Chapter 17—True Conversion
“Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean:
from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A
new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you:
and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give
you an heart of flesh.”
Many who speak to others of the need of a new heart do not
themselves know what is meant by these words. The youth especially
stumble over this phrase, “a new heart.” They do not know what it
means. They look for a special change to take place in their feelings.
This they term conversion. Over this error thousands have stumbled to
ruin, not understanding the expression, “Ye must be born again.”
Not Feeling but a Changed Life
Satan leads people to think that because they have felt a rapture of
feeling they are converted. But their experience does not change. Their
actions are the same as before. Their lives show no good fruit. They
pray often and long, and are constantly referring to the feelings they
had at such and such a time. But they do not live the new life. They are
deceived. Their experience goes no deeper than feeling. They build
upon the sand, and when adverse winds come their house is swept
away.
Many poor souls are groping in darkness, looking for the feelings
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which others say they have had in their experience. They overlook the
fact that the believer in Christ must work out his own salvation with
fear and trembling. The convicted sinner has something to do. He
must repent and show true faith.
When Jesus speaks of the new heart, He means the mind, the
life, the whole being. To have a change of heart is to withdraw the
affections from the world, and fasten them upon Christ. To have a new
heart is to have a new mind, new purposes, new motives. What is the
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