Category Archives: repentance

February 17, 2009 · 1:51 am

Victory Over Sin and Sinning, Confirms Andrew Murray

I’ve written about the cross experience–how putting our old ego, our old self on the cross and letting it die with Christ, puts an end to our old nature and its sinful ways. And then by His in-dwelling Spirit, through our belief in His resurrection, we “walk in a newness of life,” where the old life is “passed away” and His new life in us continues each day*.

Sometimes it helps to hear it from somebody else. Here is a quote from Andrew Murray, a 19th century Scottish minister:

“The question often arises how it is, with so much church-going, Bible-reading, and prayer, that the Christian fails to live the life of complete victory over sin and lacks the love and joy of the Lord. One of the most important answers, undoubtedly, is that he does not know what it is to die to himself and to the world. Yet without this, God’s love and holiness cannot have their dwelling-place in his heart. He has repented of some sins, but knows not what it is to turn, not only from sin, but from his old nature and self-will.

“Yet this is what the Lord Jesus taught. He said to the disciples that if any man would come after Him, he must hate and lose his own life. He taught them to take up the cross. That meant they were to consider their life as sinful and under sentence of death. They must give up themselves, their own will and power, and any goodness of their own. When their Lord had died on the cross, they would learn what it was to die to themselves and the world, and to live their life in the fullness of God.

Our Lord used the Apostle Paul to put this still more clearly. Paul did not know Christ after the flesh, but through the Holy Spirit Christ was revealed in his heart, and he could testify: ‘I am crucified with Christ; I live no longer; Christ liveth in me.’ In more than one of his Epistles the truth is made clear that we are dead to sin, with Christ, and receive and experience the power of the new life through the continual working of God’s Spirit in us each day” ( http://www.spiritoffire.org/ebooks/the%20new%20life/nlife26.htm ).

Let it be established in the mouth of two or three witnesses. KWH

*{For more see https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/category/death-of-self/ or click the “Category” link “Death of Self” in the right hand column}.

“I Will Remember Him That Way”–An Elegy for My Mentor

I thought of my spiritual mentor who passed away some nine years ago now. Without him and his love and patience, I would not have come out of the depraved selfish existence I led in my old life. I wrote this elegy upon hearing of his death. I want to share it with you.

I Will Remember Him That Way

I will remember him, but not for his last days on earth.

I will recall three decades ago, when the world was mad

and senseless and cruel,

When a young man and woman so in need of love

and patience

And so full of fear and loss and alienation, with cynicism

in full rotten bloom—

I’ll remember him that day, that warm April East Texas

spring day

When the joy emanating from his countenance hit me right

in the chest

As I strutted in with a smirk that said,

Okay, show me what you got,

Because I’ve just about given up the search for truth,

although I talk about it all the time,

And I know that my old self is my nemesis, my master, my

ruin,

And I can’t get rid of it by myself, because my self is my

very problem,

And I know that it has to die, and I’ve looked three years in

books from India,

And books from China, and books from Persia,

And none of the sages of the East could tell me how to put

my self to death,

And live to tell about it,

And I knew that I would waste my time

In looking to the christian buildings which cannot hold

moms and dads together in love—

So as a last futile foray for the truth before I give up

And sink into the numbness of nothingness,

I was thinking, Okay, show me what you got.

And he did, as I remember the joy and the love that swept

down on me,

As he spoke of a certain writer named Paul who spoke of

an old man Adam

Who was now put to death with the Lamb in a Roman 6

finality

And who could be raised to walk in a newness of life.

“You mean that my old self, my old ego, can die?”

I asked out loud that April morning in the cedar cabin in the

East Texas woods.

“That’s exactly what Paul is saying.”

And so I had finally found my sign that I had searched for.

I’ll remember him that way,

As the joyous messenger of my joy in God.

I’ll remember how he let me keep sleeping till noon the first

time we spent the night,

Under his breakfast table in the tarpaper shack,

For I was bidden to come and rest, and he let me rest.

I’ll recall the joy and deliverance from tobacco, drugs, alcohol,

and cursing.

I’ll remember him that way.

I’ll remember the countless times I robbed him of his rest,

And he would smile,

Knowing I was special in the hands of God.

I’ll remember him that way.

I’ll remember a man who believed in me like no one had done

before.

I’ll remember the days of Pepsi and popcorn,

And winter mornings, wood burning stove, kettle on top,

Cool mornings full of hot tea and scriptures,

When riches meant nothing and material possessions held no

power over us,

As we sat laughing into the gentle breezy piney woods evenings,

Secure at last that, yes, there is a God with a plan and purpose,

And all was as it should be here on earth at this moment.

I’ll remember him that way.

I’ll remember Tom as the mentor of my youth,

Who awakened me to greater things than my old self,

Who showed me how to speak to tens of thousands

about the Kingdom.

I’ll remember him as the one who helped me

along the road to God,

Who patiently in those early days,

taught me all the Truth he knew.

And so I ask, What more can any one man do?

I’ll remember him that way.

I’ll not let those early days be blotted out of my memory

By judging him on his last days on earth—

No matter how much it hurt—

I’ll leave all judgements of him to God and to bitter little hearts

Who can’t remember him in the early days.

But I’ll remember him that way.

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

Conversations With the Seer–What Is Sin in God’s Eyes?

(Formerly in Israel, if a man went to inquire of God, he would say, “Come, let us go to the Seer,” because the prophet of today used to be called a Seer. I Samuel 9: 9)

“Just what is sin then?” I asked the Seer. We had been talking about the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the “sin” question had come up.

“Sin is the breaking of the law,” he said (1).

“Which law?”

“The Ten Commandments. If you are breaking one of them, then you are in a sinful state. The apostle Paul of Tarsus proves this when he wrote, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet (2). Here he equates sin with breaking one of the Ten Commandments. Coveting or desiring your neighbor’s possessions or wife is a sin, prohibited by the Ten Commandments. There are nine others. Breaking any of them is sinning.”

“But I’ve been taught that sin can be anything from dancing to drinking wine, from getting angry to not doing something that I am supposed to do.”

“Shuffling one’s feet on a hardwood floor does not necessarily mean one is sinning. Remember King David, flooded with complete joy, danced in the streets; he did not sin. The Savior Himself drank wine in the homes of sinners and publicans (3), yet He committed no sin. He also got angry at the moneychangers at the temple, yet without sin.”

“Why don’t the preachers teach this?”

“They either do not know the truth, or they have turned from the truth and continued on in man’s traditions. I do not judge them. We all have a Judge who will examine us in light of the knowledge given us by Him.”

“You mentioned dancing and drinking wine. Why would that not be sinning?”

“God looks on the intents of the heart (4). If dancing is used for sinful and lustful purposes, then it is suspect. Same goes for drinking a glass of fermented grape juice. Righteous indignation is not the same as selfish anger.”

“Sin then is a spiritual condition.”

“Yes. It is a spiritual condition of the heart, of the core of a person. But sin does not have to be permanent in the human being. A ‘new heart’ composed of His Spirit can be transplanted into the human being through repentance and faith toward God (5).” He saw that I had enough to chew on, so he stopped speaking.

I thanked him for the visit and walked away with some answers, but they seemed to germinate and sprout into more questions–questions for another day. Kenneth Wayne Hancock

1. I John 3:4

2. Romans 7: 7

3. Luke 19: 2

4. Hebrew 4:12

5. Ezekiel 36: 26-27

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October 18, 2008 · 8:06 pm

The Unforgiveable Sin–The Blasphemy of the Holy Ghost

I was worried sick that I had gone and done it. So I went to a wise man who listened to my concern. I told him how empty and far away I felt from God, and how I felt that I had irreparably damaged myself with my Maker. “Do you think there’s any hope for me?” I finally asked.

He just smiled and said, “The very fact that you are here asking me about it shows that you have not committed the unforgiveable sin. Those who have committed it are so prideful and so full of themselves that they would never humble themselves to ask. They wipe their mouths and say, I have done no wrong.”

“It’s just that I feel terrible about the things that I have done.”

“It is a good thing to have godly sorrow about the sin in our lives. Those sins are easily forgiven by God. The unpardonable sin is another thing.”

“It must be pretty bad for God to not ever forgive it.”

And then he told me the story of the Pharisees, the religious hypocrites in Christ’s day, the ones who committed the unforgiveable sin:

–The Pharisees could only see the Savior after the outward appearance. All they saw was his flesh and blood body. They could not see the Spirit inside of Him. They did not believe that the Father Yahweh was residing in Him.

They were always looking for ways to discredit the Son of God. One day He and His disciples went out on the sabbath day and picked corn to eat. The Pharisees chided Him for it. The Savior showed them that David and the levitical priests profaned the sabbath day and yet were blameless in God’s sight (Matt. 12:1-5).

And then He drops a bombshell that was totally lost on them. ‘But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.’ Look, you hypocrites, He was saying. The old temple and tabernacle were only types and shadows of the reality to come. The true temple of God is his people; that is His body. And God, who you say you worship, is speaking to you right now through His very temple and you cannot even see or hear it. The Spirit of Yahweh Himself is standing right in front of you in His very temple, and you can’t see, for you are blind! The “Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath,” for the Creator Himself is residing in the Son and He created the sabbath. So how can He profane it (Matthew 12:6-8)? Later he goes into one of their synagogues and heals a man with a withered hand and declares that it is indeed lawful to do good on the sabbath day. This incenses the Pharisees even more, and they get together to find out how they might kill him (12: 10-14). He gets away, and great multitudes come to him, and he heals all of their sick. Then they brought one ‘possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw.’ This, of course, infuriated the Pharisees and they said that He cast out the devils by a bigger devil inside of Jesus (Yahshua)—the prince of the devils named Beelzebub.

In other words, they said that it wasn’t the Father doing the miracles; it couldn’t be, they thought, for they did not believe that the Father was actually in the Son doing the miracles. They were calling good evil. They were blaspheming the Holy Spirit that was in the Son by saying that the Spirit, who is the Father, was not God but a devil. This is the one and only sin that cannot be forgiven–not in this world or the world to come.

The Father was the Spirit inside of the Son. The Son was the “expressed image of the invisible God.” The Son said that the works that he did was done by the Father within him. When the Pharisees said that it was a devil inside the Son of God doing the miracles and not the Creator God, the Holy Spirit, then they had blasphemed God. They had crossed the line; they had sealed their fate. They had blasphemed the Holy Ghost. This is the one unforgivable sin–

When the wise man finished the story, I told him I was relieved. And then he said, Yes, the truth will make you free, and he went on his way. Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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September 15, 2008 · 4:39 pm

“Baptized into His Death” Frees Us from Sin–The Doctrine of Baptisms

The early apostles’ taught their third doctrine–the “doctrine of baptisms” with an “s.” For there are several baptisms in the Christian walk–not just the one with water.

The first baptism mentioned was John the Baptist’s “baptism unto repentance.” He encouraged the people to repent of their sins, be baptized in water, thus pointing them to the Lamb of God, who would soon become the Sacrifice for all men’s sins. “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I…he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire” (Mt. 3:11). Here we have three baptisms in one verse.

The baptism in water is symbolic of the death of our old sinful heart (see post on this at https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2008/04/17/baptismempty-ritual-or-symbol-of-death-of-self/ ). Paul taught that it was symbolic of being immersed into Christ’s death. “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death?” (Romans 6: 3).

Just How Are We Immersed into Christ’s Death?

Just before Christ died, this perfectly sinless man took upon Himself the sins of the whole world, past, present, and future. Sin was transferred onto this sin offering, and He died with all our sins upon Him. Consequently, when He died, my old self died. When He died that day, our old selfish egos died.

When He was literally buried in the tomb, our old lives were buried. Gone. Over with. And when He rose from the dead, we rose from the deadness of our sinful existence, into a brand new wonderful life, energized with God’s Spirit now within (for more on this, see “Introduction” of my book The Unveiling of the Sons of God found at the top of this page). All this has already been done for us by God. We have to only believe it when we read it in Romans 6: 3-7 :

“Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. Because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.”

We are now free from sin–if we really believe it. Free! We are no longer slaves to the pulls, urges, and demands of that old spiritual nature that held us in bondage to do sinful acts! I’m talking about revolutionary freedom here! We were dead to sin, but now we live unto God by faith in the Spirit that He has given us.

Water baptism is just the symbol of this immersion into Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. Believing and walking in this truth is the reality. But God has promised his sons and daughters more and greater baptisms–the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the baptism of fire, which takes us into the very presence of God’s transformative power. Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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September 9, 2008 · 2:26 pm

“Faith Toward God”–The Second Apostles’ Doctrine

We are told to repent from our old life in the first apostles’ doctrine, but how do we do it? How do we really change our old selfish ways, and let the old self die? The second apostles’ doctrine teaches us how to do it.

How do we get rid of the old sinful life and get into the new life in Christ? We reckon it done by faith/belief. How do we start walking in a brand new life? We reckon it done by faith. Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ (Yahshua Messiah). Rom. 6:11.

We’ve got to reckon it done! The word “reckon” is #3049 in Strong’s. It means “to account it, to count it as such.”

God wants us to reckon it so, but He does it first! When we turn to Him, then He counts us righteous in His eyes even in our imperfect state. It is His nature to “call those things that do not exist as though they did.” Rom. 4:17, NKJV. If He is this positive, then He would want His children to be the same.

He wants us to follow in His footsteps! God “accounted” righteousness to Abraham because of his belief—before Abraham was righteous! “Accounted” here is the same word as the one translated “reckon.” We are commanded to RECKON some things done. Now we have to reckon our sinful self gone—by belief—as though it were already done—for that is how God looks at it! By belief! Reckon it done through Him and His faith. He said it. Let it be done. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Rom. 4:3. Yahweh imputed, reckoned to Abraham the ability to live in a upright manner, keeping Yahweh’s laws and not sinning, by just believing that Yahweh had done it! We make it so hard through our hard heart of unbelief. He is looking for childlike faith, the belief of a small child. All we have to do is just believe that Yahweh has provided a way for us to actually put the old life to death and start living a new life in Him (read more from my book on this subject at http://www.yahwehisthesavior.com/yahch30.htm ).

When Christ died, our old sins died with Him that day. When He was buried, we were buried. And when He arose, we arose with Him. It is already done in God’s eyes. We just have to receive this new life by faith and belief. It hinges on our belief in Christ’s resurrection. By us believing that He was raised from the dead, we are raised with Him to walk in a newness of life.

The old ministers of centuries past knew this and preached and wrote about this–Luther, Wesley, Murray, et al. But in the last days, there will be a departing from the faith–the faith that reckons it so, believing in the life-changing power of the cross experience. Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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September 6, 2008 · 5:13 pm

Repentance from Dead Works–The First Apostles’ Doctrine

True repentance is the first apostles’ doctrine or teaching. It is the first stone to be laid in the foundation of the LORD’S (Yahweh’s) house, us. The first thing we are told to do by Christ and His apostles is, “Repent.” Because without repentance, the other teachings cannot be done.

It is the foundation upon which the rest of the Christian walk is built. That foundation is comprised of (1) repentance from dead works, (2) faith toward God, (3) doctrine of baptisms, (4) laying on of hands, (5) resurrection of the dead, (6) eternal judgement, and (7) perfection (Hebrews 6: 1-2).

Repentance from Dead Works

“Repentance” is from the Greek word metanoia, meaning “a change of mind.” Thoughts originate from the heart, then on through the mind, and then out through the mouth and actions of the body. So when Christ and His apostles tell us, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” they are saying we must have a change of heart and mind. The selfish heart of mankind must go, and then we can talk, Christ is saying.

Every thought and action of natural, unregenerated man and woman is in God’s eyes a “dead work.” It is an action void of spiritual life. A disciple said to Christ, “Let me bury my father.” But the Master told him, “Let the dead bury their dead.” Christ equated those doing the burying with those being buried. In God’s eyes, both were lifeless, without the Spirit. Without God, our little plans and dreams are lifeless, vain, unprofitable.

So God cannot live in the midst of all that selfishness—a lawlessness that is called sin, for the breaking of the ten commandments is sin. And God hates sin because it is so against His nature. He wants to live in man and woman, but He can’t because when man is full of himself, then there is no room for God. Selfish action is a selfish spirit and is the opposite of God’s Spirit, which is the action called Love.

So there again is man’s problem; he wants to live forever, but wants to live his own selfish life forever, and this thinking breeds mortality, the way of death. In order to gain immortality, man must have God’s Spirit living within him. But the Spirit of God will not dwell in temples (bodies) that are unclean (have actions done in them that are sinful in breaking the l0 commandments). Mankind that comes as far as this knowledge on the road of life comes to a fork in the road. He must chose to either remain as he is and how he has been living, or he must seek a way to repent, to change the error of his ways.

God has provided a way for us to repent; it is the cross. Not that Christ died on the cross. Everyone has heard that story. But that we must surrender our old self and let it die on the Cross with Christ. This is how to repent from dead works. It is the “baptism into His death” (Romans 6: 1-6). Kenneth Wayne Hancock

{For more on this subject, go to the right hand column, and under “Categories,” click “Repentance.”}

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September 2, 2008 · 10:40 pm

The Apostles’ Doctrine–Curriculum of God’s True Teachers

Teachers of God will expound His way, while false prophets and false teachers lie to the flock of God. The true teachers are gifts to mankind from God (Ephesians 4: 11). They are precious and very few in number. If we seek, we will find one, and we will hold them dear.

But how can we tell the true from the false? The true teachers will have a grasp of the apostles’ doctrine (Acts 2:42). They will know how to explain in detail how one repents, how faith works in us receiving a new heart. In short, they will have true knowledge of the “principles of the doctrine of Christ” (Hebrews 6: 1-2).

Yet they will also know that one must leave those first principles in order to “go on unto perfection.” The Spirit that is within them will “lead us into all truth.” They will know that it is Christ in them who actually is the real Teacher.

Many in “church circles” talk about wanting the same life as the early church in the book of The Acts of the Apostles. They see the miracles and wonders performed and long for that same divine power to hold sway on the earth today. They want, however, to circumvent the procedure used in those enlightened days right after Christ’s resurrection. They want to accept Christ, be baptized, and then they want to set the world on fire with God’s power.

Before the miracles come from God, pre-requisites must be done. “And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles” (Acts 2:42-43). Here you see the progression of things: the doctrine, fellowship, breaking bread, prayers, fear of God, and then came the wonders and signs.

“We Don’t Want Doctrine–Just Jesus”

It was the apostles’ doctrine that the early converts stayed in. They did those teachings. For “doctrine” is translated from the Greek word didaskalia, which means “teaching; that which is taught.” Beware of those who will say, “We don’t want doctrine, we just want Jesus!” If they could only realize that the Savior Himself was referred to as a “Didaskalos,” meaning “Teacher, Master.” The same root word! People who say, “We don’t want doctrine” are really saying they do not want the real Christ and what He taught.

The true teachers of God will teach true repentance from sin in one’s life and how faith works to give us a new heart and new spirit that pleases God in not sinning against Him. And this is just the first principles “of the doctrine of Christ” (Hebrews 6: 1-2).

This is not a new thing that I write about. Read it for yourself in Martin Luther’s writings, “The Sermon on three-fold Righteousness [http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/luther/web/3formsrt.html ; in the sermons of John Wesley ( http://wesley.nnu.edu/john_wesley/sermons/040.htm ), founder of the Methodist Church; from Andrew Murray, 19th Century Scottish Missionary and author http://www.victoryoversin.com/murray/like/lc24.htm ); or in my book The Apostles’ Doctrine [free copies available].

So, turn away from anyone who doesn’t teach the apostles’ doctrine, that says that you cannot be a righteous son or daughter of God. Don’t believe them. They will try to drag you down into the same spiritual slop that they are stuck in. Find yourself a true teacher and study out the apostles’ doctrine, for those are the teachings of Christ. Kenneth Wayne Hancock

* “Sermon on Three-fold Righteousness” at http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/luther/web/3formsrt.html

Category Archives: repentance

Victory Over Sin and Sinning, Confirms Andrew Murray

“I Will Remember Him That Way”–An Elegy for My Mentor

Conversations With the Seer–What Is Sin in God’s Eyes?

The Unforgiveable Sin–The Blasphemy of the Holy Ghost

“Baptized into His Death” Frees Us from Sin–The Doctrine of Baptisms

“Faith Toward God”–The Second Apostles’ Doctrine

Repentance from Dead Works–The First Apostles’ Doctrine

The Apostles’ Doctrine–Curriculum of God’s True Teachers

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