"We love Him, because He first loved us. If a man says, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar." (I John 4:19-20.)
Lest love to God and love to one another should be thought to be a product of our own nature, John reminds us that God's love for us preceeded our love for Him. If we love God sincerely it is because He loved us and if we love others it is because of His grace and the love of God which He shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. We have what we have, do what we do, and are what we are by the grace of God. Boasting is excluded; spiritual pride has no place in the believer. This is the reason why a man cannot love God and hate his brother, for the same grace that produces love for God begats love for these in whom Christ dwells.
Nothing can be more contradictory – not black and white or hot and cold – than for a man to say, "I love God and hate my brother." This is a thing impossible. A man cannot love God and hate the image and work of God before his eyes. A genuine love for God will result in a love for all that God is, does, and reveals of Himself. We love His Son, His Word, His law, His church, His providence, and His people. This love is not a tolerance of such, nor a reluctant duty, but a genuine, spontaneous inward feeling of affection, produced by the indwelling Holy Spirit, which grows daily, overcomes selfish feelings and makes allowances for every infirmity and human failure. It is a principle of the heart that desires to bestow the very best upon the object of affection. If Christ can love me as I am, how can I fail to love you as you are?
Is there no spark of gratitude
In this cold heart of mine,
No evidence of redeeming grace
No fruit of Love Divine?
About Henry Mahan
Henry T. Mahan was born in Birmingham, Alabama in August 1926. He joined the United States Navy in 1944 and served as a signalman on an L.S.T. in the Pacific during World War II. In 1946, he married his wife Doris, and the Lord blessed them with four children.
At the age of 21, he entered the pastoral ministry and gained broad experience as a pastor, teacher, conference speaker, and evangelist. In 1950, through the preaching of evangelist Rolfe Barnard, God was pleased to establish Henry in sovereign free grace teaching. At that time, he was serving as an assistant pastor at Pollard Baptist Church (off of Blackburn ave.) in Ashland, Kentucky.
In 1955, Thirteenth Street Baptist Church was formed in Ashland, Kentucky, and Henry was called to be its pastor. He faithfully served that congregation for more than 50 years, continuing in the same message throughout his ministry. His preaching was centered on the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified, in full accord with the Scriptures. He consistently proclaimed God’s sovereign purpose in salvation and the glory of Christ in redeeming sinners through His blood and righteousness.
Henry T. Mahan also traveled widely, preaching in conferences and churches across the United States and beyond. His ministry was marked by a clear and unwavering emphasis on Christ, not the preacher, but the One preached. Those who heard him recognized that his sermons honored the Savior and exalted the name of the Lord Jesus Christ above all.
Henry T. Mahan served as pastor and teacher of Thirteenth Street Baptist Church in Ashland, Kentucky for over half a century. His life and ministry were devoted to proclaiming the sovereign grace of God and directing sinners to the finished work of Christ. He entered into the presence of the Lord in 2019, leaving behind a lasting testimony to the gospel he faithfully preached.
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