BIBLE LESSON

“And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” — Ezekiel 36:27 The prophet Ezekiel recorded the words of the LORD and foretold His sending the Holy Spirit into His people. God promised that after He cleansed His people from all their impurities and idolatries that He would give them a new heart and put a new spirit within them (Ezekiel 36:25-26). After Jesus died on the cross, God cleansed from sin all who believed in Him, and He will cleanse from sin all who will believe in Him. The Apostle John wrote: “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). After cleansing believers in Jesus, God gives them a new heart (a new ability to reason, understand the Scriptures, and make right choices) and a new spirit (a spirit of love for God, Jesus, and others that overcomes self-centeredness, selfishness, and sin), Having been cleansed from their sins by the blood of Jesus, and having received a new heart and spirit from God, on the Day of Pentecost Jesus’ followers received the promised Holy Spirit within them. Peter preached that this promise is “for you and your children and for all who are far off — for all whom the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:39). Within Ezekiel’s prophecy, we find some of the best indications that God has fulfilled His promise in someone’s life. The Spirit of God will move them to love God and seek God’s purposes for them, and they will follow His decrees and be careful to keep His laws.