Truth is ancient; it's grey hairs may make it venerable;
it comes from Him who is the ancient of days. --Thomas Watson

 

14 June, 2007 - by Chad   comments: (0) Sound Doctrine   Does The Calvary Road Lead To Revival? Are you broken enough? Well start getting more broken, otherwise you might just keep revival from breaking out near you! That's the idea that you might come away with after reading Roy Hession's popular book The Calvary Road. Chad is back to help us sort out what's true and what's not, on the topics of revival, sanctification, and Christ's work on the Cross. His last post generated over 150 comments, numerous emails and blog links, and a few angry responses from fans of the book. Even a priest wrote in to let us know that we "prots" are bound to disagree. Hmm. Well, this time around, Chad takes us into another chapter of the book. This post was written by guest contributor Chad VanRens. Chad is a long-time commenter here on Old Truth, and is active in street evangelism and the study of systematic theology. Sanctify them in your truth, your word is truth. John 17:7 Truth is dogmatic and inflexible. The word of God is true and Holy. Scripture is not to be misused. It is the very means by which God brings his elect to salvation and sanctifies them for himself. They are instructed in righteousness and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ through the proper preaching and teaching of scripture. This is so serious that scripture anathematizes the teacher of a gospel contrary to the gospel taught in scripture (Gal 1:9). Surely all diligence must be given to handle the word of God accurately. In fact it is a scriptural command (2 Tim 2:15). We have no right to take a text of scripture and use it for our own purpose. Scripture teaches specific truth by which we are to grow in our knowledge of God and persevere in the faith. In my previous post on The Calvary Road I pointed out Roy Hession's reckless use of scriptural imagery. Again, the main problem with the book is that Hession consistently takes language from scripture and twists it to his own meaning in effect consistently distorting the intended teaching of scripture. Now this simply won't do. As I pointed out in the comment string in the previous post; words have meaning and doctrinal clarity in teaching is paramount and good intentions do not excuse poor instruction. We shall now examine chapter four "The Highway of Holiness" from The Calvary Road. I already posted a mini-post on this in the comment string on the last Calvary Road posting but I will revisit it here in little more detail. This will show us the importance of rightly handling the word of truth and the grave danger of misusing scripture. Hession directly quotes in a truncated fashion Isaiah 35:8 and continues on his parade of scriptural distortion. First let's quickly examine that passage in context and see it's true and scriptural meaning: Isaiah 35:8 And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray. 9 No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. 10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. What are we taught in this passage? Well, the first thing that we see is that the unclean shall not pass over the Way of Holiness. We see that it belongs to those who walk in the way and that they shall not go astray. Who are these that walk on the way? They are the redeemed of the Lord. The ransomed of the Lord, those who are made clean by Christ's once forever sacrifice for sin. They shall return and come to Zion, everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. We are taught of the security of the saints of God in this text and that they will persevere in the faith and enjoy fellowship with the Lord forever. In short, the Highway is salvation, it is a picture of the Christian's journey through life and his final arrival in glory. Now here is Hession's teaching on this text: Excerpt from Chapter 4 "The Highway of Holiness": An "over-all" picture of the life of victory which has come to many of us is that of the Highway in Isaiah 35: "And an highway shall be there and a way and it shall be called the way of holiness." The picture is that of a Highway built up from the surrounding morass, the world. Though the Highway is narrow and uphill, it is not beyond any of us to walk it, for "the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein." Though there are many dangers if we get off the road, while we keep to the Highway there is safety, for "no lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon." Only one kind of person is barred from walking there and that is the unclean one. "The unclean shall not pass over it." This includes not only the sinner who does not know Christ as his Savior, but the Christian who does and yet is walking in un-confessed and un-cleansed sin. The only way on to the Highway is up a small dark, forbidding hill - the Hill of Calvary. It is the sort of hill we have to climb on our hands and knees - especially our knees. If we are content with our present Christian life, if we do not desire with a desperate hunger to get on to the Highway, we shall never get to our knees and thus never climb the hill. But if we are dissatisfied, if we are hungry, then we will find ourselves ascending. Don't hurry. Let God make you really hungry for the Highway; let Him really drive you to your knees in longing prayer. Mere sightseers won't get very far. "Ye shall find Me when ye shall search for Me with all your heart." Now did you catch that? Hession asserts that the believer and the unbeliever can be both on the same ground and off the highway. But scripture teaches us that to be on the highway is to be saved. We are made clean by Christ's once forever sacrifice (Heb 10:14-18). We are in Christ permanently. We are adopted as sons(Eph.1:5) by God and never again on the same ground as the unbeliever. Our citizenship is in heaven and we can never be cast out, even for a moment. Philippians 3:20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. Romans 6 tells us; 6:1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 2 Corinthians 5: 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. .....21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Scott Leigh had posted several comments on the previous thread challenging my criticism of The Calvary Road suggesting that I made Hession out to say things that he never intended, insisting that Hession was trying to teach sanctification. Actually Hession is trying to teach a method for revival. Every chapter discusses a need for "brokenness" if we want revival. Here is one of Scott Leigh's comments. "For you to ignore the clear context of Hession to demand his words be meant in YOUR way not the way literally millions of us have understood the words is sheer arrogance and flying in the face of the Christian community at large. It was your reformed bias that was the only thing that to makes any sense out of why you'd publicly declare a brother in Christ a heretic/heretical and allow comments calling him an apostate 'twice dead' to go unchallenged." Well I ask you, what would you conclude from Hession's teaching? If we first correctly understand scripture then what are we to make of Hession's teaching? If the Highway is a picture of salvation and Hession says that a Christian can be put off of the Highway then one must conclude that Hession is teaching that a Christian can lose his salvation and must regain it by returning to the cross. For that is precisely the consequence of his teaching regardless of his intention. Also, the notion that a Christian must return to the cross over and over again for cleansing is a concept taught no where in the whole of scripture and as many have rightly pointed out, is reminiscent of the Roman Catholic Mass. What is more important, to understand the clear context of scripture or to understand Hession's context? By which of these are we sanctified? If "literally millions" of people understand Hession's teaching on this text then "literally millions" of people misunderstand the teaching that is found in the scripture. They are missing the glory of Christ and being taught a contrary gospel and that is truly shameful. Hession may have intended to teach us something that would lead to revival but he has failed miserably. Why? Because he does not accurately handle the word of truth and the plain teaching of scripture. Progress in holiness and sanctification cannot be achieved if we are not submissive to the truth taught in scripture. We are sanctified by the truth, and that truth is the word of God. More Related to This Topic: Download a detailed review of The Calvary Road (PDF). Learn the history of Revival and Revivalism. Read an excellent tract on sanctification by JC Ryle. Purchase Martyn Lloyd-Jones' commentary on Romans 6. Read Chad's earlier post from last week on this topic. Posted by: Jim B.   Link: http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/id.2.pid.706   Be the first to post a comment about this article        Home  |   About  |  Videos   |  Calvinism