Broadcast
I Will Be Your God - Part 4
Ezekiel 36:26-27
05/16/2024
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. (ESV)
During forty days after Jesus rose from the dead, He taught
His disciples:
And he said to them, ``Go into all the world and
proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever
believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever
does not believe will be condemned.
What is the Gospel which Jesus entrusted to the Apostles?
Nothing more than what Ezekiel wrote centuries before the birth
of Jesus:
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.
And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to
walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
The result of the faith which the Holy Spirit gives through
the Word and Sacraments are a complete change in our lives for
the better. Because of God's love, of His redeeming us from sin
and eternal death, our perspective changes. No longer are we
content to focus on our wants and desires, coldly ignoring the
need of our neighbor. Rather, we desire to love our neighbor as
ourselves, helping them in every way possible, especially
inviting them to know the peace which we have from being marked
as God's children.
Ezekiel shows us that the new heart, the new spirit, and the
desire to walk in God's ways are not because of our own work or
desire. The new heart, the new spirit, the new love we reflect
are a gift, given because of His love and mercy.
May our Lord grant that we come to know of His grace, first
poured out on His people at the beginning of creation, and shown
to us by Jesus Christ. Amen.
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2. Mark 16:15-16 (ESV)