Breaking Away That Heart of Stone
Ezekiel 11:19-20- "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: that they may walk in my statutes, and keep Mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God."
Ezekiel 36:25-27- "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them."
As said, it's always impossible for a person to get saved and not have ANY changes in their new life. The context of Ezekiel talks about Israel which was a nation filled with iniquity that it had to suffer judgment at the hands of God. Yet God had used Israel as an illustration as well how He can change the lives of persons if they will let Him. The verses above would tackle on the reality of the heart as being wicked and perverse yet God in His power can change that all.
Jesus warned in Matthew 15:19 and Mark 7:21-22 about the evils that come from the heart are adultery, evil thoughts, fornication, thefts, false witnesses, malice, deceit, lewdness, arrogance, slander, arrogance, foolishness and blasphemies. These things make a man dirty. Is man basically good? Not if the heart is examined as Jeremiah 17:9 says, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" As said, man's natural heart is inclined to do evil not ever since the fall of man. In any way, man is never ever going to have power over sin outside the grace of God. Idolatry in fact, has been the very way of life for most people- their gods are either the obviously false gods to money, fame, fortune, persons and self. Idolatry means to put anything above the one true God.
So what is the very cleansing by water in Ezekiel 36:25? Jeremiah 2:12-13 and 17:13 calls the LORD God the very fountain of living water. In John 4:14, Jesus promised the woman at the well of water that one can never thirst. In John 7:38, Jesus made mention of the fountain of living waters. So the clean water can only come from God, the very water that cleanses away the filth. By His water, He satisfies those who hunger and thirst for Him. That is to cleanse the person from the dirt on the outside beginning the new life of the believer.
And now to deal with the heart problem. A stony heart means a heart that is devoted to sin and self. This is the heart of the old man that must be put away. The wickedness of the heart must be replaced with a new heart. Since the Christian is saved to serve and not to sin, God knows how weak the Christian is without His grace. So what He does is that through the Lord Jesus Christ living in the heart of EVERY believer and the Holy Spirit in them, the heart that was once rejecting God is replaced. And as said, God's grace will bring forth good works even if salvation is never by works (Ephesians 2:8-10, Titus 2:11-15). And this heart of flesh means it's a heart that is tender, obedient, one that will obey God and do His will. However this is again figurative as the heart is literally made of muscles yet man in the unsaved state acts like his heart is made of stone which God changes after saving the person and making them His. His work is NEVER done until the end of the Christian's journey.
So how does God keep that new heart going on? When a Christian stumbles into sin, 100% guaranteed that the LORD will NEVER fail to chastise (Hebrews 12:5-6). And also, it's only by God's grace and the Christian's new desire in God that causes them to do every good work and want never to sin again. What is even harder to believe is this- a workless salvation results to good works for the believer while many who believe in works salvation are into a very sinful lifestyle.