August 13

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. — Ezek 36:26 BSB

This “new spirit” is a broken and tender spirit, which is why it’s called a “heart of flesh,” in contrast to the “heart of stone” that characterizes someone dead in sin or dead in mere profession. But how is this soft, penitent heart given? God says, “I will put my Spirit within you.” This truth is echoed in the gracious promise: “I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications; and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”

What is the immediate effect of this outpouring of the spirit of grace and supplication? It leads to a looking upon the one whom we have pierced and a mourning over him, just as one mourns for an only son. This is evangelical repentance, which is distinct from legal repentance. Evangelical repentance is godly sorrow that works repentance to salvation, while legal repentance is the sorrow of the world that leads to death.

It is essential to distinguish between these two kinds of repentance, though they are often confused. Cain, Esau, Saul, Ahab, and Judas all repented, but their repentance was merely the remorse of a natural conscience. It was not the godly sorrow of a broken heart and contrite spirit. They trembled before God as an angry judge but were not melted into repentance before him as a forgiving Father. They neither hated their sins nor forsook them; they neither loved holiness nor sought it. Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, Esau plotted Jacob’s death, Saul consulted the witch of Endor, Ahab imprisoned the prophet Micaiah, and Judas hanged himself.

How different is the true repentance of a child of God! This repentance is a godly sorrow for sin, a holy mourning that flows from the gracious operations of the Holy Spirit. It does not arise from fear of God’s wrath under a broken law but from a view by faith of Christ’s sufferings in the garden and on the cross. It comes from a manifestation of pardoning love. True repentance is always accompanied by self-loathing, deep confession of sin, and the forsaking of sin. It includes heartfelt prayers to be kept from evil and a sincere longing to live to the praise and glory of God.