you tender in the hands of God, and yet your sickness does nothing of the sort. Perhaps the providence of death has come near your home. People that you've loved and cared for have died, and again it is a reminder to you that you will soon go the same way. But your heart's not been made tender by that. What about the hammer of advancing years? You would expect that to go to the nursing home ministry and see people, some, some of them are very close to their death. You would expect that they would be ready to embrace the gospel and ready now to make good of God's provision. You talk to William, and I've known by my own experience, some of the hardest people to talk to are those who are right at death's door. They're hard. Their hearts cannot be penetrated. Some people, by the providence of affliction or hardship or some inconvenience in their life, you would expect them to think about the things of God. But like Pharaoh, having faced nine plagues, his question was, who is the Lord? Who is the Lord that I should obey Him? I will not bow my neck. I will not do His will. I will have my own pleasure. I will have it my way. I will be my own master. I will not yield to God. Mr. Spurgeon said, The rocks of iron and the hills of brass are softer than the proud heart of man. What is the end for such a man? Romans 2 and 5 says, But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath. Wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Do you remember those in the New Testament who said of our Lord, We will not have this man to reign over us. There's no way. Such people are treasuring up to themselves wrath before God's day of righteous judgment. Humble yourself. Humble yourself before God, before the Lord is forced to humble you. Every man will be humbled. The only difference is whether your humbling will be passive or active. Actively humble yourself. That is the work of a man who's got a new heart. The passive humiliation of a man is when every man will be made to bow before Jesus Christ and acknowledge him to be Lord, even though it is too late. This stone, that is coal, this stone is hard. I want you to notice the diagnosis here is grim because the stone is dead. You can find no feeling in the stone. One minister said this, talk to it, it will shed no tears of pity, though you recount to it the saddest tale. And no smiles will gladden it, though you should tell it the most happy story. It is dead. It is unconscious. You prick it, it will not bleed. You cannot make it wince or start or show any signs of sensibility. It is dead. Although man's heart is not like this with regards to natural things, it is most definitely like this with regards to spiritual things. All men are capable of showing natural emotion and natural affection. We've seen after this travesty, not travesty, but tragedy down on the shoreline there of Katrina, many expressions of natural emotion, many natural expressions where people have joined hands and hands and have wept together. That's natural emotion. But spiritual emotion is a thing entirely different. And in that sense, the Bible is true. Man is dead in trespasses and in sin. He's powerless. He is lifeless. He is without feeling. He is without emotion towards spiritual ends and means. A natural man, he can weep for offending another man. But a man who weeps for offending God is a man with a new heart. I have as much hope of awakening your soul this morning in sin is if I were to take my efforts to the graveyard. I can't awaken you in sin. If I did not believe, if I did not believe in one who can awaken the dead, I would forever refrain from speaking. My trust this morning is in Christ alone, who can come to the grave like He did with Lazarus and say, Lazarus, come forth. And when God calls a man from a sleep of slumber of death, Thank God when that transplant is made, there is life and there is passion and there is zeal to do the things of God. And so the diagnosis is grim. Man's heart is cold as it is insensitive. It is hard, it is impressionable. It is also cold or it is also dead. It is a heart of impotence. This is not my diagnosis. If this were the diagnosis of this church or of this minister, you would be better to get a second opinion. This is the diagnosis of the great physician of the soul. It's the diagnosis of the great creator of the soul. If God says we've got stony hearts, then stony hearts indeed we have got. That is the diagnosis. Let's move on and consider the danger. What's the danger of a stony heart? I mean, why does the surgery need to be performed? The danger is a hard heart is exposed to the danger of final impenitence. A hard heart is in danger of being exposed to final hardness. Now there are some stones that yield to the effects of stress, the stress of weather. You'll notice on the shoreline that some decay with the passage of time. But the stone of man's heart, no climate can affect it. No weather can subdue it. It grows harder whether it be in the sunshine of God's love or the harsh tempest of God's judgment. You might smite such a heart on the right and on the left with death. You might smite that heart with judgment. You might smite that heart with mercy and with privileges. You might smite that heart with tears and entreaties and threatenings. But it will not break. Let me tell you how hard the heart of man is. Not even the fires of hell will melt a man's heart. For the Bible says that the damned in hell, they grow more hard by their agonies. And if they hated God on earth, they hate Him a hundredfold more in hell. As they endure agonies, they blaspheme Him because of the suffering they are enduring. Now, if all these processes of nature have been at work upon your heart and you have not yet softened What makes you think you will ever be softened? There's an old Welch preacher by the name of Roland Hill. And he tells the story of a blacksmith's dog that at first used to be afraid of the sparks. Afterwards, he got so used to the sparks that he would lie and sleep under the anvil. Now the sparks are one after the other insensitive. He went on to say, there are some of you that have sat under the gospel for so long that though the sparks of God's wrath fly about your nostrils, yet your soul is still fast asleep. Friend, be careful. Be careful of getting used to sitting under the gospel. If the gospel will not break your heart, it will make you harder still. If the gospel will not bring you to ripeness, it will bring you to rottenness. The hearing of the gospel will deliver you from judgment or it will add to your judgment. The danger of this hard heart is that the heart continues to get harder still. And it will continue in final hardness in rebellion against God and God's punishment. A hard heart gets harder with age. If you look at the history of the world and consider who is saved and who is not saved, you will find an overwhelming statistic whereby the majority of the people who have been saved have been saved in their youth. Sunday school children, the number is high. Teenagers, the number is lower. Midlife, the age is lower still. At the time of life where people would, you would expect, would be seeking to get right with God, it is an indication of the hardest time of all. Though they be urged to seek God with all of their hearts, they're unmoved. And to them the gospel is not a savor of life unto life. The gospel is a savor of death unto death. The danger then is that your cold, hard, lifeless heart will only get more cold and harder as time progresses. It is for that reason, my friend, you must pay heed to the words of the Lord even this morning. There is a diagnosis. It is a stony heart. The danger is that it's only going to get worse. Let's consider thirdly then the remedy. And thank God it is a remedy. For we read in the text, I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh. And I will give you an heart of flesh. When a man is told he has a heart condition, he's usually encouraged to change his diet. He is encouraged to exercise, and sometimes he's encouraged to medicate. Spiritually speaking, men are a little different. When they have some apprehension that their heart is not right with God, They seek to put themselves on a spiritual diet, keep away from things that perhaps are not good. Maybe I should stop doing this and stop doing that. Not only do they diet, but then they exercise. Well, I really haven't gone to church as faithful as I ought, and I haven't been reading my Bible, and I've got to get back into the company of the church. And then some Medicaid. I need to hear this pastor or that pastor. I need to read this book or that book. These efforts are all not sufficient. The Lord has said the whole head is sick and the heart is therefore faint. In Isaiah, we read from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head, that the unbeliever is filled with wounds. It's talking here, likening the sin to that of leprosy. And in that respect, the sinful man is filled with wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. So we read in Isaiah. The Lord does not try to fix this heart. The Lord, therefore, comes and he says, I will give you a new heart. Will you notice with me in the remedy here, it is a divine change. I will give you this heart. There is a theology abroad this day that turns this verse on its head. It is evident by the nature of their evangelism. How many ministers' sermons consist of tear-jerking stories all designed to melt a man's heart? By various means of manipulation, Christian leaders do whatever they can to provoke an emotional response of sorts, and oftentimes they get what they look for. I suppose it is success if emotional response is all they're looking for. I can't think of a better example than the popular movie of Mel Gibson, The Passion of Christ. We were told at the time that it would become the greatest evangelistic tool in hundreds of years. Now again, if emotional response was the goal, then I suppose it was successful in some measure, because religious and unreligious people shed tears in that movie. But there is a world of difference. between a natural response and a spiritual response. Human interest stories will make multitudes cry. And a man may be made to cry at watching a graphic representation of the Son of God dying. He may be brought to tears for the human interest sake. But he will never, he will never cry unto God for the sin of his own heart. Except, first of all, the Lord comes. and remove that heart of stone and give him the heart of flesh. Only God can make you sensitive. Only God can make you understand His mercy and His love. That's what the verse says. I will give you this transplant. There is no movie. There is no book. There is no preacher. There is no ministry that can perform the work that we're talking about. If God doesn't do it, it won't be done. Salvation. is not a simple decision you make, as it is often held out to be. Salvation is nothing less than a spiritual heart transplant. Now, you must choose Christ, and you must have faith, and you must turn from your sin, and you must respond to the gospel offer. But you will perform none of these until, first of all, the new heart is given to you by a gracious God. Salvation is of God. Salvation belongs unto God. And there is no heart of stone that has ever been turned by an accident. There is no stone heart that has ever been turned over to a fleshly heart by some providential happening. There's no heart that's been made tender by human persuasion. Oh, you say this is a hopeless message. This is a hopeless case. Without divine intervention, you are a hopeless case. And that's why you leave the gospel. You will never come to Christ until you appreciate how utterly hopeless you are, when you see there's nothing you can do. You're reduced to call upon God for mercy. Thank God, when a man calls upon God for mercy, when he sees himself as he is, the Lord will stoop and save the most wicked and filthy heart. This is a divine change. I want you to notice it's a gracious change. I will give you a heart of flesh. Did you not notice in the context here? He wasn't about to do this because of what they had done. Quite the contrary. They had sinned, they had grieved him a thousand times, they had abused his privileges. They did not deserve this transplant. and neither do any of us who have undergone the same. It's not because one day we would believe. Faith is a gift of God. The Lord gives men new hearts according to the good pleasure of His will. But you say, suppose a man cries for a new heart. No man has ever cried for a new heart until he has received one. And if a cry A man cries for a new heart, it is proof that already the heart is there. Isn't that what the hymn writer says, "'Twas the same love that spread the feast, that sweetly forced me in, else I had still refused a taste, and perished in my sin." This is a gracious heart change, based on no merit of any man. Paul said, "'It is not of him that willeth.' It's not of him that runneth, but it is of God that showeth mercy. If you will be saved today, it will be by God's mercy alone. But thank God He is merciful. If God this morning is giving you some sense of your helpless predicament, then seek Him with all of your heart. And Christ, one day of old, Lord, be merciful unto me, the sinner. The remedy is a divine change. It's a gracious change. It's also the first installment in a complete change. You see, man's religious attempts are quite contrary to what God does here. Religion is man's attempt to change man, but it's always from the outside in. God works entirely contrary to that. He works from the inside out. He takes first of all the stony heart and then he gives the heart of flesh. And then that gospel now within cannot help but be manifest on the outside. Friend, if you're here today and you're trying to be religious. And you're trying to get to church more often and read your Bible and pray more diligently. If you're trying to set things right in your life and be a little more caring about people. I mean, these things are all fine and good. But you cannot change your heart from the outside. You need God to come this day and take out the stony heart and give you a heart of flesh. I want you to notice, not only is it a divine change and gracious, not only is it the first installment in a complete change, it is an instantaneous change. I will give you. This is not something we need to wait for. To sanctify a man is the work of a whole life. But to save a man is an instantaneous act. We either have a new heart or we have an old heart. We have a stony heart or we've got a tender, sensitive heart. You may be sitting here today as an enemy of God, with a wicked heart within, hard and cold and insensitive to Him and to what He commands of you. They say the moment a living spark shall drop into your soul, In that moment, you'll begin to tremble. And you will do as so many have done here. You'll begin to feel. And you will confess your sin, and you'll run to Christ for mercy. Other parts of salvation are done gradually. But regeneration, that giving of the new heart, is an instantaneous work of God's sovereign, effectual, and irresistible grace. It happens in an instant. If you are desirous of such this day, will you call upon God? The Lord ministers to your heart even as I speak. Will you, in the quietness of the confines of your own mind, seek Him, ask of Him? God be gracious. And notice finally this morning then the results. I've looked at the diagnosis. God says it's a stony heart. The danger is, because if it doesn't get changed, it's going to get worse. The remedy. The remedy we've considered here, the change that's necessary, gracious and instantaneous and divine. Let's notice finally then the results. When God changes a man's heart, the first thing that is apparent is tenderness of conscience. One minister said, great sins are little to the stony heart, but little sins are great to the heart flesh. Before the heart transplant, you could sin. And it didn't cause you a second thought. It allowed your mind and your actions and your heart to run unhindered and you were not bothered. I mean, you might feel bad if you aggravated or sinned against a person, but the fact that God sees all your wickedness never causes you a second consideration. Then when God gives a man a new heart, things change. And my, all of a sudden, All of a sudden, like Adam, you become aware of your spiritual nakedness before the Lord. And you, for the first time in your life, you feel your sin. And it is not that you have not always been a sinner. It is just now you feel the reality of what God says you always have been. Your own heart joins with God and you condemn yourself, Lord, I've sinned. I wonder, is this so with you this day? The Lord opens your eyes. You're beginning to appreciate that you are a sinner in the sight of a holy God. I wonder as you sit in the service this morning, does the Lord not take away something of the veil and let you see yourself as God sees you? Praise His name. This is the first step toward a right relationship with God. There is then tenderness of conscience. Notice, secondly, the result is a tenderness towards God's will. When you have a man's conscience on God's side, and that's what happens, you begin to accuse yourself and you take your place with God in that accusation. When you have a man's conscience on God's side, you have only half the battle, if you cannot get his will. One man said, if you convince a man against his will, he's of the same opinion still. You can convince a man all you want, but if it's not a willing and embraced with a willing heart, then he will revert back to his natural position. Some people know the right. There's a tenderness of conscience, but they continue to do that which is wrong. When God gives a man a new heart, the heart of flesh bends in the breeze of God's Spirit. Let me give you an example, perhaps of none greater than the conversion of the Apostle Paul. His name at this time is Saul, and he comes down against the Christian church, breathing out threatenings and cruel slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. He's trying to pull out Christians and have them maimed and to have them persecuted because of their faith and their allegiance to this one Jesus Christ. He is an enemy of the greatest sort. And the Lord meets him on that famous Damascus Road. And in an instant, Paul sees that his rebellion is against God himself. And when the light shines from heaven, Paul asks the question, what will thou have me to do? In an instant, confirmed and doing his own will with all his heart, now, Lord, what do you want me to do? See, a result of this new heart is a willingness to do God's will, whatever it be. I want you to notice the result is being tender towards God's love. The hard heart does not love God. The hard heart is cold and selfish. Why would I weep for sin? Why should I give my heart to Christ? Have you ever stopped to ask why people respond to Jesus Christ so differently? Either they love Him or they can't stand Him. I mean, either they are His disciples or they are urging on the executioners. That's the New Testament. There was no in-between. They loved Him or they hated Him. The difference is the heart. Stony hearts hate Christ. But thank God, fleshly hearts desire Him. And they desire more love to Christ. Isn't that what the hymn writer says? More love to Him. If God has given you a new heart, will you pray today He gives you more love still, that you might love Him with all your mind, your soul, and your strength. not only tender of conscience, tender of God's will, tender of God's love, but then tender of duty. Verse number 27 in the passage here makes it clear. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes. You ever ask Christian why you do what you do? Sometimes on a Saturday morning prayer meeting at 6 a.m., we almost with a laughter question What on earth are we sitting in this prayer meeting at 6 a.m. on a Saturday morning? None of us would be there by nature. The brethren who gather together for Saturday morning prayer, I don't say this to speak against them in any way, but we're not a religious crew without grace. We've all come from varied backgrounds of sin and hardness. Why is there a desire in a man to come at the only day he's got off from the whole week at six o'clock and pray with the saints of God? That's not some supernatural devotion. That's the difference between having a heart of stone and a heart of flesh. I have a desire to come now. I actually want to be there. I actually want to be with the saints when they meet. Why? Because God has given me a different heart. It's not me. It's the heart. But then you know, believer, even your heart can become hardened and cold and indifferent. Child of God, you know that sometimes you do feel cold in heart, cold in conscience, resistant in your will, and cold in your love. I want to remind you that those feelings you have are not the feelings that God has given you. God's given you a new heart. He's given you A tender conscience, He has given you a tenderness toward His will, a tenderness of His love, and a tenderness toward duty. But today you say, well, I don't feel that way. Well, don't you sometimes look to blame your problems on someone else? I've been in the ministry four and a half years, but I have been in the ministry by way of my Father for all my life. I know what happens in church work. Many times, preachers are blamed because of the coldness of a man's heart. He doesn't do anything for my heart. Well, that may be. That may be. Let me ask you, when was the last time you did something for your own heart? When was the last time you wept before God in prayer? When was the last time you were with the saints of God in the pre-service prayer meeting, asking God to take a dealing with your heart? When was the last time you felt the need to gather with the saints corporately to petition a blessing upon God, upon your family and your church? When's the last time you asked God, Lord, what would you have me to do? Go to him this morning and seek his forgiveness and pray that he takes a gracious dealing with your heart. Because if your heart is cold, you can't blame God because he's given you a new heart. And you can't blame anybody else. Place the blame straight in your own heart and seek him and pray that he comes with a new and a blessed flame and fires your soul and devotion towards him. In a few minutes, even right now, people are beginning to assemble in Londonderry High School, hoping to find a cure for Alison Korf. Let's pray they do. Perhaps you can help them in their endeavor to find a suitable donor. But may this young girl's need this day remind you of your need, an even more alarming need, alarming because the stakes are higher. It's not a matter of life or death. It's a matter of eternal life or eternal death. You need a new heart. Don't try to repair the one you've got. Your own heart is rebellious and selfish. The gospel is that God has come to give his people new hearts, new wills, new desires and new affections. Did your heart move by what you've heard this day? Then come to me, and may through the Scripture show you more directly and plainly Jesus Christ as the Savior of men who have got hard hearts. God can give you the transplant this morning. There's no waiting for a donor in this case. Thank God our Lord is able. He is powerful. And above all, He is gracious. May God write His Word on every heart. Thank you for listening to the pulpit ministry of Grace Free Presbyterian Church. We invite you to worship the Lord with us as often as you are able. Our service times on Sunday are 930 a.m. and 6 o'clock p.m. and our Wednesday Bible study and prayer meeting is at 7 o'clock p.m. If you would like to obtain further information about the church and its available ministries, you can call us at 603-429-2979. The End