More Than a Change of Heart

It is a common yet serious error for people to conclude that the God of the Old Testament Scriptures is more severe, more judgmental, or perhaps even less loving than the Lord Jesus Christ described in the New Testament.

I remember a question panel at Ligonier in which this issue was raised in some form, asking about this apparent difference. At that time, Voddie Baucham responded by saying, “We have just finished a series in the book of Revelation. Anyone who thinks that the God of the left side of the Bible is more judgmental or harsh, or more wrathful, needs to read all the way to the end of the right side of the Bible and see that there is no disparity.”

This is true. When we see sudden judgment in the Old Testament, we also see sudden judgment in the New Testament. The same God is at work. The same God. And what He requires in all ages is the same. To approach God is to approach Him on His terms. To be accepted before God is the same.

From the day in which paradise was lost, God has required a new heart. Man needs a new heart. This is one way of describing the radical change that must take place in a person in order to be rightly related to God. He needs a new heart.

This problem of the heart is not long in surfacing as you read through your Bible. You begin in Genesis 1 and make your way through, and you can clearly see evidence of the wickedness of man’s heart. It becomes especially clear in Genesis chapter 6, when we are told in verse 5: “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

The thoughts of his heart—evil continually.

And it is in this context that Noah is brought forth onto the scene. We are told of him that he had found grace in the eyes of the Lord. This was not something he had generated in and of himself, but God had been pleased to move in his heart and change his life in a way he could never have done himself. Otherwise, he would have been just like the rest—exactly the same.

When you come to the days of Moses and the context in which we are reading tonight, we again see this emphasis: the need for a new heart. The language is not as explicit as in some parts of the New Testament, I will grant you that. But as you read through it, you can see that God is looking for something internal. He is looking for a change within, as described in various ways.

For example, in Deuteronomy 5 verse 29:

“Oh, that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me and keep all my commandments always, that I might be well with them and with their children forever.”

Oh, that there was such an heart in them. Oh, that within them was a principle that would produce obedience, that would honor my name and my will. The problem is the heart.

And when you come to Deuteronomy 10 verse 16, we read: “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.”

Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart. Let there be a cutting away. Let there be something done within you.

It is not enough to revise your ways externally, to change habits. I was talking this morning with a couple of people after the morning service. We were discussing changing habits and dropping bad habits, and adopting other habits—habits that are not always necessarily good, but perhaps not as bad as what we once did.

But this is not Christianity. It is not enough.

God is looking for something to be done in the heart.

When our Lord Jesus came on the scene and began His ministry, He made this clear. As He stood before one of the most religious, one of the most devout, and one of the most sincere people, who might even appear humble when compared with others of his kind, and who were beginning to despise the Lord Jesus and reject His words, there was a sincerity in a man named Nicodemus.

He was curious and recognized that God was at work in the life of this Man, and that the works Jesus was doing were evidence of God’s presence. And I am curious. He came seeking more light and understanding.

One of the things the Lord Jesus said to him was, “You must be born again.” Or, to translate it another way that is equally accurate, “You must be born from above.”

Something must happen within you, Nicodemus.

The Lord Jesus actually pointed out that Nicodemus showed his ignorance, that he should have known that the prophets had taught this as well. “Are you not a teacher in Israel, one of these teachers here, and do you not know these things? Do you not understand what God’s Word has made clear?”

Consider how Jeremiah describes the heart of man: “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.” Think of how Ezekiel says that the promise God extends to humanity is that He will take away the stony heart and give a heart of flesh, a new heart.

There must be a change of heart.

Now, this is what I want us to focus on this evening, with the Lord’s help. But look with me at Deuteronomy 30 verse 6.

“The LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.”

This language connects with what we have already said. I want us to look at it carefully, and I want you to pay attention, especially if there are things you see that I cannot see, and that you are aware of—things only you and God know. These are the internal thoughts that reflect your true condition before God.

Are you a Christian? Do you have spiritual life? Can you say, I have been born again? I was born once into this world by natural birth, and I have been born again from above.

So tonight, consider with me not merely a change of heart, but more than a change of heart.

We sometimes use this phrase, do we not? Someone has a change of heart and changes their mind. They may change their behavior in some way. But what God’s Word reveals is something deeper. It is more than how we commonly use this term.

More than a change of heart.

Consider first with me: it is an act of God.

It is an act of God.

Verse 6 says, “The LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart.” This is first and foremost an act of God, exclusively God’s. Exclusively God’s. The Lord your God will circumcise.

Now some might imagine there is a tension between the language used here and the language in chapter 10. Go to chapter 10. I know I quoted it already, but just so you can see it and keep a finger in Deuteronomy 30, I want you to see the language of Deuteronomy 30: “The LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart.”

And in Deuteronomy 10 verse 16, it is stated this way: “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.”

Is there a tension there? In one place, a command is issued: circumcise your heart. In another, a promise is given: the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart.

Which is it? Are these ideas in conflict? Has Moses forgotten what he said previously, or is he misunderstanding God’s message as a prophet?

Historically, the challenge to presenting the sovereignty of God and salvation has come from people who argue philosophically, thinking it is reasonable and logical to claim that God will not command what man is incapable of doing.

Thus, they hold the idea that if something is commanded, then man must be able to do it. This is the Pelagian view: man possesses the ability to perform the command.

R.C. Sproul addresses this matter, because in our minds we can see this argument. There is a natural tendency: God commands it, therefore I must be able to do it. This is a common thought in human minds. This is the natural inclination.

But R.C. Sproul answers it this way. He describes a scene, and I may be misstating some details, but he describes a scene in which a master places his servant in a garden, and it is the servant’s duty to care for that garden.

There is a pit in the garden, and the master warns the servant: take care of the garden and stay away from the pit. Stay away from the pit, because if you fall into the pit, you will not be able to do what you are placed here to do.

The master goes, and the servant is left. Immediately, in an act of defiance, the servant runs into the pit and falls in. When the master eventually returns, he finds the garden unkept and the servant in the pit. He places upon the servant the obligation to take care of the garden.

The servant says, “I cannot; I am in the pit.”

He imagines that he has avoided his responsibility, that he has an excuse for not fulfilling the command given to him. But this is not how we should understand things. Or we imagine ourselves to be in a place where we think we have an excuse, but the reality is that the command still stands.

It was entirely the servant’s fault to put himself in the pit, and that does not negate or remove the command that remains.

Obey your master.

This is the reality of the position of man. God has called man to obey. He has given commands. Man is responsible to obey God. The fact that man has put himself in a pit, where he is no longer capable of obeying God, is man’s own problem. The command does not go away.

When you read God’s Word, God issues commands so that man becomes conscious of his own inability. He gives commands so that man can see just how weak he truly is. He issues commands because they reveal His will, while being fully aware that man cannot fulfill them.

You see this throughout Scripture. You see the rich young ruler coming to the Lord Jesus and asking, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” The Lord Jesus responds, “Keep the commandments.” The man thinks to himself, “I can do these things.”

Then the Lord takes it deeper. “Sell all you have and give to the poor.” The Master says, “Give up all. Surrender everything.” At that point, he stops.

He does not have the power in himself to do it. And he is exposed. His nature is exposed. His problem is revealed. He is in a pit and cannot do everything necessary to please God or inherit eternal life.

Therefore, he must look outside of himself.

This is what Deuteronomy 30:6 shows. If a person looks outside of himself for the solution, then he will find what he needs.

“The LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart.”

He is the only hope for humanity, and this is His work to do. It is His delight to perform this work—to circumcise the heart of humanity, to change the heart of humanity.

So if you are sitting here tonight, it is not about hoping that you can try hard enough or be sufficiently resolved, or that you can offer enough religious observance.

This will never be enough. You may change aspects of your life, but you cannot change your heart. It must be made new.

“Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?” asked Jeremiah.

There is no hope in changing yourselves or your true nature.

But also note here, as we consider that this is an act of God, it is explicitly on the heart. It is exclusively God’s work, and it is explicitly on the heart.

He will circumcise your heart. He will do something to the heart. It is the heart. God will act from within.

People tend to focus on changing the outside. They like to decorate themselves, to improve themselves, to change how their reputation is perceived in the community, to make people believe that something has happened in their life through these external changes.

But God sees beyond the surface, and God begins with the heart. There must be a work done in the heart.

How many have thought that their religion is sufficient if they can just make themselves look better on the outside?

My wife and I have remarked on occasion about a saying. In every culture, every society, and every place, people have their own common expressions—phrases that are commonly used.

I do not know, but I am from Northern Ireland and grew up there, so in my mind it feels as though we have thousands of these expressions. I mean, one could make a whole study of them; they seem endless, small phrases that are said regularly, and sometimes you even forget them.

Reverend Wagner mentioned one on Friday that I had not thought about in a long time, and if I said it to you, you would have no idea what it means. But some of these expressions are not difficult to understand; they are simply unusual, and what are they meant to convey?

Recently, Melanie was speaking about a situation when people go to funerals. She was telling this to the children. When people go to funerals and there is an open casket, it is common for people to say, “They look like themselves,” or “He looks like himself,” or “She looks like herself.”

It is as though one is saying, “What?” I mean, what does that mean? Is this meant to be a compliment? Is this how they lived their lives? Do they now bear the mark of death upon them? What is the meaning of this?

Why do we say such strange things when we do not know what to say? And why do we say things that might be better left unsaid?

But that is part of religion, you know. Because this is what happens. People pass away, and then specialists go to work to improve their appearance so that when others come to pay their respects and look into the open casket, they are not horrified by what they see.

And this is what man does with religion. Religion that uses makeup and other techniques to alter outward appearance so it does not look as bad as it really is.

Religion without Christ, religion without a new heart, is merely putting makeup on a corpse.

The work God is engaged in is resurrection. It is life from the dead. And He works upon the heart.

This is language intended to reach the very principle within man, for if the heart is changed, the entire being is changed.

And this is what is said, and the Lord Jesus constantly emphasized to those who misunderstood, forgot, or refused to acknowledge this.

You remember in Matthew 23, when He is rebuking the Pharisees, He says, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.”

The work must begin within.

How many have reformed or changed aspects of their lives, yet the disease of death remains within?

There are people who have turned to Mormonism, despite the unusual beliefs that underlie it, which they often conceal until one is deeply involved. These beliefs are unusual, but they change their outward behavior. There are people who have committed themselves to other forms of religion, and on the outside, some kind of change has taken place.

God operates at the level of the heart.

“The LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart.”

It is explicitly on the heart. He is not going to wash you on the outside and make you look better and say that is enough, that will do. He must do it. The surgeon’s work changes the heart.

Secondly, it is always an act of God.

In the first place, it is an act of God. In the second place, it is always an act of God. It may seem repetitious, but I want to place an emphasis here on what the text says.

“The LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed.”

The heart of thy seed.

In most instances, there is nothing that matters more to a man or a woman than their children. And there can be a tendency in which people will believe that if they just do all the right things, then their children will be fine.

But the implication here is that what must happen in the heart of the parents must also happen in the heart of the child.

“The LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed.”

He must do it.

It is always an act of God.

It is not that Abraham had an experience with God and then, by virtue of his own godliness, all of his offspring were also in this standing of favor with God. This is what John the Baptist was exposing in his ministry, was it not?

As he stood before people and he, the preacher, was reading the minds of those, he was trying to see the internal argument and dialogue that goes on in his hearers. And he remarked then, knowing where they were, seeing and understanding them. He understood how they thought because he was, in one sense, one of them.

So he said to them, “Think not to say within yourselves, ‘We are of Abraham’s seed.’ I can see in your mind; I see the argument that you are depending upon the fact that you have a direct lineage to Father Abraham. God is able of the stones to raise up children unto Abraham.”

This boast, this elevation, this tendency to place something of value higher than it should be—this is what we all do by nature, is it not?

We like to focus on our strengths, do we not? We do not like to have our weaknesses exposed, and so we think about our strengths and lean into them. Sometimes we double down on our strengths because that is what comes easily to us. We work in those areas, develop in those areas, and feel comfortable there.

Then someone comes along—perhaps through workplace evaluations, a conversation with a parent, or another context, such as a homiletics class with Reverend Wagner—and says, “Here are your strengths. Lean into your strengths.”

And we do not want to look at our weaknesses. We elevate. We try to substitute what is missing by elevating what is valuable.

This is what the Jews were doing. It was a great privilege to be a descendant of Abraham, but it was not a privilege to be elevated in order to substitute the root of the matter.

They needed a new heart.

And so it is always an act of God.

When you look at your children, they need the same thing that you experienced, parents. Some of you are like my wife and me, having not been raised in a Christian home or in any such environment. Your children are living and walking through an experience, context, or environment that is so far removed. This is part of the reason why.

I probably should not go down this road, but I will say it anyway. Recently, I watched an interview with the son of a well-known preacher. Naturally, the interviewer’s curiosity was about what it was like growing up in the home of such a well-known preacher, and so on.

There was no explicit disrespect toward his father. But it just had this subtle undercurrent that they did not get everything right. There were things that I really struggled with growing up, which took me a long time to reconcile and understand.

This talk about having a challenging childhood and struggling with this godly man—not perfect, but undeniably godly—who saturated his child in the Scriptures, took them to the house of God, poured the Scriptures into them, prayed over their souls, loved them, and remained faithful to his wife.

And yet, there was still this small thing within them, finding fault.

I think, what are you talking about? Are you so utterly unaware of how most of the world lives? There are young people out there whose parents were not present, who had nothing to give, no interest, no discipleship, no encouragement, no guidance.

You quibble over these things as if there were a real struggle in your childhood.

Come on! Get over yourself. Fall on your knees and thank God.

Without any sense of finding fault, because you landed in a 0.0001% privileged environment.

Our children need the same thing. My children do not grow up in the environment that either their mother or their father grew up in. Not that for either of us it was the worst. We can be very thankful in many ways.

But they still need a new heart. They need to be reached by God, just as their mother and father were reached by God—plucked as a brand from the burning, rescued from the pit of hell. An intervention. The Damascus Road, a work of God.

And you, children—this is what you need. If you have not already, if you cannot already say, I have a new heart, what God is saying is, I am promising to you: I can do for you what I did for your parents. I can give you a new heart.

It is always an act of God.

There are reasons why certain things are not done, and at least while I am here, they will never be done in this church. I have no problem with the Apostles’ Creed. It is a helpful statement. It is historic and has significant consequences and ramifications for the church in the time when it was formulated.

But I have a serious concern about the nominalism it can encourage. When a congregation comes together, I believe.

Do you really? Do you really?

Is it enough simply to believe with the mind? Is it enough to agree on who the Father is, who the Son is, and who the Holy Spirit is? Is it enough?

I fear that if you read the language, observe the sentiment, and have experienced it yourself, there is a sense of Christian normalcy. I believe this can develop over time.

Still, it has a place.

The church is to have an evangelistic purpose. The pulpit is not to present only the comfort of Christ to believers, but also to recognize that there should be a clear distinction in the call to reach those who have hidden themselves under false beliefs and who need the Word of God to be revealed so they may understand their true condition before God, if they have not yet come to a saving knowledge of Christ.

That is why I am preaching as I am tonight. It is not unclear. You should not be left wondering what I mean. I hope that by the end, you understand what is required.

Some of the older evangelists used to say, “God has no grandchildren.”

This emphasizes the point: each person must come before God personally. Each person must repent of their sins. Each person must be able to give a personal testimony. It is not enough to rely on the privileges of growing up in a Christian environment.

It is the power of God that I have experienced in the salvation of my soul.

I was in a meeting once, and the language was used again, meant to describe an evangelical church, when someone said that a certain person was a lifelong Christian.

I thought to myself: what might that suggest to someone sitting there? I am also a lifelong Christian, because I was born, baptized, and raised. I am a lifelong Christian. Everything I need, I already have. It was given to me at birth.

No. No.

If you can imagine it this way, medicine is constantly advancing and doing wonderful things. The goal is not merely to remove an arm and replace it with a prosthetic, but to achieve an actual organic replacement. All of these developments are amazing.

But the new birth is not passed on through the DNA of a parent. When children are born to a parent, the new birth does not transfer to them.

Just as a father who lost a finger in an accident while chopping wood for his family does not pass that loss on to his son, so too the new birth, the work of God upon the heart, which God accomplishes at some point in a person’s life, does not transfer to the child.

The child must experience it for themselves.

Therefore, it is always an act of God.

And finally, it is a far-reaching act of God.

A far-reaching act of God.

Look again at Deuteronomy 30:6:

“And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.”

It is far-reaching. It is far-reaching, first of all, in the fact that its impact reaches every area of human life.

“To love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.”

This is the scope of what God’s work in the heart accomplishes. It is not partial. It extends to the entire person.

You cannot have this new life and live in such a way that it is impossible to detect. It will always be evident. You will know it.

Now, there are degrees to which you may know it and see it in others. I was speaking about this just after the morning service with someone else. I was talking about my own family on my mother’s side, how many of her siblings turned away from the gospel early in life, and a good number of them have come to know the Lord later in life, mercifully.

But the one who professed faith in Christ under the ministry, actually, of Dr. Cairns, long before he came to Greenville, at six years of age—within a minute or two of being with her, you would know that this woman knows the Lord.

I remember being at a funeral. It was the funeral of my aunt’s father-in-law, and I was in the car with another pastor. This was many years ago. I was in a car with another pastor who had never met the family before but was there out of respect for a relative.

He had come from England and had met my aunt. I remember him saying in the car as he was leaving, “There’s something about that woman.”

There is a radiance of Christ. I was sitting in the back of the car listening to him, and I said, “Yes. Yes, there is a radiance of Christ, but it is the result of decades of sanctification, decades of walking with the Lord, decades of suffering and proving the sufficiency of His grace. It radiates Christ so clearly that you cannot miss it.”

Her being reflects the work of God to such a degree that what He has done to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, is unmistakable.

This is also true of those who have not been on the journey for long. A certain joy, a love, and encouragement in their manner and demeanor, so that when you are in their presence, you say, this person knows the Lord.

Because this change of heart works out into the faculties, works out into all areas of life, works out into speech, and works out into activity. It manifests itself so that they have a love for God—heart, mind, soul—that we trust grows over time.

This transformation is far-reaching. It reaches all areas of human life and is distinct from what is natural to us.

Paul tells us, does he not, that the carnal mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law of God. Neither indeed can it be, Romans 8:7.

Man by nature is at war with God. Now he may be religious and may use language that sounds very much in line with orthodoxy, and yet his nature remains at war with God.

He is relying on his own righteousness, elevating his own behavior, and assuming, like those our Lord Jesus speaks of in Matthew 7: “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name done many mighty works?” They are relying on their own activity.

God circumcises the heart. The orientation of the person in every part is altered. Where there was once enmity, there is now love for God. Where once there was indifference, now there is longing, a desire.

Some of you know this experience. You sat in church, you grew up in church, and the messages, the truth, washed over you without much thought. Then suddenly, something happened. Your heart was changed, your life was transformed, and now you are sitting here.

There is a beautiful thing sometimes about someone who has just been converted. I have seen this on many occasions. It is always sad when such a state fades or disappears for some reason. But seeing a new convert sitting in church, perched on the edge of their seat or pew, leaning forward as if listening closely to every word, is a powerful sight.

I have seen this, and I tell you, it makes preaching easier when you see that. They are eager, you can see it clearly. They are fully attentive, as if saying, “Don’t stop, preacher—keep speaking.”

This is a wonderful thing. Perhaps some of you remember this feeling. For some reason, you are not there anymore. A quiet question arises: why am I not as eager as I once was?

But this is evidence of being a new creation.

When old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new. All things have become new. All things have become new. There is a real change. Everything is new.

When I was converted and changed, I did not need the pastor to tell me that I could no longer go to the places I once visited. I did not want to go. I did not need to be told. No one explained to me what was wrong with those places. It simply felt wrong.

If you had asked me in those first few days, I might not have been able to answer, “Is it bad? Is it wrong?” I did not know. I was not sure.

I just did not want to be there.

The first question I remember asking after my conversion—the first question, when God worked in my heart and saved me—was this: When do the young people meet? When do the young people meet?

I do not know why I remember this, but I do. When do the young people meet? I want to be with the other young people in the church. Are they gathering? When are they gathering? I want to be there.

It is a new community.

This is similar to the apostles. They went to their own company. They are a new people because they have been changed. And they want to be with others who have also been changed.

They do not want to be unnecessarily exposed to wickedness and sin, because all things have become new.

This is a radical transformation of the heart, a change that removes the stony heart and gives a heart of flesh.

This is a work of God.

That is all that can be said. I cannot explain how it happens or how it operates, except to state theological truths. But the actual nature of it—the mystery, the invisibility of it—yet its reality, is very real.

You sometimes see it when people profess faith, but then you look and say, I do not see any life. I do not see any life. Where is the life?

Though we all know there is a reality to backsliding.

Yes, the impact reaches into every area of human life, and also into eternity.

“That thou mayest live.”

They were living. They were living. So what does He mean by “that thou mayest live”? It is the principle of life. It is resurrection. It is eternal life.

“This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” John 17:3.

Knowing God, life—the life of God imparted into the soul of humanity—so that you may live.

And so Jesus says, I have come that you may have life. He is speaking to people who are already living. They are living on the earth. They are breathing, moving, acting, working. They appear the same as everyone else.

But Jesus said, I have come that you may have life, and that you may have it more abundantly. He has come to give eternal life, so that you will never perish.

Yes, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. It is a gift.

Have you received it? The gift of life that you may live. Let us extend it to you now.

You say, preacher, but it says here that God must do the work. And now you are telling me to do something.

Yes, I am. I am. I am telling you, on the authority of God’s Word, to repent and believe the gospel.

How will I know whether God has done the work? Perhaps it is only something I am doing myself.

The natural person does not come. The natural person has no interest. As you are sitting there tonight and you feel this draw, this inclination, this desire, this longing for life, for peace, for pardon, you long to be unburdened from your sin, to be set free from the chains of your nature, and you desire what Christ offers.

You want a relationship with God, to walk with Him, to please Him, to honor Him, to glorify Him, to submit to Him, to give your life to Him.

By nature, man does not desire any of these things.

And if this impulse is in you tonight, then you come. You come immediately. You come urgently. You come confidently. For whoever comes to Christ, He will in no wise cast out.

He will receive you. And you will begin a new life. A new life.

God is even now working in your life. Is He? Is He working in you now? Do you feel it? That internal dialogue and debate going on?

You know, I don’t mean to—I am not going to name them, actually. I will not embarrass them. But let’s just say I was reading an interview the other day. Someone who sat in this church, believing they were saved, having grown up in a Christian home under Christian parents, and who believed they had been converted and were saved.

Yet, during the first months of the ministry of this church, combined with a few other experiences, they realized they were not saved.

Maybe that is you. You may say, preacher, I don’t know what you’re talking about.

A new heart? The work of God, the glory of salvation, is nothing that man can produce or accomplish. It is a work of God in the heart.

And tonight, if you turn from your sins, abandon all rebellion against God, and believe in Christ, resting in Him, looking at the cross where He bore sin and suffered in the place of the guilty—look and live.

Believe and be saved.

May God help you.