Now, we're turning for our message
this evening to 2 Timothy chapter 4, and I'll read these verses
beginning at verse 6 one more time. For I am determined, I am ready
to be offered, and the time of my departure
is at hand. Now, Paul here is talking about
dying. He's actually sitting on death
row. And he calls the time of his death a departure, a departure. And then he said, I fought, I
fought a good fight. And he did. The Apostle Paul
was an able servant of the Lord. And then he said, I finished
the course, my course, the course that God had laid out for him.
Remember, he was called as the Apostle to the Gentiles. And
Paul said, I've persevered in the faith. I've kept the faith,
the faith of God's elect, the faith that was delivered to God's
elect. Henceforth, there's laid up for
me a crown, a crown of righteousness. Now, this crown here is the crown
of grace. God is the God of all grace,
which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that
day, a crown. And not to me only, but unto
all them also that love him, that love him. We love his appearing,
and the reason we love his appearing is because we love him. And we
only love him because he first loved us. Now these verses, 2
Timothy 4, 6 through 8, are the verses that Pastor Mahan requested
that I used at his funeral service. Several years ago, and I found
out exactly when it was, I was going through my letters that
I had received from Brother Mahan over the years, and I found a
letter that was dated March of 2012 in which he stated and restated
to me his funeral arrangements. And he told me at that time and
rewrote it again in that letter. that he wanted three of his favorite
preachers to preach his gospel sermon and take care of his funeral.
And that would have been, and was, and is his son Paul, and
then Todd Nybert, and then me. Now, several years ago while
Bridget and I were visiting Henry and Doris there in Rocky I was
preaching for Paul, and we were staying with Henry and Doris.
We were invited to sit around the kitchen table. I said, Brother
Tom, come in here and sit down. I want to talk to you a minute.
Of course, he loved to sit right across from me at the table where
he could hear you and read your lips at the same time. Well,
I knew he had something important to say to me, and so Bridget
and I went in and sat with Henry and Doris, and he said, I want
to tell you about my funeral arrangements. And he told me
then that he wanted me to have a part in his funeral service.
Well, I was humbled, and I was honored, and even more so to
stand in his memorial service on Monday morning and to bring
the message that God had given me to bring. It was an honor
and privilege to do so. I think of all the different
preachers that were there, probably well over 50, maybe more, but
any of them and all of them could have stood up and did what I
did and to honor our brother to whom honor is due. That's
what the scriptures attribute to who tribute is due. Pastor
Mayhem was such a blessing to me and my family as my pastor. my mentor, my brother, and my
friend. I esteemed no man more highly
than I did Pastor Mahan. I esteemed him highly, almost
to the point of idolatry, if that makes any sense. But I loved
the dear man because he was God's prophet, God's prophet to me.
He brought the gospel to me. We have so greatly benefited
from his faithful gospel ministry all these years, so many have. This ministry here at Zebelin
would not have been started without Pastor Mahan's TV ministry. That's how it reached here in
the Pike County. And many of you don't know this,
but Pastor Mahan was actually a pastor here, pastored this
church for two years. when the pulpit was vacated. He came up almost every Thursday
night for several years and then supplied this pulpit here for
several years. And when I heard the news about
Brother Henry departing from us, I got a text Friday morning
from Paul about 6.30 And he told me that Dad was still here, and
he had given me the request, Brother Mahan, about having this
text used in his funeral. Paul knew that Brother Mahan
would not be with us very long. He sent me that text at 6.30.
Brother Mahan had already passed away. He didn't know it. By the
time he got to the funeral home, Brother Mahan had already passed
away. The Lord had already taken him home to glory. But when I got to work after
I received that text, I got here about 7 o'clock, but the first
thing I did is went in my desk and brought up sermon audio and
looked up that text, 2 Timothy 4, 6 through 8. And Brother Henry
had preached several sermons from that, but I found one particular
sermon from verse 6 through 8, and the title of it was, The
Death of a Believer Described, preached in September 1979. He
was 53 years old. And here's what caught my attention
among many things. I would encourage you to go listen
to the message. He opened the message by saying,
he said, I've thought about this statement for several days and
I have no reservation in saying this. And here's what he said,
53 years old. He said, I look forward to the
day of my death. I really do. And then he said,
here's the reason why. I believe God. His promises are
good to live by and his promises are good to die by. He said in
that message, he said, I may live to be 54
years old. He said, I may live to be 90.
He outlived his own prediction, 92 years old when he passed away. Still quoting Brother Mahan from
that sermon, he said, all the words of the Lord, all of His
promises, we can believe them in life and die with the promise
of God that His word will not fail. His promises are good in
life and they're good in death. If my religion is no good for
me to die by, it's no good for me to live by. I need one I can
live by and one I can die by. And certainly all the promises
of God are. For all the promises of God in
him are yes, and in him, and amen, and to the glory of God
by Jesus Christ. Brother Henry, I noticed after
he retired from being pastor, Most of the time when he would
bring a gospel message, he would often talk about the believer
dying. He'd often talk about that day,
but not with sadness. He talked about that day with
joy. Several scriptures that he mentioned in that message
From Psalm 116, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death
of his saints. And then he quoted John 14 where
the Lord said, I go to prepare a place for you. I will come
again and receive you unto myself that where I am there you may
be also. These are the promises that he
laid hold of that gave him such assurance to look forward to
the day of his death. I want to die like that. I remember
the statement of old Naaman. He said, let me, wasn't Naaman,
it was Balaam, let me die the death of the righteous. You remember
that statement? Blessed, and here's the reason
why, blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. Yea, sayeth
the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors. Let me die
the death of the righteous. Let me die believing the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. No wonder Brother Mahan looked
forward to the day of his departure. He believed God. And then he
quoted this verse from Ecclesiastes 7. A good name is better than
precious ointment. Now listen, and the day of death
than the day of one's birth. Now you think about that. Now,
for a believer, that's so. Now, for an unbeliever, wrath
of God. But to a believer, that's a precious,
precious day. God said it is, precious in the
sight of the Lord, is the death of his saints. Now, I wanna take
a brief look at these verses that Brother Mahan requested
that I bring the message from, verse six. 2 Timothy 4, verse
six. Now he mentions six things down
through here. The first one he says, I'm ready
to be offered. I'm ready to be offered. Now we know when Paul is writing
this, he's sitting in a Roman dungeon waiting for the executioner
to come and to cut off his head. And he said, I'm ready to be
offered. I'm ready to be sacrificed for
the gospel. Paul, as he sits here, he has
no regrets, he has no reservations, for he says, I'm ready to meet
the Lord. I'm ready to die for the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm ready to pour out my life,
if need be, for the gospel. As much as Paul was ready to
preach the gospel, he was ready to lay down his life. Remember
he told the Romans, for as much as in me is, I'm ready to preach
the gospel. He wrote to the Philippians and
said this, and so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body,
and again he writes this from prison, whether in life or in
death. What he desired is the honor
and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Such was true of our dear friend
and brother, Henry Mahan. He was always ready to preach
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, never ashamed of the
message of God's sovereign grace. So many things that I could remember
and quote about him. He would never take the offense
of the message out of the gospel message. He would never remove
the offense of the cross. And he often said, if you remove
the offense, you remove the power. You take the power away. He could
say with the Apostle Paul, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of
Christ, for it's the power of God and the salvation to everyone
that believeth. And in that gospel is a very
righteousness of God revealed, how God can be just and justify
the ungodly. Brother Mahan gave his life to
the ministry of the gospel. He gave his time and all of his
labors to labor of love in preaching the gospel, determined to preach
Christ in him crucified. He's a glorious person. who He
is, God Almighty manifest in the flesh, and His effectual,
priestly, redeeming work as God our Savior, how He obtained eternal
redemption for us with His own blood. That was Brother Henry's
message. Christ, Christ, Christ. Christ, His person, and Christ,
His work. One of my favorite sermons he
preached was taken from 1 Corinthians 9, 16. And that verse says, for though
I preach the gospel, have nothing to glory of, for necessity is
laid upon me, yea, woe is done to me if I preach not the gospel. I believe there is a gospel track
with the reprint of that sermon out there on the table. What
is it to preach the gospel? He asked this question in that
message. Woe is unto me if I preach not
the gospel." Then he asked this question, what is it then to
preach the gospel? Now you can pick up that track
out front and read it. It'll be a blessing to you. I
told the folks at the funeral, Brother Henry in that message
answered that question completely. And I told them, I'll let you
find that message on Sermon Audio, and I'll let you listen to it,
and let you research and listen to the answer our dear brother
gave. But I'm going to tell you what
he said in that message. He said, what is it to preach
the gospel? It's to tell the truth about God. God is holy,
sovereign, and eternal. It's to tell the truth about
sin. As Barnard would say, what happened in the garden? Sin,
death, guilt, and judgment. What is it to preach the gospel
to tell the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ, who he is? And what he did, how he honored
the law in precept and in penalty, satisfied God's law and justice
for us, and brought in everlasting salvation. What is it to preach
the gospel? It's to tell the truth, how God
saves sinners. How does God save sinners? Well,
by his grace, and his grace alone. Number one, while I'm ready,
I'm now ready to be offered. He was ready by God, wasn't he?
God made him ready. He made him a ready servant,
and then when his course was run, he said, I'm ready to go
home. My work is done. Second thing he says here, the
time of my departure is at hand. That's why I read over there
in Luke chapter two, Where Simeon said, Lord, I'm ready to die
as soon as I've seen the Messiah. And when he took the Messiah
up in his arms as just an infant child, he said, Lord, now let
thy servant depart in peace. According to your word, I've
seen thy salvation. When is a man ready to die? When
he's seen the Lord's salvation. My departure is at hand. Ecclesiastes
3 declares, to everything there is a season and time to every
purpose under heaven. A time to be born, a time to
die, a time to plant, and a time to be plucked up. Again we read
in the letter to the Philippians, Paul said, for me to live is
Christ, to die, he said, is gain. It's not loss. We often say to
people who have loved ones who have departed, we often say,
sorry for your loss. Well, if he's a believer, to
die is gain, not loss. Paul said, I'm in a strait betwixt
two. I have a desire to depart. He
uses that word again, depart. Now remember, all scripture is
given of God. Why didn't Paul say, I'm ready
to die? Or my death is at hand. He called death a departure. A departure from this life. And
when Paul writes about it again to the Philippians, he said,
I have a desire to depart. And Simeon said, I'm ready to
depart. I've seen the Lord. And to be with Christ, which
is far better. I've told you over the years,
and I probably borrowed this from Pastor Mahan. I used to
say I stole it from him, but borrowing is probably a little
bit nicer way of saying it. About 50 percent of what I say
is borrowed, maybe more than that, but that's okay. I remember
reading something by Charles Burgin. He said, the man that
won't quote the good thoughts of other men is a fool. So if
it's a good thought, I'm going to borrow it. If it's true, death
to a believer is not punishment, it's promotion. Death to the
believer is homecoming, it's graduation day, to be with the
Lord. We are confident, Paul said,
I say willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present
with the Lord. It's a time fixed by our wise
and sovereign Lord. Brother Mahan writes in his commentary
on that verse, a departure is removal from one place to another. Paul, where are you going? Where
are you going? I'm going to be with the Lord.
To be absent from the body is to be with the Lord. Now I've
got fixed in my mind The scripture said, the dust shall return to
the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return to God who
gave it. Now I have fixed in my mind that
Brother Mahan went to glory about the same time the sun came up. The same time he departed was
the same time he arrived in glory. Same time. 6 a.m. was his departure flight, and
6 a.m. was his arrival flight. when
he arrived in glory. The dust shall return to the
earth as it was, and the spirit shall return to God who gave
it. Man's days are determined, the
number of his months are with the Lord. God's appointed his
bounds he cannot pass. At the time God Almighty decreed
from all eternity, Brother Mahan lived his life, and when it was
over, God took him home. Man's days, the old songwriter
said, man's days are immortal here until their work is done. And when it's done, it's homecoming. It's out of here. It's appointed
unto men once to die, and after that, there is a judgment. But
we know that our sins have already been judged in Christ. The third
thing he mentions in verse 7, he said, I fought a good fight. Paul was a fighter. He was a
fighter. I fought a good fight. If you
look over to 1 Timothy chapter 6, when he writes again to young
Timothy, he says in verse 12, fight the good fight of faith.
You see it, verse 12? 1 Timothy 6, 12. Fight the good
fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life. 1, 2, Thou art also called
and hast professed a good profession before many, many witnesses. I fought a good fight, true of
the Apostle Paul and true of our dear brother Mahan. He was
a gospel warrior because he was God's prophet. He was God's prophet. Whatever may be the opinion of
the world, God's prophets are ready to fight
for God's truth and for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and
that fight of faith is both good and honorable. Brother Mahan
carried this out in his ministry. He was a fighter, a warrior,
a soldier, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was faithful
to the charge the Lord gave him to go and preach the gospel in
all the world. As Paul writes to Timothy, I
charge thee before God, verse 1, and the Lord Jesus Christ
who shall judge the living and the dead at the appearing of
his kingdom to preach the word. That's our assignment, is to
preach the Word, to lift up the Lord Jesus Christ. It says in
the last part of verse 5, in this 2 Timothy 4, verse 5, "...but
watch thou in all things, endure in afflictions, and do the work
of an evangelist, and make full proof of thy ministry." Now what's
an evangelist? You see these Hollywood TV evangelists. That's not the type of evangelist
he's talking about. An evangelist is one like Rolf
Barnard. I listened to the sermon again
today that Pastor Mahan preached when Rolf Barnard died. And Rolf
Barnard had a a slogan or a motto that he used
and called himself, God's Hitchhiking Evangelist. He went all over
the country preaching the gospel. Do the work of an evangelist.
Thank God that Rob Barnard was willing to come to Ashland in
1950. and preached the gospel to a young Saul of Tarsus named
Henry Mahan, who was religious but lost, didn't know the gospel
until God used the ministry of Rothbarnard to teach him the
gospel in 1950. When Rothbarnard came to town,
someone said, this old town is never going to be the same, and
it never has been. Never has been. And I say all
that to say this. Brother Mahan did the work of
an evangelist. He came and preached here I don't
know how many times. I brought him and Doris up here
the first meeting that was ever preached in this building. I
drove him and Doris up here in the spring of 1986. But he not only came here, he
traveled all over this world preaching the gospel. Russia,
Africa, Australia, Europe, England, all over this country. Preaching,
preaching, preaching. As you know, we're doing the
bulletin articles and all the bulletins that he published beginning
about 1975 through 2003. And as I was reading through
those bulletins, I ran on to one in the middle 80s sometime,
85, around about that time. And it was a note where he wrote
in his bulletin that he apologized to the congregation there for
being gone and preaching so much. Now they were understanding.
They knew God's hand was on his ministry and on him. But he said
in the last year, When he wrote that article, he said that in
the last year that he'd preached in 31 different churches. Can
you imagine that? I've not preached in 31 different
churches in the last 35 years. And he did that in one year.
He preached in 31 churches in the last year. Amazing to think
about. Not only did the Lord call Henry
to the ministry, but he also called his dear wife Doris. She
was so generous and gracious to share Brother Henry with all
of us. Instead of saying, well, you
stay home and take care. She had four children. You stay
here and take care of the children. No, she stayed home and took
care of the children. Well, he's out preaching the
gospel. And then the fourth thing he
mentions here in our text, I fought a good fight, and then he said,
I finished my course. I finished my course. Now we
know the Lord laid out this course for us. Our life, everything
in our life was ordained and determined by God long before
we were born. God said to Jeremiah, before
I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. Before thou camest forth
out of the womb, I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Now think about that. This preacher
was ordained to be a prophet to the nation by the man, all
God's servants, before we were born. God determines that. You see, He chose His people
in eternity. He loved His people with an everlasting
love, died for those people putting away their sin, And by his sacrifice,
our sins put away, and by his sacrifice, we are healed. And
then the Lord, by his grace, crosses our path with the gospel
in the hands of the gospel preacher. And God blesses that message
when it's preached to the salvation of our soul, and then He sends
us out into the world to be a gospel witness. And I think the best
story and the way to illustrate that is when God saved that wild
gathering, and that wild gathering said, I want to follow you. He
said, well, you can follow me, but you need to go home and tell
how great things the Lord had done for you. So that's being
a witness. You don't have to go home and
be a theologian. You don't have to go around in time to be a
theologian, impress man on how much you know. Tell how great
thing God's done for you. Brother Mahan faithfully finished
the race and the course the Lord laid out for him. And when his
work was done, he crossed the finish line, entered into glory
to run no more, but there is at rest serving the Lord day
and night. The one to whom he preached so
often, now the Lord, he's sitting at his feet, listening to the
Lord preach the gospel to him. Must be an amazing thing. And
then he says, fifthly, in our text, I've kept the faith. I've
kept the faith. He's saying here, I've persevered
in faith. We persevered only because we
preserved and kept by the power of God. Brother Mahan kept his
profession of faith in Christ, preaching the doctrine of salvation
received by faith alone. It's required of God's steward
that they be found faithful. And our dear brother was faithful
to the end. Faithful to the end. It says,
of God's saints, these all died in faith. They are kept by the
power of God. Brother Henry Auckland said,
men die as they live. Those who live to themselves
will die in their sins. Those who live calling upon the
Lord and seeking mercy in the Lord Jesus Christ shall certainly
die in the Lord. That's why it says, blessed are
those who die in the Lord, looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in the last place, verse
8, henceforth, there's laid up for me, there's reserved for
me, This is a reservation that God has made, who laid up for
me a crown, a crown of glory, a crown of righteousness. It's
the crown of His grace, which the Lord, who is the righteous
judge, shall give me at that day. Now, Paul is not saying
that he earned this crown because it's the crown of grace. It's
the crown of righteousness. But he said, not to me only.
but unto all them also that love His appearing." Now this crown
of righteousness is Christ our righteousness. He is the Lord
our righteousness. We read in Isaiah, He clothed
me with the garments of salvation. He covered me with the robe of
righteousness. Salvation is in a person. How
many times has Brother Mahan told us that? Salvation is in
a person. Not a doctrine, a person. Now this person has doctrine,
but you can be right on the doctrine and miss the person. We trust
the person, and then we learn his doctrine. If that makes any
sense. He that hath the Son hath life.
He that hath the Son hath life. You see, you arrive at doctrine
through Christ. The same person who is our Savior
and our salvation, neither is there salvation in any other.
The same person is the Lord, our righteousness. Blessed is
the man to whom the Lord imputed righteousness without works. But of him are you in Christ,
who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. When the chief shepherd shall
appear, we shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. And not to me only, it says there,
not to me only, but unto all them also that love
his appearing. His first appearing, God manifest
in the flesh to put away our sin by the sacrifice of himself
and his blessed, blessed second coming. He appeared once in the
end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, And unto
them that look for him shall he appear the second time without
sin unto salvation. Brother Henry longed for this
day of his departure in the Lord's good time determined by the Lord's
wisdom and purpose. That sermon that I mentioned
earlier that I listened to that he preached from this text, he
also made this statement. He said, I don't know a lot about
what heaven will be like. We will be like the Lord and
be with him, we know that. But then he said this, I know
what will not be there. And then he turned and read this
scripture. And God himself shall be with
them and be their God, and God shall wipe away all tears from
their eyes, no more tears. And there shall be no more death,
no more sin, neither sorrow, no crying, neither shall there
be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne
said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write,
for these words are true and faithful. We thank our Lord for the life
and ministry of Henry Thomas Mahan. What a special servant. What a faithful, dedicated, gracious,
merciful servant of the Lord he was and is. He not only preached
grace, he was gracious. He not only preached the love
of God, he demonstrated that he loved God by loving his people. And though his faithful service
on earth is over, His ministry, his preaching will live on until
the Lord returns through his books, through sermon audio.
I think of this scripture found in Hebrews 11, 4, spoken of Abel
and his excellent sacrifice by which he obtained witness that
he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts and by it, he being
dead, yet speaketh. And Brother Henry, I listened
to him today. He's still speaking to me today. I listened to his sermons today,
a couple of them. He being dead, yet speaking. We know he's forever with the
Lord, but speaking about his body. His body's in the ground.
And I closed the sermon up there with this statement. Oftentimes
when Brother Henry would, when he was able to talk on the phone,
he'd use a speakerphone. He's had a profound deafness
for quite some years, but back 15, 20 years ago when he could
use his speakerphone and call, or you could call him and you
could speak with him, he would often, when the conversation
ended, he would always end it this way, see you when it's time. See you when it's time. Or he
would write a letter. And down at the bottom, in his
clothes, he would always say, see you when it's time. That's
a pretty good statement. We don't know when we're going
to see one another again, but in due time, we will. And here's
the way I closed my message. I said, Brother Henry, I'll see
you when it's time. I'll see you when it's time.
In God's due time.