Only the blood of Christ can soften it by Thomas Watson. I will take away their hearts of stone and give them tender hearts. Ezekiel 11 verse 19.

Oh the misery of a hard heart. A heart of stone is insensible. A stone is not sensible of anything. Lay a heavy weight upon it or grind it to powder. It does not feel. So it is with a hard heart. It is insensible to both its own sin and God's wrath. The stone in the kidneys is felt, but not the stone in the heart, having lost all sensitivity." Ephesians 4 verse 19.

A heart of stone is inflexible. A stone will not bend. Just so, the hard heart will not comply with God's command. It will not stoop to Christ's scepter. A heart of stone will sooner break than bend by repentance. It is so far from yielding to God that like the anvil, it beats back the hammer. A heart of stone will always resist the Holy Spirit. Acts 7 verse 51.

A hard heart is void of all grace. While the wax is hard, it will not take the impression of the seal. Just so, the heart, while it is hard, will not take the stamp of grace. It must first be made tender and melting. The plow of the word will not penetrate a hard heart. A hard heart is good for nothing but to make fuel for hellfire. Because of your hardness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath. Romans 2 verse 5.

Hell is full of hard hearts. There is not one soft heart there. There is much weeping there, but no softness. We read of vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, Romans 9 verse 22. Hardness of heart fits these vessels for hell and makes them like withered wood which is fit only to burn. Hardness of heart makes a man's condition worse than all his other sins besides. If one is guilty of great sins, yet if he can mourn, there is hope. But hardness of heart binds guilt fast upon the soul. It seals a man under wrath. It is not heinousness of sin, but hardness of heart which damns.

Oh, the misery of a hard heart! A stony heart is the worst heart. If it were bronze, it might be melted in the furnace, or it might be bent with the hammer. But a stony heart is such that only the arm of God can break it, and only the blood of Christ can soften it. I will take out your stony heart of sin and give you a new, obedient heart. Ezekiel 36 verse 26.

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