273. A New Spirit
Ezekiel 11:19 And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh.
The Lord promises to give His people one heart, a new spirit, and a heart of flesh. The one heart is a single-minded devotion to the One God, and it unites believers in their worship and belief in the One True God. A new spirit is the regeneration of the dead spirit within to make it alive. A heart of flesh indicates a soft heart, like plowed ground, to receive the impression of God upon it; this is in place of the stony heart on which God’s attempts to influence the heart is resisted and the Word just bounces off and never takes root to grow.
David prays, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” This is our response to hearing the gospel of the forgiveness of sins. The heart is cleaned and softened by the Word and the Spirit, who combines the experiences of life with the truth of the gospel. This is the new life of the born again believer. The Holy Spirit resides in our dead spirit making it alive. The believer now has a new and living human spirit that begins to affect the soul’s mind, will and emotions to influence our thoughts, decisions, and behavior more in line with God’s personality and character. This is the life-long process of Sanctification, which will not be perfected until death when the holiness-making process is completed. Then we shall be resurrected and live with God in His eternal home.
This daily renewing process occurs when we remember our baptism by repentance and faith in the Gospel, and then we, too, “might walk in newness of life.” The Old Man is drowned and dies and a new man arises. We live with both old man and new man, with both sinful flesh and Spirit-filled spirit, and these are at war with each other. However, based on the Victory of Jesus Christ, we go on from victory unto victory, although suffering some defeats along the way. To win the daily victory we need the promise of a new spirit and a soft heart. God does not quit when we sin, but He forgives and gives new strength of faith to get up and go on from there.