======================================================================== A NEW HEART AND A NEW SPIRIT by Thomas Brooks ======================================================================== Summary: A true child of God has a new heart and a new spirit, which makes obedience to God's law a delight and a pleasure. Topics: "Obedience", "Transformation" Scripture References: Ezekiel 36:26 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thomas Brooks emphasizes the transformative power of God in giving believers a new heart and spirit, as described in Ezekiel 36:26-27. He explains that a true child of God finds joy and delight in obeying God's laws, as they are written on their hearts. This inner transformation leads to a natural aversion to sin and a deep love for spiritual practices such as prayer and meditation. Brooks highlights that genuine obedience is not burdensome but rather a source of pleasure for those who have received God's grace. The sermon encourages believers to embrace their new identity in Christ and the joy that comes from living according to His statutes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will place My Spirit within you and cause you to follow My statutes and carefully observe My ordinances." Ezekiel 36:26-27 A true child of God has the law of God written, not only in his understanding--but also in his heart and affections. And this is that which makes his obedience to be pleasing and delightful to him. If he might be free from the injunctions and directions of the word--he would not value such a liberty. He would not swear, nor lie, nor be drunk, nor whore, nor dissemble, nor cheat, nor run into all excess of riot if he could--because in his soul he has a principle of grace, and an inward contrariety and antipathy against evil. He would not cease to hear, to read, to pray, to meditate if he could--because his soul takes a pleasure and sweet delight in these things. There is a principle within him agreeable to the precepts of Scripture, which makes all pious performances to be easy and pleasurable to him. Look! as the eye delights in seeing, and the ear in hearing, so a gracious heart (except when it is under a cloud of desertion, or in the school of temptation, or under some grievous tormenting afflictions, or sadly worsted by some prevalent corruption) delights in obedience. ======================================================================== Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/thomas-brooks/a-new-heart-and-a-new-spirit/ ========================================================================