A New Heart

“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.” –Ezekiel 36:26

Hamilton, Ohio, is known as the “City of Sculpture.” My favorite is near True West Coffee on the west side. The sculpture is a man with an umbrella. He is looking up at the sky with his hand out to catch rain drops, depicted in a fountain falling off the umbrella. It’s a fun sculpture. But the man isn’t alive.

Same for heart of stones. It’s heart shaped, but not heart like. It’s stone. Dead. Heart of stone means I was once dead. A heart dead to God. Alive to sinful desires. Dead to desiring God. I didn’t need a repair. I needed a new heart. I needed my stone heart dead to God to be replaced by a new heart of flesh alive to God.

God made me alive together with the church in Christ (Ephesians 2:5). This promised by God through the prophet Ezekiel. Israel had a long history of stony-heartedness, or hardheartedness. Yet, God still promised to put new hearts in His people when He pours out His Spirit. And His people will include once stony-hearted Gentiles.

In Hebrews 8, God promised of old, “I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” God writes on my new heart His wise instructions for living for His glory. Old desires put away, new desires to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

God’s instructions were once burdensome, now a joy. Once I hated them, now I treasure them.

In II Corinthians 5:16, Paul writes, “From now on…” Now, after conversion, after receiving this new heart, we live no longer considering anyone according to our sinful nature. We once even consider Jesus according to our sinful nature, but now with a new heart and God’s instructions penned upon my new heart, I regard Him thus no longer.

Dear reader, how are your affections for the Lord? Are you stirred that the sinless Jesus would willingly suffer for you, become a curse for you, die for you? Are you stirred Jesus would remove your stone heart for a fleshy heart that is alive, beating with joy and praise to the things of God?

In the wilderness, the people quarreled and grumbled over water. Then, the people “grumbled against” Moses. With stony hearts, the people rebelled. But God, being rich in mercy, instructed Moses to strike the rock, and water will flow for the people (Exodus 17:6). Look to Jesus the Rock who was struck that we may drink water, spiritual water (I Corinthians 10:4). We may eat spiritual manna (I Corinthians 10:3).

Long for the Lord like a deer pants for streaming water. Sin and groaning with creation for redemption intensifies this longing (Romans 8:22). Go thirsty to the Lord Jesus and drink. Go to the Lord’s Supper for symbols of spiritual food and spiritual drink, reminders of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our once stony hearts, now alive to the things of God, will rejoice in His mercies, be stirred within us to love Christ and His church deeply, all to the glory of God who transforms hearts and lives with great power and compassion.

Heavenly Father, we praise Your mighty works of changing stone hearts to hearts of flesh alive to the worship and delight in God. Continue Your work in me, in us, to love the Lord more deeply, to love one another, and to glorify Your great name. We ask for mercy, which we receive with thankful hearts of flesh. In Jesus’ name. Amen.                                         

The Word of God as Eternal Lamp

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” –Psalm 119:105

Greetings from our nation’s capital! My family really enjoyed our week here. The weather has been nice enough to walk around and see the sights. The Japanese cherry blossoms surrounding the Mall of Monuments are all in bloom releasing a sweet fragrance.

In the midst of so much power and influence in the capital of the most powerful and wealthiest nations in history stands the Museum of the Bible. What a joy it was to see the history of the Bible and why we may be greatly confident that the Bible we hold in our hands today has been so carefully preserved. Yet, most importantly, that the Bible is God’s very word.

Think about the history of God’s Word to His people. By Word God promised Adam and Eve of a promised son to crush the head of the deceiving serpent. By Word God promised Abraham offspring and land. By Word God promised enslaved Israel through Moses of deliverance as well as instructions to live with God’s presence in their midst. By Word God promised David a son to sit on the throne forever. By Word God promised through the prophets of a coming eternal kingdom uniting all nations in the peace of the rule of the Messiah.

By Word Jesus the Lord promises everlasting life for those who believe upon Him for salvation (John 3:15). Jesus promises that though we Christians die, yet shall we live (John 11:25). By Word Jesus promises that His church may charge at the very gates of hell, but those gates will not prevail against us (Matthew16:18). Church history is filled with persecution, attempts to silence the church from proclaiming God’s Word. Yet, here in the middle of Washington DC stands a museum to the testimony of the power of God’s Word. Surely, the grass withers and the flowers fade, but the Word of the Lord endures forever (Isaiah40:8)!

In the museum is a large room filled with replica pieces and rooms from the New Testament era. In the middle stands a synagogue with seating and a crudely cut wooden table for the scroll of God’s Word to be read from and explained. God’s Word has not only be preserved for us, but has preserved us for God.

Imagine the scene as Ezra the scribe standing above the people unraveled the Torah scroll to the Jewish people returning from exile (Nehemiah 8:5). There was a blessing of the Lord, a double “amen” from a crowd of worshipers with hands in the air then kneeling before the Lord. The people came hungry for the Word of God and were satisfied.

Dear reader, remain hungry for the only satisfying nourishment of your soul, the ever enduring Word of God. The lamp unto the feet of a great cloud of witnesses throughout history is still burning brightly, a trustworthy lamp for your feet in this dark world.

As we sing the hymn, “The voice that spans the years speaking life, stirring hope, bringing peace to us. Will sound 'til He appears, for He lives, Christ is risen from the dead!”

Receive God’s Word taught, not only in word but also in power (I Thessalonians 1:5). Power to save, to change you, to keep you until that eternal day we enjoy God forever.

Heavenly Father, keep Your people hungry for Your enduring Word, then feed us these nourishing words of life. Your majestic throne of Grace, which we behold in Your Word, is the delight of our soul. In the hearing of your Word our souls are refreshed as we receive mercy in the hour of our need. All praise to our God who has given us His eternal Word and has preserved His people by the power of His eternal Word. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

George Müller and a Devotional on Love

George Müller was a 19th Century evangelist and, most notably, caretaker of orphans in England. It is said Müller cared for more than 10,000 orphans simply on prayer and generosity of donors. Müller had a deep devotional life before the face of God, as well. Today, I came across this undated devotional from George Müller. I pray this is an encouragement to you.

On the Way to the Father's House

We are to love those who do not care in the least for us. We are to love those who do not walk with us on the road to Heaven, and whom we have never seen or heard of; that is the will of our heavenly Father regarding us.

We ought to look lovingly on weak disciples, and you and I, instead of looking at their weakness and shortcomings, ought to seek to find out Christ in them. If we do so, we shall find how dear they will become to our hearts, and we shall love them.

How deeply important to keep this before us in the divine life, that we manifest the mind of Christ. Just as that Blessed One sought not to please Himself, but to be the servant of others, so have we to imitate that Blessed One. 

Though not yet perfect in love, we are to aim after that for which we have been apprehended of God in Christ Jesus. We ought to love one another in spite of the weaknesses and infirmities we see in one another.

We are left here to be representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ in this world. This great honour He has bestowed upon us here.
God is love, and he who loves most is most like God. All the members of the heavenly family should remember the precious blood that bought them, and love one another whilst on the way to their Father's house.

Build Your Life Upon the Rock

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” –Matthew 7:24

Jesus here describes our lives as building a house. Much care for detail can go into walls, doors, windows, even a staircase. Same in our lives. We can care much for detail as careers, leisures, relationships, and habits. Yet, dark clouds form on the horizon. Will the foundation of the homes we build for ourselves, our lives, hold against the fury of a storm?

Notice our Lord tells us the same storm comes to two different houses. A life built on Christ and His Word is not an escape from trials. Trials come to all of us. The difference is, when trials come to the believer, Christ withstands the might of that trial. A false foundation of sand will not endure the mightiest of trials.

Consider the wisdom of the Lord Jesus in this passage. There are only two options for foundation. There is Christ the Rock, then there is sand. Humanism, Islam, Buddhism, moralism, and all other philosophies and religions are called foundations of sand. They will not withstand the fury of the coming storm which beats against the house.

Consider also this wisdom of our Lord Jesus. He says the house built upon the rock is a life with the foundation of hearing His words and doing them. First, to believe the words of Jesus as mighty and true, as Paul says, we will not be “tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine” (Ephesians 4:14). There is one teaching that withstands the winds and the waves, the words of Him who can calm them with a word (Mark 4:39).

Second, we are encouraged to obey the words Jesus teaches. Jesus is not making hearers only, but disciples. The disciple of Jesus builds his house, or his life, on the foundation of His words. Dear reader, the storm is sent by God. Only God’s words can withstand God’s sent storms. All other foundations are invented in the imaginations of men, either contemporary or historic. We are not to build our lives on the foundations of sand on the words men dead or dying, but on Christ who has the “words of eternal life” (John 6:68).

Perhaps the home builder can hear Jesus’ words, put Christian décor on the nightstand and Scripture quotes on the walls while the foundation remains sand. Could this house withstand the fury of the storm? My pastoral concern in my teaching and my preaching is to proclaim the faith once delivered to all the saints. That those in my hearing who have publicly professed faith in Jesus Christ truly possess the faith they publicly profess.

Character is not found in a fine house, its architecture or décor. Character comes from its foundation. By faith in Christ’s might, His obedience to the Father through temptations and suffering, God’s grace in the atonement of Jesus’ blood, we will weather the coming fury of God’s wrathful storm. On that day, “great will be the fall” of all humanity has invented to save us from God’s judgment.

Consider how the Sermon on the Mount ends with the astonishment of Jesus’ hearers. Jesus did not teach like the scribes; quoting, name-dropping, trying to sound profound with reputable figures and teachings of others. Jesus taught as having an authority far above and beyond human counsel. Jesus teaches us eternal words never fading in beauty (Isaiah 40:8). Trustworthy words of life.

Jesus does not promise that if you hear and obey His words you will never face storms. The storms which greatly beat against a house built on the Rock is scary, but your house, your life, will not fall greatly if you believe upon the Lord Jesus. Listen to the words of Jesus and wisely build your house on the Rock of His eternal words and live.

Heavenly Father, give us discernment to reject words of sand foundation and ears to hear the voice of our Good Shepherd whose words form a rock foundation to weather storms, hearing the heavenly voice speaks words of life drawing us heavenward. Grant us wisdom to hold fast to Your Scripture in the face of all the opinions of humanity, and lead us O Lord to the eternal joy and peace with You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Richard Sibbes and the Sovereign Christ in Us

Richard Sibbes was a late 16th, early 17th Century Puritan, preacher of Gray's Inn and Cambridge scholar when he authored The Matchless Love and Inbeing in London in 1629. Within these series of sermons and lectures, Sibbes sought to answer this question: "How shall we know that Christ is in us?"

"Where [Jesus] enters likewise, he possesses the whole inward and outward man to himself. He changes it like to himself ; He rules the eyes, the ears, the hands; He renews all, that our delights are clean other than they were before. If there be such a power in his truth, that, he a [branch] engrafted, it does change us into itself, certainly where Christ dwells, he hath as much power as his word. His word is like leaven, which alters the whole lump to be like itself. For the word engrafted makes the soul that believes it heavenly like itself, (I Corinthians 5:6). How is this? Because Christ comes with his word, leavens, alters, changes, and turns the soul. Christ by his Spirit and word is said to do it, because the Spirit of Christ comes with the word, which does all. Those therefore whose dispositions are contrary to Christ, Christ is not begotten in them. For certainly he does alter and change and fit his temple for himself, and drives out and chases thence, as I said before, all that is contrary; and keeps the door of the senses, and possession against all. He uses every member as an instrument of the Spirit and weapon of defense."

What My Neighbor Does Not Know

“But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” –Luke10:29

Imagine yourself confronting Jesus, God the Son taken on flesh, and attempting to justify yourself. Jesus whose face is set toward Jerusalem (Luke 9:51) to suffer and be crucified to atone for sinners listening to you accurately quote Scripture, but then attempt to exempt yourself from following what the Scripture clearly says. An expert in the Law of God attempted that one day.

Yet, then I realized it. There is something important my neighbor does not know. There is something important my neighbor has not heard. Who is my neighbor?

Jesus asked this expert in the Law of God what the Scripture says about inheriting eternal life. Love God, love your neighbor as yourself, he answered. Our Lord Jesus approved of this man’s answer (vs 28). This led the man to ask Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” But Luke gives us insight into his heart. “Desiring to justify himself.”

This pulls us back to “love your neighbor as yourself.” That’s not about learning to love yourself, but rather how you like to be treated. I want to be treated right, even gently when I’m wrong! I want to be provided for, protected, and treated well. So, to love your neighbor in this way is to look to treat others with good things.

There is this troubling insight into the human heart God exposes painfully here. “Desiring to justify himself.” The expert in the Word of God dared to ask, what kinds of people can I avoid loving and still inherit eternal life? Where is the loophole, who is MY neighbor? And what Jesus does is this: instead of looking at the kinds of people who are my neighbors, who am I that my neighbors can be loved by? Instead of looking externally, Jesus cuts to the heart of this man internally.

This leads to the Lord’s Parable of the Good Samaritan. If you have not read this parable, I encourage you to read that now. Yet, I want the Lord Jesus to examine me using His Word. Who is my neighbor is answered from the beaten man’s perspective at the end. Who proved to be this beaten man’s neighbor (vs 36)? The expert answered correctly, “the one who showed him mercy.” Then Jesus said, “You go, and do likewise.”

Did you hear the authority of Jesus’ words here? This from the Word of God which never fades in beauty or power, unlike the grass and flowers, speaks to us right now. Words of life! You go, and do likewise. This leads me back to what I said earlier. There is something important my neighbor does not know. There is something important my neighbor has not heard.

“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few,” said the Lord Jesus at the beginning of this chapter. Pray to God to send laborers (vs 2). Go (vs 3). The Lord of the Harvest answers our prayers for more laborers by sending us into His fields with the gospel.

Dear Christian, who is your neighbor? Or should I ask, who is your neighbor’s neighbor? Show mercy by telling them something important your neighbor does not know nor has heard.

What an awesome privilege to know the gospel of Jesus Christ! Praise be to God for such mercy, to enjoy so great a salvation! And what an awesome privilege to be told by God, “go.” To show mercy as one shown great mercy. To tell the gospel as one who has heard and believed the gospel. Christian, there is something important your neighbor does not know and has not heard. Pray to the Lord for such laborers to tell them. Then, “go.”

Heavenly Father, You are the Lord of the Harvest. Dig Your plow blades deep into our hearts to be mercy showing, gospel preaching neighbors. Send us into Your field and bear much fruit in us for Your glory. Grant Your laborers wisdom for words our neighbors need to hear, boldness not to be silent, and mercy to show mercy by the power of the Holy Spirit. Father we ask these things as children adopted in Jesus Your Son. Amen.

McCheyne on the Urgency of Evangelism

Preaching from II Timothy 4:1-2, 19th Century preacher Robert Murray McCheyne gave an urgency to
gospel preachers to be winners of lost souls. Yet, I find in this an encouragement for all Christians and local churches to be soul winners.

"The great mass you will find to be unconverted.—Go, brother, leaving the ninety-nine, go after the one sheep that was lost. Leave your home, your comforts, your bed, your case, your all, to feed lost souls. The Lord of Glory left heaven for this; it is enough for the disciple to be as his Master. It is said of Alleine, that “he was infinitely and insatiably greedy of the conversion of souls.” Rutherford wrote to his dear people, “My Witness is above, that your heaven would be two heavens to me, and the salvation of you all as two salvations to me.” The Lord give you this heavenly compassion for this people. Do not be satisfied without conversion. You will often find that there is a shaking among the dry bones,—a coming together bone to his bone,—skin and flesh come upon them, but no breath in them. Oh! brother, cry for the breath of heaven. Remember a moral sinner will lie down in the same hell with the vilest."

Robert Murray McCheyne, The Works of the Late Rev. Robert Murray McCheyne Volume II, (New York: Carter, 1847), Page 68.

Stay Alert this New Year

“Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come.” -Mark 13:33

It is that time again as we celebrate our New Year in the Gregorian Calendar. We discard the old calendar, flipping from December 2024 toward the fresh 2025. It is difficult for me to grasp that we are 24 years into the 21^st Century! With this out with the old and in with the new season, it is wise for the Christian to turn to ancient words that never wither or fade in beauty (Isaiah40:8).

I need regular reminders from our Lord to stay alert, keep my guard up, and stay awake. Here, we see Jesus’ prophecy of the upcoming Roman invasion into Jerusalem to destroy the city’s many fine buildings and, of course, the temple. Jesus’ prophecy came true, yet the haunting words of judgment were but shadows of the final judgment at our Lord’s return.

As the drumbeat of time plays the same tune as centuries past, it is easy for us to be soothed to sleep by the lullaby of daily routines and earthly concerns. It is easy in the flesh to simply coast through life, go day to day, shuffle through work, take the kids to events, pay monthly bills, keep up with favorite shows, movies, sports teams all while Christ and His church take a distant secondary concern.

Some may say their New Year’s resolution is to return to church. Unfortunately, such a commitment with strong words does not last. As a YMCA member, I can tell you January is filled, but February returns to an introvert’s dream. Like the apostles at Gethsemane, sleep overtakes those with commitments made only verbally instead of staying alert in prayer.

What does this have to do with staying alert for the return of Jesus? 2025 is one year closer to the climax of human history: the return of Christ. Does your life reflect a posture of worship of the returning Lord with awareness, alertness, on guard? For the time is drawing near, as our Lord says, “the end is not yet” (Matthew 24:6). In the meantime, wars. Famines. Broken relationships. False Christs. Tribulation. Betrayal from loved ones. Lawlessness increases. And the love of many will grow cold (Matthew 24:12). This Jesus warned us of in contrast to those who endure to the end.

A loveless heart is the condition of “many”. This includes those once passionately professing Christianity. Those once good friends. Even those claiming Christianity with hidden evils compromising their theology. Those gaining trust of others only to slide others into their own compromise. Piece by piece, like a New Year’s resolution, slowly compromise turns to daily concerns and the very thought of Jesus, worship, and church life become numb if not completely dead. Or, church is something to infest with a love grown cold.

John even warns us in I John 3 not to be like Cain the murderer. Of course, taken with the Sermon on the Mount, this is speaking of a cold heart that does not love the church, but harbors hatred in the heart (Matthew 5:22). “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers” (I John3:14).

So, we must take this command to love one another as one of combat with internal sin and commitment to true love, steadfast love, we have received from God. So we must be strong in our watchfulness with one another. To “act like men” is connected to doing all things in love (I Corinthians 16:13-14). Watch one another and keep one another awake with a warm love for Jesus, His Word, and His church. To guard ourselves from lawlessness, which is saying we become our own gods making our own laws in a land where “everyone is doing what is right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25).

Jesus is Lord, and He is good. Reader, I implore you to make this resolution: to draw near to the Lord and love Him increasingly. Draw near to Him humbly. Taste and see the Lord is good. Become active in the life of the local church to be watched over and to keep your love for Jesus and His church warm. All while we await that glorious day of His return.

Let us not be like the unwise bridesmaids sleeping without oil (Matthew 25:1-13). If we sleep, let us regularly be awakened by the Lord like the apostles at Gethsemane. To regularly gather with the church, to hear the Word of God faithfully taught and preached, as another day then another year draws us closer to Jesus’ return that “you know neither the day nor the hour” (Matthew25:13). Let us, then, faithfully remain watchful together.

Heavenly Father, we confess we become drowsy. We slumber. The world which gives us trouble regularly has a numbing effect, deadening our resolutions no matter how strongly we felt or worded them at the beginning. Our endurance is only possible by Your mighty hand. Lord, strengthen our hearts to love warmly with brotherly love, letting love be genuine, with hearts eager for our Lord’s return. In Jesus’ name. Amen.