Can God change a hard heart?

In Ezekiel 36, God promises to remove His people’s “heart of stone” and give them a “heart of flesh.” In this study, Dr. Toby Holt explains the great doctrine of regeneration — the new heart only God can give.

Israel had broken covenant and disgraced God’s name, yet God promises to act — for the sake of His own holy name, not their merit. He will sprinkle them clean, give them a new heart, and put His Spirit within them. Dr. Holt explains that this is the new birth: we cannot soften our own hearts any more than we can raise the dead. He notes that regenerating dead sinners actually cost more than creation itself — it cost the blood of God’s own Son.

Questions this study answers:

1. What is “regeneration”? It is the new spiritual birth — God replacing a dead “heart of stone” with a living “heart of flesh.” It is His work, not ours.

2. Who brings about the new heart? God alone, by His Spirit, for the sake of His own name. We cannot change our own hearts.

3. What happens if we are not regenerated? Without a new heart from God, we remain spiritually dead in sin. The new birth is essential to truly know God.

“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 (NKJV)

Speaker: Dr. Toby Holt is the President of New Geneva Theological Seminary, a Reformed seminary in Colorado Springs. He is known for clear, down-to-earth Bible teaching, and his sermons have been downloaded more than 1.9 million times on SermonAudio.

Listen and go deeper: This sermon is part of the Ezekiel Explained study from New Geneva Theological Seminary. Find more verse-by-verse teaching across the Bible at newgeneva.org. To support this teaching ministry, visit newgeneva.org/give.