A Heart that is New
Ezekiel 11:14-25
June 13-14, 2026
We are back, everyone. We are back. Let's have a seat, if you would, and open your Bibles to the book of Ezekiel 11. If you need a Bible, there are some at the back of the sanctuary there at the usher's tables. If you open the app and turn to the Bible tab, it'll open right to Ezekiel 11. How cool is that? The title of our message is A Heart That Is New. What God has for us in His Word tonight is very, very important. Let's pray and receive together.
Lord, we are thankful. We know that You send forth Your Word in power. God, just pour out Your Spirit of life. Use the Word to stir us up in our faith that we would honor You in the way that we live and that our souls would be revived because we've abided in the nearness of God through Your Word, we pray, in Jesus' name. Everyone said, amen.
Ezekiel, as I mentioned, is a prophet to the exiles there in Babylon. He was called and sent by God to them to speak the Word of God, stir them up, challenge them, but also to open their heart to understand that God has a purpose in all of this trouble that they're going through, this exile, the difficulty. The great theme of this major section of this book is that though they were obstinate, hard-hearted, rebellious, God had not given up on them. In fact, He had already prophetically declared that this whole thing is going to end in revival. God knew the end from the beginning. He had prophesied, yes, I know, I know they're obstinate, hard-hearted, rebellious, but this thing is going to end in revival. Something is going to happen there.
Now, I've already mentioned, I'll repeat it, that, hey, trouble and difficulty itself is not enough to bring the transformation of the heart and of life. No. There's got to be more than that. There's got to be more than trouble. I know a lot of people who went through trouble, and they weren't changed at all. No. There must be a spiritual awakening in the midst of the trouble. A person must somehow connect the events that they're going through to spiritual conditions. You've got to connect. In other words, there must be a spiritual connection to the events of life. That takes more than trouble. That takes the Spirit awakening hearts to the truth that God is doing something here.
Now, here we are in Chapter 11. He's in the midst of this vision. It began in Chapter 8. Chapters 8, 9, 10, 11 are one vision. He was sitting in his house, and the elders of Judah were sitting before him, when the hand of God fell upon him and gave him this vision. In this vision, God took him to Jerusalem, it's a vision, but He took him to Jerusalem to see the abominations and the offenses that were happening with those who remained back in Jerusalem.
At one point, Ezekiel, in that vision, was told to dig through a hole in the wall in the temple. When he entered through it, behold, what he saw was this. Every form of detestable thing with the idols of the House of Israel carved on the wall all around, and there were 70 elders standing there. God said to Ezekiel, Son of man, do you see this? Do you see what the elders of the House of Israel are doing in the dark, each man in the room of his carved images?'
Then they say, The Lord doesn't see us. He doesn't know. He's revealing the secret darkness of these images. Oh, there's a tremendous spiritual point to this. Then they say, God doesn't know. God doesn't see. Then the Lord showed him then that this was why the glory was leaving the temple. That was the whole point. Can the glory of God dwell in the midst of all this? It was time for the glory to depart. Enough is enough. That's the point.
Then in Chapter 11, as the vision continues, here we are. God is revealing here an attitude that those who remained there in Jerusalem had against the exiles in Babylon. If you remember, I mentioned that Ezekiel had been taken and deported in the second wave. There was the first one, Daniel was taken, and the others. Ezekiel was taken in the third. Those who remained back spoke poorly of those who had been taken, captive. They entirely misunderstood and misinterpreted the events that were happening. They said of the exiles, Go, go, go. Go far from the Lord. This land has been given to us as a possession, and it's been taken from you.
They missed the whole thing entirely. They had it all turned around, and they couldn't have been more wrong. That which they assumed was for their good was about to be their great undoing, and that which they assumed was against the exiles was about to be their greatest blessing. This is a spiritual lesson of life. We need a greater perspective. We need to understand that God is doing something far greater and not to assume that we have it all figured out. There's humorous stories and jokes that take those assumptions and show how wrong they can be.
Like the fellow who was telling his friend, "Have you heard about my latest misfortune?" His friend said, "No, what happened?" He said, "My uncle passed away. "He said, "Oh, that's bad." Then he said, "Oh, no, it turned out good. He left me a $50,000 inheritance." "Oh, that's good." He said, "No, that turned out bad because an IRS agent came and took most of it in taxes." "Oh, that was bad. "He said, "No, that was good. I had enough left that I could buy some land and dig a well." "Oh, that's good." "No, that was bad. While I was digging, the walls caved in. I couldn't get out." "Oh, that's bad." "No, that was good because when the walls caved in, they revealed a vein of gold, and I started yelling about it, and a fellow heard me and threw down a rope to get me out." "Oh, that was good." "No, that was bad. The fellow who pulled me out was the IRS agent." And on and on the story goes. It's a bit like that here.
Those in Jerusalem could not have been more wrong. They thought, oh, it's to our great advantage that they had Jerusalem all to themselves. They were the bad things Jeremiah had prophesied against, and they would eventually run to Egypt, never to be heard from again, but those who had been taken captive and exiled were those whom God would transform into the good figs, and He would bless them. Even though they're going through the trouble, God's going to bless them beyond their wildest imagination. There's a spiritual principle at work here, and it's seen in many places of Scripture, and it's this.
That which is against you oftentimes is the very thing that God uses as the door of hope by which His favor is poured out on your life. This is a very interesting spiritual principle, and there are many examples of that. There's David. You remember his story? He was anointed. He was a very young man, teenager, really, as the future king of Israel. He's the one who defeated the Philistine giant, one victory after victory in battle.
Then, because of the anger and jealousy of Saul, who knew that God was taking the throne from him and giving it to David, pursued David to kill him, and this went on for 12 years. Talking about trouble, he said, "I'm one step away from death." For 12 years this went on. The very things that David went through were the very things that God was using to prepare him to be the great king of Israel.
There's Joseph. Joseph has got to be one of the great examples of this spiritual principle. He was given a vision that one day he would arise in stature such that his brothers even would bow down before him, but his brothers didn't take kindly to that vision and betrayed Joseph by selling him into slavery, eventually into Egypt. Joseph went from tragedy to trouble, one upon another, yet it was those very tragedies, the very troubles that he went through, were the things that God used to fulfill that great vision and purpose in his life. Then, when the events turned in such a way that his brothers did come and bow down before him begging for forgiveness, Joseph answered, "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good."
There's a greater principle at work. See, that which the exiles thought was against them was the very thing that God would use to be for them. Now, Ezekiel here is called to speak to a difficult people, but along the way, God gives this vision to encourage them that they would know that God has much in store for them to give them a future and a hope so that they would hold on to that hope. God gives you promises so that you can hold on to them and then learn to yearn for God within their hearts. That's the great thing, that God's going to transform their cold, stony hearts, and there's going to be a spiritual awakening that comes out of it.
All right, let's read it. We're in Hebrews 11, 11:14 is where we begin reading. Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, son of man, your brothers, your relatives, your fellow exiles, the whole House of Israel, all of them, are those to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, they said, go, go far from the Lord. The land has been given to us, not you. To us as a possession. Therefore, you say this, you say, Thus says the Lord God, though I have removed them far away among the nations, and though I had scattered them among the countries, you say, I am a sanctuary for them for a little while there in the countries where they had gone.
Then you say, Thus says the Lord God, I shall then gather you from the people and assemble you out of the countries among which you have been scattered, and I'm going to give you the land of Israel. It is for your possession. Then, when they come there, they will remove those detestable things and all the abominations from it. I will give them one heart, and I shall put a new spirit in them, and I will take their heart of stone out of their flesh, and I'll give them a heart of flesh like it's alive, so that they may then walk in my statutes and keep my ordinances and do them. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God.
This is the great formula of relationship that we've seen repeated over and over, God says, Then they will be my people, I will be their God. It's a way of expressing beautiful fellowship. That's what God wants, to be God with us in beautiful fellowship, walking together in this course of life. These are the verses that we want to look at together and apply to our lives. Starting with this.
I. God is Your Sanctuary
I love that promise there in verse 16, that God will be their sanctuary. It's a beautiful picture. God is your sanctuary. You can imagine how the exiles there could have taken these insults so personally that you can imagine how they would have even second-guessed themselves. Is it true? Has God abandoned us? Are we just going to disappear here in this God-forsaken place? I think some people may be going through a Babylon season right now, going through troubles, difficulties, a season of it maybe, a chronic pain or a broken marriage or wayward children or financial troubles or just a long, long, dry spiritual desert. You feel far from God's house, far from joy, far from the strong faith once you knew.
The Lord would speak a good word to anyone going through a Babylon-type of experience. I am your sanctuary. Run to me. Hide in me. I am enough. God's calling people to understand what it means, I will be your sanctuary. For it says similarly in Proverbs 18:10, the name of the Lord is a strong tower and the righteous run. You're going through a trouble, you're going through a thing, you run. You don't walk, you run. He will be your sanctuary. Far from the temple there, far from the land of promise, far from everything that felt safe to them, He says, I will be your sanctuary.
Those who remained in Jerusalem assumed that because those in Babylon were exiled, they were cut off from the presence of God and that God was against them. No, they could not have been more wrong. God has a better word and it's a word that will encourage anyone who has a heart to hear. I will be your sanctuary. I will be the place where your soul finds rest and peace and is lifted and is built and is edified.
A. The sanctuary was meant to be personal
You notice that it's not a place, it's God himself. It's very important. I am your sanctuary. Come to that which is of your soul. See, in other words, the sanctuary was meant to be personal. Something personal happens when God is your sanctuary. There in that place drawing near to Him, in that place, that's where your soul is transformed. In other words, it's not just a shelter from the storm. You don't just run to God because you're in trouble. No, something happens when you meet God there in that shelter, when you hear God speaking to your heart, because when you're going through a Babylon type of experience, you need more than the trouble. You need a spiritual awakening.
Proverbs 46:1, God is our refuge. God is our strength, very present help in times of trouble. You run to the tower of the Lord, He will strengthen. In other words, Psalm 91. I love Psalm 91. He who abides in the shelter of the Most High. Don't you love those words? They just give you such a vision of the Almighty and the nearness. He who dwells there in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the Lord, my refuge, my fortress, my God in whom I trust. See, when He's your refuge, when He's your sanctuary, something happens there. In other words, you're not just waiting for the storm to pass. You run to the sanctuary, the presence of God, and here's what I want you to see. You get alone with God, and you work out what is troubling your soul. I've always been convinced, whenever I've been through a trouble, and I've been through many, many troubles, it's times like those when you're going through one of those troubles that you run to the nearness of God, and then you work this thing out.
If you could just dwell there and just pray this thing through and just work this thing out, you're dwelling there in that place, and you're bringing it all before the Lord. He's your sanctuary, and you're going to work this thing out, that He would speak to you, life, truth, to your soul, that He would strengthen and renew. Then He'll direct your path and the steps and show you the way through this trouble. In other words, you're not running from your troubles. You're running to the sanctuary of the Lord. There is where you will be strengthened, there.
I mentioned David's troubles before he was king. There was this one point when David and his men had been away from the village where they had been staying in order to face an enemy. When they returned, they found that the Amalekites, while they were gone, the Amalekites had come and raided their village, burned the village to the ground, taken the women and children hostage. It says this was one of the lowest points in David's life.
1 Samuel 30:6 gives us an interesting insight. It says, Moreover, David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him. They blamed David for this, for all the people were embittered against David, each because of his sons and his daughters. Notice this, but David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. David went away. He drew away. He went into that place where he and God can work this thing out. He came back, and he just took leadership over the people. He said, Those who are too tired can stay behind. The rest of you, get on your horses. We're going. They went and pursued, and a great victory in David's leadership was seen in the understanding that it's about the condition of his faith, his soul. He went into that place where his soul was strengthened. He worked this thing out, and then he came and brought a great victory.
B. God will restore and rebuild
Then we see this back in Ezekiel 11, that God will restore and God will rebuild. In other words, God doesn't just comfort you. He's going to do something. He's going to restore. He's going to rebuild there. Now, those who were back in Jerusalem thought they were the ones in the right. Didn't the circumstances prove it? By the way, this is why you must be very, very careful to not presume based on the circumstances alone. Didn't the circumstances prove it? They were the ones in Jerusalem. The exiles were in Babylon. Weren't they the ones in the right?
God says a word to the people through the Prophet Ezekiel. Verse 17, Thus says the Lord God, I will gather you from the peoples, I'll assemble you out of the countries among which you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. Now, you know this is interesting because that promise started when he gave that word to Abraham back in Genesis 12, and he's repeated it and repeated it. He says it again here, and that promise stands true even today. God promised them that land.
There's great debate today about whose land is it? The Palestinians claim that it is their land, and so they chant. They have this saying that they chant, "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free." What they mean by that is from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea, Palestine will be free of Jews. They mean Holocaust. They mean disaster. They call Israel occupiers. If you ask them, what part of the land are they occupying? They say, all of it. They should not have one foot of it. They mean Holocaust when they say that. God says, no, this is my land, and I have declared that my land belongs to my people and that they will forever dwell in that land which I promised to give them. He said it then, He'll say it now, and He means it forever. Amen. Can we give God praise on that? Amen.
C. The heart of the matter is the heart
This is what we see next in Ezekiel 11, that the heart of the matter is the heart. Notice what he says. It's not about the land. It's not just about the land. It's about their heart in the land. Jeremiah, in chapter 29, when we were there, said a very similar word. Notice the way Jeremiah said it, Thus says the Lord. When 70 years, he told him the exact number of years, have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you, I'll fulfill my good word to you. I will bring you back to this place. For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord. We quote this all the time. Interesting to see it in its context.
I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans for welfare, for good. Not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope. Then, but notice this part. It's not just about giving them the land. No. Then you will call upon Me. You will pray to Me, and I will listen to you. Then you will seek Me, and you will find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, and I'll restore your fortunes. I'll gather you from the nations when I say, declares the Lord.
See, the heart of the matter is the heart. God was doing a work there as their sanctuary. God was inviting them to meet God. That's the only way the soul can be transformed. Got to have a meeting with God. You get into that sanctuary, and something happens there. There's where it happens. There's where the soul is moved. There's where the soul is transformed. When their souls are restored and they behold the beauty of the Lord God in the sanctuary, then—this is very important—they will see detestable things as detestable.
Notice verse 18. Then when they come there, I'm going to give them the land of Israel. When they come there, they're going to remove those detestable things and all the abominations from it, from the land.
This is so powerful, it speaks prophetically, that they will be transformed. Something is going to happen. The troubles that they're going through is going to bring such an awakening spiritually that when they return, they're going to find all those old detestable things, and they're going to finally see them for what they are, and they're going to get rid of them. This is a modern application to our lives. This is spiritual victory. When a person finally has enough, I've had enough, and then sees the whole thing as dishonorable, then a transformational work is done. They see it differently. Something has happened in the way they see, and it comes from a spiritual awakening. That's where it came from.
Notice, back in Ezekiel 7, He's accusing them. They transformed the beauty of His ornaments. They took the various gold and silver ornaments that had been reserved for God things, and then they made them, they turned them into images of their abominations, and their detestable things. Therefore, He says, I will make it an important thing to them. They're going to say, I don't want this. They're going to see it as differently.
This is a point of victory. When you finally get sick of the thing, that is a point of victory right there. When God breaks something, and you see it differently, and you say, I'm sick of this thing. See, when I think of that, it reminds me of when Israel was in the desert. God had brought them out of Egypt. Of course, God had miraculously provided for them with manna. How do you feed two million-plus people in the desert? God provided manna for them every morning.
They could go out. They fell like dew. They could go and harvest enough for the day. It was sweet to the taste. He says it tasted like coriander seed with honey. It tasted like Krispy Kreme donuts. It was tasting good, healthy, and a miracle. It's a miracle every day, but they began to complain. It says they became like a people who complain of adversity in the hearing of the Lord. They began to grumble and complain about this manna. We want meat. I have this image that they're all chanting, we want meat, we want meat. They're all chanting together, we want meat. We've had enough of this manna. We want meat.
Then they said, oh, don't you remember the fish we used to eat free in Egypt? Don't you remember the good old days in Egypt? Remember? The cucumbers and the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlics? Now our appetite is gone, gone, gone. There's nothing to look at except this manna. We want meat. We want meat. Numbers 11 says, God spoke to them through Moses, you have wept in the hearing of the Lord, saying, oh, that someone would give us meat to eat? For we were well off in Egypt, you said. Actually, the literal, we were better off in Egypt. Is that what you said? I heard you weeping. I heard what you said. They said, oh, we were better off in Egypt.
Therefore, the Lord is going to give you meat. You want meat? You're going to have meat. Not just one day, or two days, or five days, or 10 days, or 20 days. No, the whole month. You're going to get so much meat until it comes out your nostrils and it becomes loathsome to you. As we know, he's saying quail. How do you have quail coming out your nose? Answer, you eat it so greedily that you throw it up. You're so engorged and you eat it so greedily that you throw it up and now it's coming right out your nose. Aren't you glad you already had dinner?
I'm going to make you sick of it. Now that is a really spiritual point. That's a great point. I'm telling you right now, that is a victory point. When someone gets to the point, I am sick of it. This thing that keeps festering in my soul, I am sick of this thing. That is a great point. I'm telling you right there, that is spiritual victory. Because He says, notice what He says, and now I'm going to give them a new spirit. God gives a new spirit. This is like revival. This is like awakening.
II. God Gives a New Spirit Within
Verse 19, I give them one heart and put a new spirit within them. Notice how He starts, gives them one heart. It's a work of God's Spirit stirring. He means undivided. One heart means undivided. He means it like personal. That's true corporately, too, but He means it to be personal. No divided affections, no divided hearts. Like Psalm 86, teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth. Give me an undivided heart. This is a spiritual victory to have an undivided heart. Give me an undivided heart to revere your name. I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever. Ah, that's a great-- what a great victory, spiritually victory point right there. With my whole heart. No undivided.
One day, when a teacher of Israel asked Jesus, Teacher, of all the things that God said, what is the highest? What is the one thing that is greater than all things? They used to debate amongst themselves. There were hundreds of laws, as you can imagine, in the Word, and so the Jewish leaders would debate, well, which one is greater than that one? Then, well, what's greater than that one? Then they would keep debating. They would debate and debate and debate. Well, which one's above that one? What if they're in conflict, which one's going to be greater than that one? Finally, well, which one is the greatest of all of them?
They came to Jesus and asked Him, Teacher, what say you? What is the one thing that God says that's above every other thing? Jesus says, the greatest, the highest, the foremost is this, love. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. An undivided heart. There's peace there. There's victory there. There's honor there. There's glory there. He means it personally, and it's true corporately. Can you imagine a nation of people all abiding in that unity? Like Psalm 133:1, behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity. That will be true in heaven.
Can you imagine what heaven will be like when we're all dwelling before the throne in unity? Ah, the worship that was resound. I think somehow we're going to sing, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty. We're just going to worship in beauty. When I think about this, many, many years ago, we had gatherings at the, back in those days it was the Coliseum before the Rose Garden. That's how far back it goes. The whole place was full of believers worshiping. There were many times where they would just turn the music off and let the voices just-- I'm telling you, I don't know what it was, 25,000 or something, and we're just all there. It was just like, Holy, Holy, Holy, I exalt Thee. Everybody's in unity. Everybody has a heart for the Lord. It was so beautiful. You'd just want to not leave that place. So beautiful.
A. God will give a new heart
I will give them one heart. He says, I'll give them a new heart. I'll take that heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Heart of stone is cold and dead. Stone has no pulse, no warmth, no life. That's what He said. That's what they had. Their hearts were like stone. Left to their own, without God doing something, they would have become dead. Their faith would have died. Hearts become hardened to the things of the Lord.
A heart of stone is unresponsive, stubborn, can't be stirred. God can send some moving thing, not stirred at all. If you pour water over stone, the water runs right off. It's unyielding, unchanged. It represents that hard condition, spiritual, that turns a cold shoulder to God and mocks messengers, ignores the Word until there's no human remedy, but He says, I'm going to do divine surgery. I'm going to do divine surgery. I'm going to take that stony heart, and I'm going to put it away, and I'm going to give a heart of flesh that's alive. See, God doesn't say-- see, you got to notice who's doing the action there. God is doing the action.
God doesn't say, go try harder, polish that hard stone in your heart, polish it yourself. You can't make yourself holy by polishing that stony heart. You can't transform your own nature by willpower. No, love is what stirs. Love is what stirs. We were made to love. There is a deep longing in the soul for love. The Holy Spirit stirs by love and stirs us to love. Like what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5, he says, The love of Christ compels me. It moves me. I am compelled by the love of Christ. See, this is a very important word. The more that you love God, the more that it compels you, it moves you. You're moved by it. The heart is what moves you.
B. The heart is what moves you
It then goes to verse 20. Then I'm going to do this spiritual surgery. I'm going to put a new heart so that it moves you. Then, then, then they will walk in my ways. They'll walk in my statutes, my ordinances, and they'll do them, and then they will be my people, I will be their God. See, the heart is what moves you to move. Jesus said, The good man, out of the good treasure of his heart, brings forth out of it what is good. He says, For the mouth speaks from that which fills the heart. You're moved by what fills you. See, if you fill your heart with glory, then the words that come forth will come from that glory. If you fill your heart with grace, then the words that come forth will be words of grace.
In Exodus 35, when they were preparing to build the tabernacle of God's dwelling place among them, it says repeatedly, like four times in four verses, Everyone whose heart stirred him and everyone whose spirit moved him, came. It said it four times, right after the other. Everyone whose heart stirred him, everyone whose spirit moved him, came. When the Spirit moves, it stirs you. You're compelled. Fellas, I am compelled. It moves you because you want-- see, it changes your heart's desire. I want, I want, I want, I want to honor God. It means a lot to me. I want to honor God. I want more of God in my life. I'm stirred by it. I'm compelled by it. This is moving a soul from its cold condition to being alive. That's what God's doing. That's what God is doing in us. That's what God is stirring this church to do, to be moved.
I think of a song that Keith Green used to sing. Some of you remember I mentioned Keith Green back in the days of the Jesus Movement. He wrote a song and I captured it. The song was, My Eyes Are Dry. I remember when I would go through dry times, I would put that song in my A-track and just let those words resonate. It's a song that describes the moving from the cold to the alive.
He says,
My eyes are dry
My faith is old
My heart is hard
My prayers are cold
And I know how I ought to be
Alive to You and dead to me
But what can be done
For an old heart like mine
Soften it up
With oil and wine
The oil is You, Your Spirit of love
Please wash me anew
With the wine of Your Blood.