A PERMANENT OIL CHANGE!

OLD, DIRTY OIL!
Most of us realize when we purchase a car, that it won't just run indefinitely just by fueling it up. We have to also maintain it. If we don't, it won't be long before the engine stops working or the brakes fail.

The most routine maintenance, and yet the most vital is a regular oil change! It is recommended every 3,000 miles or up to 5,000 for the newer synthetic oils. If we are not diligent to check our milage, the old dirty oil will eventually give out and our car's engine will seize up.

Imagine a car with a permanent oil change!

Bring it in ONCE - whether you drive the car 50,000, 100,000 or 200,000 miles, you will never have to change the oil again! It would revolutionize the auto industry and make a lot of busy car owners very happy!

God presents us with a similar offer for our hearts!

I WILL GIVE YOU A NEW HEART AND PUT A NEW SPIRIT WITHIN YOU; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

Ezekiel 36:26

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and WRITE THEM ON THEIR HEARTS; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
Hebrews 8:10

CHRISTIANS ARE UNDER THE NEW COVENANT AND EACH ONE OF US HAVE BEEN GIVEN A NEW HEART!

Having a new heart means much more than we may often realize! It is not a fresh start, a blank check or God completely erasing the blackboard of our lives. Those who have received new hearts from God know that it will not be long before the blackboard needs to be erased again!

IT IS A LITERAL, PERMANENT CHANGE OF HEART!

That's right - you will never have to change your heart again! We could get into semantics about what the heart means. Most are aware that we do not mean the physical organ that pumps blood into our arteries. It can be confused with our feelings, emotions or intuition, i.e. the expression "My heart is saying..."

For our purposes, we are discussing the innermost being, or the spirit, of man. The Bible declares that the heart of every fallen man is DEAD - not sick, inferior or faulty - but DEAD! All men may not be serial killers but all will naturally rebel against God and His ways. In fact, we cannot even understand His ways! No wonder the world is in such a mess!

The Bible uses words such as rebirth, regeneration, made alive and salvation to describe the experience of BEING GIVEN A NEW HEART FROM GOD.

Even as Christians, we often speak of "our hearts not being right with God" or "sin was in my heart." But sin can never exist in the new heart! The new heart that God gives us is perfect, sinless and immune and impervious to evil!

Then why do we still stumble once we have this new heart?

It is because we still follow wrong thinking, we still believe the wrong things or we still allow the desires of our flesh to rule over us.

This is why Paul encourages us to straighten out our thinking:

6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
7 For he who has died has been freed from sin.
11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.
Romans 6:6-7, 11-12

If we have truly been given these new, regenerated hearts, we will sin but our hearts will always be in tune with God's heart!

17 Therefore, IF ANYONE IS IN CHRIST, HE IS A NEW CREATION; OLD THINGS HAVE PASSED AWAY; BEHOLD ALL THINGS  HAVE BECOME NEW.
18 NOW ALL THINGS ARE OF GOD...

2 Corinthians 5:17-18a

IMPLICATIONS OF A CHANGED HEART!
We Christians are always trying to change our hearts. There is no need - they have already been permanently changed by God forever. There is no routine maintenance needed - ever! Once we have truly received the new heart, we should no longer think of ourselves as being bad by nature!

We now have to learn how to feed our new hearts with God's Word and allow God to grow the fruit of His Spirit in our hearts. We must learn to reject wrong thinking and follow God's ways. We might still allow bad people, ideas or habits into our lives if we are Christ's, but we are now free to reject them!

I remember a pastor saying years ago, "There's no such thing as a bad Christian!"

Of course, this truth can be misused as an excuse to justify sin. God said that a good tree bears good fruit. Bad trees can imitate good fruit and good trees can still be in a stage of growth where their fruit is not budding yet.

Some trees look ready to die but can be revitalized because their roots are still alive!

Once God has planted the seed of the new heart in us, we are God's children by nature. We may have to reevaluate our spiritual nutrients at times or rid ourselves of weeds or harmful insects but our hearts are now, by nature, one with God - and that can never be changed!

3 As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,
4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature...

2 Peter 1:3-4a 

If you have already received that new heart from God, the next time you find yourself caught up in sin or have drifted away from following God, do not seek a new heart. Instead tap into the life that God has already placed there. Feed it, cultivate it and remove whatever is blocking the sun!

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