Wesleyan Covenant Renewal Service Sermon 31 December 2022: A New Heart and A New Spirit - Ezekiel 36:26

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I would like to thank Pastor Wendy for this opportunity to preach the Word tonight. Speaking at the last service of the year is not an easy task - it is a place of transition - equal parts reflection and anticipation. It is reflection for the year that has passed, and anticipation for the year that is to come. As we quieten our hearts to listen to God’s Word tonight, it is my prayer that the Holy Spirit will speak truth to your heart: teaching, convicting, rebuking, correcting truth, so that we may become more like Christ in the coming year. 

Will you join me in prayer as we begin this time?

Heavenly Father, we come before you at the close of the year, acknowledging our brokenness and embracing your grace. May Your eternal Word come alive in us just as Christ Jesus Your Son came and dwelt among us. May the Holy Spirit reveal to us the message you have for us today, and may we respond to You in obedience. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

1 What is your vision of holiness?

I was at the beach recently as Faith, my daughter, likes to play in the sand. What I was surprised to see, though, were what I thought were Buddhist monks at the beach. They were dressed in their yellow robes. Now before anyone charges me with threatening religious harmony, the point I want to make is that it caused me to think about why I was surprised. Perhaps I would be less surprised to see our pastors in slippers and shorts taking a stroll on the beach. In our modern minds we separate, or compartmentalise the sacred and the secular. They belong in two clearly defined and differentiated spheres of life. We tend to think that monks only live in the monastery and live like ascetics - the monastics, who were technically Christian monks, studied the Scriptures and had zero interaction with the outside world. 

A Christian vision of holiness sees no sacred or secular divide - that would be akin to saying that I am a Christian only on Sunday because that is the day I come to church and put on my best behaviour. From Monday to Saturday I am a different person. This should not be the case. A Christian vision of holiness is holiness that permeates and pervades all spheres and arenas of life, all the time.  

What is your vision of holiness?

The prophet Ezekiel was a holy man in the midst of an unholy people. He was the son of a priest, and the book of Ezekiel was written during the time of Judah’s exile. This is the period where we find that because of their disobedience and idolatry, God’s people had been conquered by other nations, and deported from her own land. 

Have you ever been involuntarily thrown out of your home? Have you ever been forced to leave the country that you grew up in, had family in, made friends in, felt belonging to? I think for most, if not all of us here, that experience is foreign to us. And that is a blessing. But I want to help us imagine what being exiled might feel like. If you think with me for a moment about refugees fleeing their country because of war and conflict, and imagine yourselves to be in their shoes, you might be able to gain some insight about how they might feel. Fear, distress, insecurity, hopelessness, anxiety, despair - all of these are emotions that are associated with being in exile. But unlike refugees, who may not have had any part to play in the conflict that they are escaping from, Ezekiel tells us the reason for their exile: 

persistently sinning against a holy God. 

Turn with me to Ezekiel 36:16-21. These verses set the stage for making sense of what God did to them. I will read for us. 

16 The word of the Lord came to me: 17 “Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and their deeds. Their ways before me were like the uncleanness of a woman in her menstrual impurity. 18 So I poured out my wrath upon them for the blood that they had shed in the land, for the idols with which they had defiled it. 19 I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. In accordance with their ways and their deeds I judged them. 20 But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name, in that people said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, and yet they had to go out of his land.’ 21 But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came.

The words defile and profane repeatedly appear. By their ways and deeds, by the things that they repeatedly did, they had shown utter disregard for God’s holy name. They worshipped idols even though they were commanded to worship God alone. They disregarded holiness.

What is your vision of holiness?

2

A vision of holiness begins with an encounter with a holy God

In Leviticus, God had commanded the Israelites to consecrate themselves and be holy, because He is holy. The holiness of God is something which we do not even begin to understand. 

Consider Moses and the burning bush - what was Moses’ response? He approached God with reverence and fear, taking off his sandals. Or better still, Isaiah when he encountered God - he proclaimed Woe is me! Here was a prophet yet he found himself overwhelmed with his sinfulness in the presence of the Holy God. Jacob built an altar in Gen 28, Peter falls before Jesus in repentance in Luke 5:8, Paul’s life was turned upside down as testified by himself in Acts 22, John fell like a dead man at the sight of Jesus in Rev 1:17. The holiness of God is actually a terrible and overwhelming thing to behold. Yet it is terribly beautiful - those who get a glimpse of it are caught up by it, so much so that they are changed forever. Their character and their desires are changed. 

Have we lost this sense of reverence and fear when we approach God in church? How about the other 6 days outside of church? Do we live reverently? I think there may be some of us who haven’t gotten a glimpse of God’s holiness. And for those who have, maybe your vision, your encounter, is now but an ember of a flame that was once burning brightly long ago. Perhaps now is the time to pray and ask the thrice-holy God for a fresh encounter that would overwhelm us and cause our entire being to be changed forever. For Romans 8 to come true in our lives - that we may be increasingly conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus. 

If we are not caught up with God’s holiness and have no vision of it, the world, when looking at us, can only conclude that either 1) we are no different from them, 2) or that God is not holy. Both alternatives defile (spoil the purity of) God’s holy name. And this was exactly the problem with God’s people. God’s holiness was not reflected in their lives. In response to this, God acts to vindicate His holiness. 

Reading on in Ezekiel 36:22, 

22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. 23 And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.

It is clear from Scripture here that what God promises in the following few verses He does for His own name’s sake. It is not for Israel’s sake - it is neither about who they are, or what they have done. Listen to this promise.

24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 

26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 

27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

The new heart and the new spirit that God promises in Ezekiel 36:26 and 27 are gifts of grace. It is clear from the context that God’s gifts of grace have nothing to do with who we are or what we have done, but are based on who God is. God acts and gives, because He is a holy God. And He gives these gifts so that we can pursue holiness.

3 1st Gift: New hearts to pursue holiness: forsaking idols and obeying God

The first gift of grace is the new heart. The heart of stone will be replaced by the heart of flesh. 

Have you ever sat on a stone recently? I have. In our warm Singaporean weather, it would be a refreshing feeling since it would be cold. But coldness also means distance, detachment, being devoid of a connection. The last thing that we wish to happen to us is to feel cold towards God. John Wesley, on 24th May, 1738, at Aldersgate Street in London, felt his heart strangely warmed as he listened to someone reading from Martin Luther’s preface from the epistle to the Romans. 

He said this:

“I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; And an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”

John Wesley’s experience of his heart being strangely warmed gave him assurance and authenticated his trust in Christ for salvation. God’s promise in Ezekiel 36 is a heart of flesh that will allow us to love God tenderly and wholly.

3.1 A new heart is an undivided heart

The promise of a new heart is an undivided heart. This means that instead of worshipping anything else, we can focus on worshipping God only. 

The Israelites had a problem of idolatry. Perhaps you may argue, but Joshua, we no longer worship idols of wood and stone. I think idols today take on many other forms and expressions - they may not be material, but are no less present. 

We are all worshippers - but the most important question is, who (or what) do we worship daily? 

If we take some time to observe and reflect on our culture today, I think we find two very present and oppressive idols. 

The first is the idol of distraction. We practically worship distraction every day. Just think about how much time we spend on our phones daily, and how many times in the day you feel inclined to check your phone. In the past, phones were primarily tools for verbal communication. Right now, how many of us actually communicate verbally over the phone? Most communication with our phones happens via text and social media. Whether it is Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, or Tiktok, the number of hours we spend on our devices have increased exponentially. How often do you find yourself mindlessly scrolling for the next bit of entertainment, the next viral post, the next new trending clip? We may reason to ourselves that distraction is a means of leisure and a way to destress. That is well and good but it may quickly and easily become an addiction, or worse still, become something that causes us to neglect our work, our family, our friendships, and most important of all, our God. 

The second idol that is pervasive in our society today is the idol of productivity. We have been conditioned to associate productivity with value, and value with worth. The more productive we are, the more we add value to our work, company, or organisation, and the more worth we perceive we have in the eyes of others around us, be it subordinates, colleagues, or superiors. However, we need to regularly pause to think about the cost of this productivity. Does it come at a cost? Is it costing us the things that matter more? Our time with family, friends, and loved ones? Our time for rest? Our mental and emotional well-being? And last but not least, our walk with God?

Maybe you don’t struggle with distraction or productivity. Maybe it is a pet sin that you keep going back to and cannot let go of. Or it may even be something good, like your service in church. Tim Keller warns us that even good things, when they become ultimate things, that is, when we pursue them at the expense of everything else, will become idolatry. 

Who are we worshipping today? What are we worshipping today? How does our worship of God become visible to others in our lives?

The gift of a new heart by God is a promise that we can give up our idols and follow him with a single-minded devotion. What idols are there in our lives that we need to repent of? Let the Holy Spirit speak to you right now so that we can confess, repent, and rededicate our worship wholly unto God. 

How else does our new heart help us to pursue holiness? By helping us to love God by obeying God. How do we show our love to God? Not simply by singing love songs to Him in worship and experiencing some warm and fuzzy emotions. 

Loving God means obeying God.

John 15:10 tells us that “if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in His love.”

The measure of abiding in God’s love is obedience to Him! A new heart means we can love God wholly and undividedly, and loving God with our new hearts means to obey Him. 

But like the Israelites, when faced with temptation and idolatry, even though we want to love God, we may still end up disobeying Him, right? That’s where the second gift comes into the picture.

4 2nd Gift. A new spirit to pursue holiness 

God’s second gift of grace is a new spirit. Ezekiel is clear about what the effects of this new spirit are. Because of this new spirit, we will be able to walk in God’s statutes and obey God’s rules. This new spirit will enable us to live in obedience to God!

This gift of a new spirit is the Holy Spirit, given to us to help us walk in God’s ways. What does the Spirit do?

Firstly, the Spirit witnesses to our salvation.

Romans 8:16 tells us that “The Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit that we are children of God.”

John Wesley reminds us that it is the witness of the Spirit in us that allows us to know that we are saved, that we are in fact children of God. Wesley, in his sermon, The Witness of the Spirit, has this to say:

“The Spirit of God does give a believer such a testimony of his adoption that while it is present to the soul he can no more doubt the reality of his sonship than he can doubt of the shining of the sun while he stands in the full blaze of his beams”

In other words, because of the Spirit, the assurance of our salvation, our adoption as the children of God, is as certain as knowing the reality of the sun while standing under the sun. Have you found yourselves under the sun recently? The heat of its rays, the crisping of your skin, the desire to jump into the coolness of a pool? Feeling all of this, can you doubt the reality of the shining of the sun? Surely not. Such is the certainty of our assurance of salvation, our adoption as the children of God. 

Maybe you have grown up in church and spent many years through Sunday school and sermons. Maybe, in spite of all that, you are not certain that you are a child of God. Maybe you entertain doubts about the status of your faith. Maybe you feel that in the past year, you have been too sinful to be a child of God. Today I pray that the Holy Spirit will reveal the reality and truth of who you are in Christ Jesus, and for you to know for certain that you are indeed a child of God, by the witness of the Holy Spirit.

Secondly, the Holy Spirit enables us to choose to do that which pleases God, to choose that which is right before His eyes, and to choose to be holy. 

If we go back to Ezekiel, God promised the Israelites a new spirit in order for His people to be able to fulfill the covenant promise He had with them, for them to walk in obedience to His laws. Similarly, God gives us the Holy Spirit to enable us to walk in obedience to Him, to choose that which glorifies Him, serves others, and witnesses to the world, instead of prioritising our own pride, self-interest, and self-glorification.

In Galatians, Paul reminds us to 

“Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”

Because of these gifts of grace, because of the new heart, because of the new Spirit, we can not only have a vision of holiness, but truly live as His holy people, to truly become holy as He is holy, for we are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”  

So, in conclusion:

What is your vision of holiness for 2023? 

Have you encountered our holy God?

Have you received His gifts of a new heart and a new Spirit, so that you can walk in holiness with Him?

As we participate in the covenant renewal liturgy in a short while, may we come with repentance, receive His grace, and be filled with hope as we commit ourselves to pursue holiness in the year to come. 

Amen.