Examining Your Heart; Is it of Stone or Flesh?

The most important question that a person could ever ponder is this, “How can I know that I am saved?” Jesus has not left us wanting when it comes to the answer to this question. The scriptures are full of telling signs of the heart that give us full assurance of the salvation that comes through Christ alone. Yet so many believers struggle with assurance of faith. The book of 1 John was written for the sole purpose of giving believers assurance of their salvation. John writes, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1 John 5:13). 

On the other side of the coin, there are many false preachers that try to give people assurance of their salvation by stripping away obedience to Christ, leaving people with an antinomian gospel which which winks at sin and disregards true repentance. If we are truly concerned with the state of our eternities, then nothing is more important than seeking the answer to this question. 

The scriptures refer to the lost person as having a heart of stone, and a person that is saved as one having a heart of flesh. “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26). First we must differentiate between what is meant by a heart of stone and a heart of flesh. 

A person with a heart of stone is unaffected by their sin. They are not broken over it. They may know that what they are doing is sinful, but they love their sin more than the notion of obedience to Christ. And so they continue to walk in sin, unwilling to turn. Their sins do not grieve them, but rather entice them. The person with a heart of stone may attend church regularly and be involved in Christian external activities, but internally their hearts are resistant to obedience to Christ and His commands. There is no true sorrow over sin. Yet many will try to justify themselves as being saved in spite of continual practice of sin.

“Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” 1 John 3:8.

The stone hearted person is the one who makes a practice of sin. A Christian can and will fall into sin. But the true believer will not be able to continually walk in their sin as an on going practice of life due to the conviction of the Holy Spirit within them. The stone hearted person does not hate their sin. Their is no conviction or remorse over sin. They love their sin. 

The Bible gives us another illustration of a person that is not saved that coincides with someone who has a heart of stone. Jesus refers to a lost person as one who is enslaved to sin.

“Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.”John 8:34.

Notice, Jesus did not say that everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Again, we know that even Christians at times fall into sin. Jesus said that the one who practices sin is a slave to sin. This is the same language that John used in 1 John 3:8. And John wrote that a person that practices sin, that is to sin with no intention of turning from it, is not of God, but of the devil. Therefore a slave to sin is one who is not saved. 

A slave is shackled to something. That which they are a slave to grips and captivates them, and they are obedient to their master. The Apostle Paul referred to himself as a slave to Christ. “Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,” (Romans 1:1). Everyone is a slave to something. You are either lost and a slave to your sins, or you are redeemed by Christ and a slave to Him. We all serve a master. We are either servants of Satan in rebellion to Christ, or we are a servant of Jesus desiring obedience to Christ. The stone hearted person is a slave to sin, while the person with a heart of flesh is a slave to Christ.

“Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?” Romans 6:16.

It is easy to tell who your master is. It is easy to tell if you have a heart of stone or a heart of flesh. Ask yourself, “Who am I serving?” Are you serving Satan following the lusts of your flesh and desiring your sin? Or are you serving Christ, hating your sin and desire more of His righteousness in your life? We can fool ourselves, but the intentions and desires of our hearts do not lie. 

What can we do if we come to realize that our hearts are stone and we desire sin more than obedience to Christ? The answer is nothing, except pray for God to change you. Man cannot change his heart of stone to a heart of flesh no more than a pig could change itself into a human. If you placed a nice juicy steak with fancy garnishes on a plate in front of a pig, and also a trough filled with dirty slop, the pig would chose the slop every time. But if you supernaturally changed that pig into a man, he would push the slop away in disgust, clean himself up, and desire the steak. 

Changing our hearts from desiring sin to desiring Christ is not something that we have the power to do. We cannot free ourselves from the shackles of enslavement to sin. We don’t have that key. Something supernatural must take place within us. If we could do it, we would not need a Savior. Only Christ can change our hearts from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh. Only Jesus can free us from enslavement to sin.

“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”John 8:36.

King David fell into great sin, to the point where he had no joy in his salvation. David knew that he had no power to restore that joy, nor could he change the desires of his heart. He knew that God had to do something within Him. David knew that he was in sin, but realize that he could not break his desire or pattern of sin without God acting first. All David could do is cry out to God in prayer. And so he prayed for God to create in him a new and pure heart.

“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10.

To those who sincerely cry out to God, He will change their hearts. He will set them free from the prison of slavery to sin and give them a heart of flesh that is sensitive to sin. A heart of flesh is one that hates it’s sin and desires the righteousness of Christ. A person who has been given a heart of flesh prioritizes knowing God’s word so that they may walk in obedience to Jesus.

“Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”John 14:23.

Do you love Jesus? If we say that we love Him, yet there is no desire or willingness to obey Him, then we deceive ourselves. Only a person that has been given a heart of flesh can desire obedience to Christ. And only one that desires obedience to Jesus more than their sin can be saved. If we truly believe that Jesus is the Son of God and desire to be pleasing to Him, then we will obey Him. 

“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” John 3:36.

This is why spending time daily in God’s word is a must for Christians. It is a contradiction for a person to claim to be a Christian yet spend no personal time in God’s word. The stone hearted slave to sin desires to hear more of the world, while the slave to Christ desire to read and listen to the voice of His righteous master. 

How can I know that I am saved? Examine the state of your heart. Are you immune to conviction over your sin and desiring to continually walk in it? If so, that is a strong indication that your heart is made of stone and that you are serving your master, the devil. Or are you broken over your sins, to the point where you are crying out for change you? Are you beginning to hate the sins you once cherished and desire the righteousness of Christ that you once despised? Have you now a desire for His word and a joy to know and walk in obedience to Him? If this is you, it is a good indicator that God has given you a heart of flesh and has set you from from your enslavement to sin. 

“Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him.” John 14:21

“Whoever does not love Me does not keep My words. The word that you hear is not My own, but it is from the Father who sent Me.” John 14:24

“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” 2 Corinthians 13:5