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Henry Mahan

Mercies of the Covenant

Romans 4:1-8
Henry Mahan • November, 7 1993 • Audio
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Message: 1126a
Henry Mahan Tape Ministry
6088 Zebulon Highway
Pikeville, KY 41501
What does the Bible say about the mercies of the covenant?

The Bible teaches that the mercies of the covenant involve forgiveness and the imputation of righteousness through faith, as evidenced in Romans 4:1-8.

The mercies of the covenant are beautifully illustrated in Romans 4:1-8, where both David and Paul affirm the principle of justification by faith alone. Abraham's righteousness was not found in his works, but through his faith in God's promises. This demonstrates that it is God who imputes righteousness to the believer without works. Paul reiterates the blessedness of those whose sins are forgiven and whose transgressions are not counted against them, echoing what David proclaimed in Psalm 32. The covenant highlights God's grace in providing mercy, leading to forgiveness and the assurance of eternal acceptance.

Romans 4:1-8, Psalm 32

How do we know justification by faith is true?

Justification by faith is affirmed through the Scriptures, including Romans 4, which shows that righteousness is credited to those who believe.

Justification by faith is a foundational doctrine of the Christian faith, clearly articulated in Romans 4. Abraham, regarded as the father of faith, was justified not by works but by believing God. This truth is further supported by David's declaration of blessing upon those whose sins are forgiven. Scripture consistently emphasizes that human effort cannot attain righteousness; instead, it is God’s gracious gift through faith. We see this principle echoed throughout the prophets and apostles, confirming a unified biblical witness to the truth of justification by faith.

Romans 4, Psalm 32

Why is grace important for Christians?

Grace is essential for Christians because it brings forgiveness, acceptance before God, and assurance of salvation through faith in Christ.

Grace is at the heart of the Christian faith, serving as the means through which believers receive forgiveness and eternal life. Romans 4:4-5 teaches that righteousness is credited to those who believe without reliance on their works. This divine grace reassures believers that their sins, past, present, and future, are fully forgiven through the blood of Christ. Moreover, grace transforms a believer's heart, inclining them towards worship and holiness, which is a vital aspect of the Christian walk. Recognizing the importance of grace leads Christians to live in gratitude and joy, reflecting on God’s mercy and love.

Romans 4:4-5

What does it mean to have peace with God?

Having peace with God means enjoying full reconciliation, free from condemnation, and living in assurance of His love.

Peace with God signifies a complete reconciliation that believers have through faith in Jesus Christ. Romans 5:1 states that being justified by faith grants us peace with God. This peace is not merely the absence of conflict, but rather a profound assurance that believers stand accepted before God without fear of His wrath. It points to the new relationship established through Christ's sacrifice, which enables believers to approach God with confidence. Ultimately, peace with God results in a transformed life, characterized by joy, hope, and the ability to endure trials, knowing our future is secure.

Romans 5:1, Hebrews 4:16

How can we be assured of our forgiveness?

Our assurance of forgiveness comes from God's unchanging promise, as highlighted in Romans 4 where righteousness is credited to those who believe.

The assurance of forgiveness is rooted in God's faithful promise as revealed in Scripture. Romans 4 emphasizes that Abraham’s faith resulted in righteousness that was credited to him, a principle that extends to all believers today. This assurance is bolstered by the unshakeable reality that Jesus Christ's sacrifice fully satisfies divine justice, cleansing us from all sin. Furthermore, believers can rest in 1 John 1:9, which assures us that if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us. This association of faith, confession, and God's faithfulness strengthens our confidence in the certainty of forgiveness.

Romans 4, 1 John 1:9

Sermon Transcript

Auto-generated transcript • May contain errors

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Now, when we preach the gospel of Christ to a congregation, we generally begin the message
by announcing our subject. My subject this morning is the
mercies of the covenant. The mercies of the covenant. And then we generally read a
passage of Scripture, which we call our text. So my text this
morning is Romans 4, verses 1 through 8, the mercies of the covenant,
and the text Romans 4, verse 1. What shall we say then that
Abraham Our father as pertaining to the flesh, he was the father
of the Jewish nation, hath found. What hath Abraham found? Well,
he's found righteousness. He's found acceptance with God.
He's found mercy. He's found forgiveness. That's
what he's found. That's what Paul's talking about
here. But verse 2 says, if he were justified, or he found this
righteousness by works, did he find it by his works? Well, if
he did, then he hath whereof to glory, in glorying himself,
in glorying his works, and not in God, not before God. But what
saith the Scriptures? Abraham found righteousness and
holiness. How did he find it? What saith
the Word of God? Here's how he found it. He believed
God. Abraham believed God, and it
was counted unto him. It was imputed to him. His righteousness
and holiness and mercy and forgiveness was given to him, imputed to
him, charged to him, reckoned to him for righteousness. Verse 4, Now to him that worketh
is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of death. If a man
justified before God by his works, then God owes him righteousness.
But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. He's righteous
by grace. He has a good righteousness.
He has a perfect righteousness. He has the righteousness of God.
woe be unto the man or woman who's resting in his own righteousness. But if we're resting in Christ's
righteousness, we have a perfect holiness, perfect forgiveness. Because verse 6 says, even David,
even as David, the man after God's own heart, even as David,
also describeth the blessedness of the man. Under whom God imputeth
righteousness, charges perfect holiness, forgiveness without
works. Oh, that's a blessed man. That's
a happy man. Whose righteousness is by grace
the gift of God. Whose righteousness does not
depend upon his shoddy, imperfect works. That's a blessed man.
The man who's resting in his works is not blessed. He's in
trouble. But that man's blessed, oh, David
describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes or
reckons a perfect holiness and forgiveness and justification
without any works, without any deeds, but just by His grace
through the blood and righteousness of Christ. And David said, listen,
this is what David said over in Psalm 32, David said, are they whose iniquities are
forgiven, forgiven, whose sins are covered
by a mercy seat. Blessed is that man to whom the
Lord will not charge sin. That man's a happy man. Now that's
our text. What a text. Our subject, the
mercies of the covenant. Our text, there it is, scripture. Now we have our introduction.
You know what an introduction is? An introduction to a message
is to attempt to get the congregation to move in the direction that
you move us. to thinking along the same line
that you're thinking. You know what I'm thinking? I'm
thinking forgiveness, and that's what I want you to think. I'm
thinking mercy. I'm thinking grace. I'm thinking
God's love and mercy and grace and the forgiveness of sin through
Christ Jesus. And I want you thinking in that
vein and moving in that direction. So here's the introduction. Now,
the author of this scripture is David and Paul. David from
the Old Testament and Paul from the New Testament. What we're
studying this morning is not my idea, it is the inspired word
of David in the Old Testament who perhaps is the champion of
all champions, the spiritual leader, David, man after God's
own heart. David said, happy is the man
whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are forgiven. And
over in the New Testament, we're quoting from Paul the Apostle,
the man whom God chose to be the Apostle to us Gentiles. He's
our messenger. He's our pastor. He's our preacher.
And so this message, this gospel is the same in the Old Testament
and the New Testament. What I'm going to preach to you
this morning is what David believed and what Paul believed. It's
not Baptist doctrine. This is God's Word. Old and New
Testament. And you know, neither David nor
Paul, either one, denied the fact that we're sinners. David
and Paul both said, blessed is the man whose iniquities are
forgiven. He hasn't. Whose sins are covered. They both, they don't deny that
we're sinners. How foolish it would be for us
to talk of our goodness. There's none good, no, not one.
To talk of our righteousness, there's none righteous, no, not
one. The Scriptures are so plain on this subject. The Apostle
John said, if any man say he hath not sinned, he's deceived
himself. If any man says he has no sin,
he makes God a liar. All have sinned and come short
of God's glory. We may not be as bad as some
people. We may not be as bad as we could
be. But I tell you this, we've all sinned and come short of
God's glory. There's nobody in this congregation
that's not a sinner. A sinner. We've sinned. Oh, how we've sinned and come
short of God's glory. Neither David nor Paul, Old or
New Testament, neither man denies the fact that we're sinners.
David said, my sins are ever before me. Against thee and thee
only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. Oh, Lord,
be merciful. Brought out my transgressions.
And then the Apostle Paul comes along and says, the things I
would do, I do them not. The things I would not do, I
do. Oh, wretched man that I am! Who
shall deliver me from this body of death? And David or Paul, neither one
justify our sins. They don't make excuses. They
say, yeah, but I had bad leadership and bad environment and bad circumstances. No! They don't justify sin. They don't excuse our sin. They
don't talk about reforming us so that we'll sin no more. Unfortunately, we're going to sin in the future.
That's right. We never live a day without sin.
We never live an hour without sin. We never live a moment without
sin. Because even the thought of foolishness
is sin. Even the thought of foolishness
is sin. Not to love God with all your
heart, mind, soul, and strength is sin. Not to love your neighbors
as yourself is sin. The subject here is forgiveness.
That's what the subject is. Read it again, verse 7. Blessed
are they whose iniquities are forgiven. Not blessed are they
who have no iniquities. Not blessed are they who promise
not to have iniquities. Blessed are they whose iniquities
are forgiven. That's what we're talking about.
Blessed are they whose sins are covered. Not blessed is a man
who has no sins, who does no sins. He'd be the biggest liar
on earth, wouldn't he, if he claimed he had no sins. But blessed
are they whose sins are covered, so that God does not even see
them. so that justice does not charge them, so that righteousness
is holy, is satisfied and honored. It says, blessed is the man to
whom the Lord will not impute sin. It doesn't say blessed is
the man who has no sin. It says blessed is that man to
whom God won't charge his sins when he stands before God in
the judgment. That man's happy to whom God
says, I don't charge you. I don't charge you. This is the
message. David wrote this, listen. David said, Lord, if thou shouldest
charge sin, mark iniquity. Right now, even this moment.
Oh Lord, who would stand? Anybody in here want to stand
up and say, I have no sin? Anybody want to stand up and
say, I haven't sinned since I came in this building? Lord, if you should mark iniquity,
who could stand? But there's forgiveness with
thee. That's my subject. Are you thinking
with me now? That's my introduction. I want
to get you thinking about forgiveness. I want to get you in this line
right here. I'm a sinner. I'm ashamed of
it. I'm embarrassed by it. I confess
it. I'm humiliated by it. It's my
nature. But I want forgiveness. But Lord,
this forgiveness would be that thou mayest be feared. Now here
are five questions. I want you to listen to these
five questions. And then if I have time, I'll make four suggestions. What would it mean to you right
now? You're sitting there and I'm
standing here and we're thinking about how we were born David
said, I was shapen in iniquity and sin, my mother conceived
me. I was brought forth from the womb speaking lies. You thought
about your life and your nature and your sins. What would it
mean to you right now to know that every sin, every sin of
word, thought, deed, imagination, every sin, past, present, future,
Every sin of omission will never be brought up again,
cast into the depths of the sea, remembered no more. What would
that mean? Oh, preacher, come on. That'd be the greatest thing
in the world. Well, that's what a believer
has in Christ. That's right. In Christ, we have
no sin. The Apostle Paul said that in
Romans chapter 8. He said, Who can lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? God spared not His own Son. Shall
ye not with Him freely give us all things? If Christ died for
my sins, they're paid for. They're put away. They're cast
into the depths of the sea. They're born away as far as the
east is from the west to be remembered no more. Isn't that what He said?
Who shall owe anything to the charge of God's elect? Who is
He that condemns? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather,
it's risen again, who is ascended, who is at the right hand of God.
The believer has no sin. None. None. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from all sin. You know what Scripture says? I received a letter from a dear
lady this past week, almost two weeks ago now. And it was a letter that brought
tears to my eyes and then as I read on it brought joy to my
heart and then it brought anger to my mind. I kept experiencing different
emotions as I read that letter, long letter. First it brought
tears to my eyes. A very bad life. She told how
she married real young, had two little girls. And unknown to
her, her husband was an atheist and a twisted type person that
led her into all kind of bad things. And drinking involved
and other people involved and all these things. And she got
down to the depths, down to the pits. And they divorced. And she and her two little girls
tried to make it. And she, like the particle sun,
came to herself. And that's where I went from
tears to joy. My tears turned to joy. She said I came to myself.
I saw where I was and what I was. And she said I straightened up
my life and got my girls together on the right path and went to
church. And I met a nice man, and he
had come out of the same pit I did, and God had done something
for him, and we got together and we married. And we were so
happy, and I was so happy to read it. But, she said, I need
help. She said, my religious friends
won't let me forget my past. My religious friends keep saying,
you're living in adultery. You've got a living husband.
You've got to leave this one and go back and get that one.
I've got to straighten up. I've got to make reconciliation. She said, they won't leave me
alone. She said, I want to live for God. And they're destroying
my peace. They won't leave me alone. And
that's when I got mad. And she said, you write me and
help me. Well, I didn't write. I picked up the phone. I didn't
want her to have another minute of that oppression by religious
Pharisees. Listen, my friend, when Christ
died for our sins, He put them all away. Don't dig them up. Don't do that to me. Don't try
to destroy my peace. I didn't begin in the Spirit
made perfect in the flesh. I didn't begin in grace and I'm
sanctified by work. I began in Christ, mercy, forgiveness,
grace. That's where I'm now. That's
where I'm going to die by God's grace. All my sins, past, present
and future, are taken care of at Calvary. Don't bring it up. God never will. Isn't that right? I picked up the phone. I found
her number and I called her. I called her by name. She said,
who is this? I said, this is Brother May. She said, oh, you
called me? I said, yes, I called you. I
want you to know that you just forget those religious Pharisees.
Don't you listen to them. Your sins are under the blood
of Christ and you and Bob, may God bless you. That was her husband's
name. You and Bob, may God bless you
and those dear girls and you just forget what these religious
people say and listen to Christ. Your sins are forgiven. Passed. Isn't that right? And that's so. In Christ there
is no sin. There is no sin. Oh my, wouldn't
that be wonderful? Well, it is wonderful. That's
grace. That's grace. Somebody wrote
a poem one time, I wish there were some wonderful place called
the land of beginning again, where all our heartaches and
all our mistakes and sins and poor selfish griefs could be
cast off at the door like a dirty old coat and never put on again.
There he is, Calvary's Cross, brand new, brand new. And not
only the past taken care of, but the future too. And as I
stumble and fumble along through life, he still forgives. All
right, secondly, what would it mean to you to know that all
your sins are forgiven? What would it mean to you to
know that the holy, eternal, living God is not angry with
you? God is totally reconciled to
you. You have perfect peace with God. There is no wrath. There is no
judgment awaiting you. There is no condemnation. There
is no payday. There is no giving an account.
There is no judgment. There is no calling on the carpet.
There is no report to be given. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them who are in Christ. None. I'm not going to face judgment
because Christ was judged for me, and there is no judgment
to them who are in Christ. Therefore, being justified by
grace and peace and Christ, I have peace with God. through my Lord
Jesus Christ. You know, we're creatures of
fear, aren't we? That's right, we're creatures
of fear. You're driving down the highway,
and you're singing or listening to the tape, and you're just
happy and all, and suddenly, right there over the rise, sets
a police car. Your foot comes off the accelerator,
your left foot goes to the brake, your heart starts beating faster.
You might have been in the right cell, but here's where presence
scares you. You go to the mailbox, and there's
a letter there from the IRS, and your heart starts beating
faster. It may be nothing in the world, but congratulations
for paying on time, you know. But you got that letter, and
you come in, you ask your wife, you say, I wonder what that is?
She said, well, I want to go in and see. But just a little class,
can't you? You young people go to school,
new teacher, new class. You're sitting there and he walks
around in a trademark, six foot three, gray hair, frown on his
face. What I'm asking is this, what
would it mean if you top that hill driving the car And your
daddy was the policeman. Hi, Pop. Wouldn't you? Just drive right on by. No heartbeat,
no excitement. Your daddy's the policeman. And
you young people are fortunate enough to have this. I'm going
to congratulate you, and I'm going to be nice. You people
are so blessed to have this man be your teacher. You walk in
class, and in walks Brother Ron. He's your friend. You're not
afraid. It's different, isn't it? You
get a lot of it from the IRS, but your sister is down there
in the office and runs the IRS. You see what I'm saying? It all
depends on your relationship with the one in charge. And I'm telling you this, the
one in charge is my father. The judge is my father. And the lawyer is my Redeemer
who loves me. And I'm not afraid. I have peace.
No fear. No fear. God is my Father. We have such a high priest who
is passionate of the heavens, Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Therefore let us come boldly before the throne of grace. Isn't
that wonderful? Peace. Alright, thirdly, what
would it mean to you? And that's what we have in Christ.
No fear. no judgment, no accounting to
be given. Thirdly, what would it mean to
you to have a new heart and a new nature, inclined to God, inclined
to righteousness, inclined to holiness, as the natural man
is inclined to self and greed and the world and flesh and evil. You're inclined to God. And worship
is not a duty. It's a delight. I was glad when
they said to me, let's go to the house of the Lord. You mean
you were glad to go to church? Yeah. That's right. I was glad when they said to
me, let's go to the house of the Lord. Worship is not a duty,
it becomes a delight. Preaching is not boredom, it's
bread. It's the living bread. Fellowship
is a family reunion. Fellowship is a feast. David said, I'd rather be a doorkeeper
in the house of God than to dwell in the tents of the wicked. I'd rather be the doorkeeper
who stands by the door and opens it for people to come in than to be a an owner of the house of this
world. There was a man, a preacher in
England, 1740. That's been a long time ago. Two hundred and fifty years ago
he was born, John Fawcett. He was a pastor in England in
a little village church, a small village church back in the days
of the thatched roofs and things were quite poor. But he pastored
this little church for a number of years and he became known
all about there for being a very able preacher of the gospel,
a very gifted preacher. And there was a big church in
the city of London that invited him to come and be their pastor.
He'd move out of the little thatched Parsonage, that's the hut, the
city, house in the city. And out of this little village
church and away from these poor village people to the city and
be a pastor. And so he accepted the church.
It came time for him to go. He and his family, wife and children,
it came time for them to move to the city. And all the church people came
to help him load their little goods. on the wagon. This was
in about 1770 or 1880, 200 years ago. And they had the wagon parked
out there in front of the house, and they were putting the beds
and chairs and pillows and clothes and everything in this wagon.
The horses hitched to the wagon. Then the children got up on the
wagon. They were all happy and going
to move to the city. And the wife was bidding all
the ladies goodbye, and the husband shaking hands with the men. They
was all standing there crying. This man had been their pastor
for years and years and years. And their hearts were broken.
He was leaving. And they wept. And he got up
and sat down on the seat there, the buggy of the wagon. And he turned and looked at all
of these people that he had ministered to for so many years. And he
turned to his wife and he said, Get down off the wagon. Get the
children. We're not leaving. We're staying
right here and ministering to these people who love us." And
then he went in and into his house and sat down and he wrote
this hymn. It's in our book. He sat down
and wrote this hymn. Now he was willing to forego
the city and the fame and all that. because of a love for God's
people and the place God had put him in this simple, simple
surrounding. And he said, John Fawcett sat
down and wrote this hymn, Bless be the tie that binds our hearts
in Christian love. The fellowship of kindred minds
is like to that above. Before our Father's throne, we
pour our ardent prayers, our fears, our hopes, our aims are
one, our comforts and our cares. We share our mutual woes, our
mutual burdens bear, and often for each other flows the sympathizing
tear. And when we asunder part, it
gives us inward pain, but we'll be still joined in heart and
hope to meet again. That's what I'm talking about.
What would it mean to you to have a heart change, a new heart,
a new nature to where your greatest ambition, aspirations, is to
glorify God and to worship Him and walk with His people and
fellowship with them? You just have a change of direction,
a change of desire. But that's what you have in Christ.
And for a person to leave here and go to glory, there are a
lot of changes, but as far as his heart's concerned, he loved
Christ down here. It's just a continuation of the
life here. Fourthly, I've got to hurry.
Listen to this. What will it mean to you? And these are the mercies of
the covenant. What would it mean to you to know that every trial,
and some of you are going through some heavy trial right now, trouble,
heartaches, disappointments. How would it mean to know that
every one of those trials and troubles and heartaches and disappointments
in this life were designed by your Heavenly Father, purposed
and ordered by Him in His will, for your good and for His glory. But that's what a believer has
in Christ. Scripture says all things work
together for good to them who love God. All things, the good
and the, what we call the good and the bad, what we call the
unfortunate and what we call the happy, or what we call success
or failure, all works together for our good, eternal good and
His glory. You know, when Joseph had his
brothers in front of him, these brothers had hated him and mistreated
him and sold him into slavery and were responsible for his
spending years in prison and a lot of suffering. And now here
they are in front of him. And he says this to them, what
you did to me, you meant for evil. But God made it for good. So I'm not angry with you. I'm
not upset. Sure, you did what you wanted
to do, but you did what He purposed to do, to be done. That's right. I know there's no use getting
upset with second causes, is there, if God's the first cause?
And it'll work out. It'll work out. But here's glory. What would it mean to you, fifthly,
what would it mean to you to know that old age, and some of
us are getting older, old age with its weaknesses and with
its illnesses and one day terminal and even death will be the best
thing that ever happened to you. The best thing that ever happened
to you. I remember I was talking to Brother Half Yates and Evelyn
about it the other day when I was up Dingus
preaching. I remember one Wednesday night
several years ago that Brother Herman Pruitt came to church
one Wednesday night, just an ordinary Wednesday night. He
was 86 years old, came to church one Wednesday night. And he came
back there in the study where we'd make some coffee and some
of the men were sitting around fellowshiping. He came in, shook
hands with me and all around, got him a cup of coffee, went
on and sat down and fellowshiped. We read the Bible and prayed.
Came in here and he sat right down there, I think, right in
there where Cesar or Mike is, right on my right. Sat there
and listened to me preach. I remember that night so well.
I sat there in big tears rolling down his cheeks while I preached.
rejoicing in the Word of God. And he went over here to Hap's
house and went to bed. And he got up about four o'clock
in the morning with some pains. And Evelyn came in and found
him sitting in the living room. And she said, are you all right?
He said, I'll be all right. She said, I better call an ambulance.
Better call a doctor. No, he said, I'll be all right.
And she went in to wake Hap. And when they both came in there,
he was asleep. He was gone. And she said, and Ab did too,
that while they were sad, still, they were glad. That's the best
thing that could have happened. Paul said, for me to live is
Christ, but for me to die is gain. And I remember just a few
years ago, Charlie Payne stood here one night, the last time
he ever spoke here. And he said, now don't you all
weep for me. Don't you weep for me. Don't
you cry for me. I'm going to be with my heavenly
Father. That's the best thing that could happen to us. That's
the best thing. Blessed are the dead who die
in the Lord. But that's the mercies of the
covenant. That's what we have. Our sins
are all forgiven. Put away. We have peace with
God. God has given us this desire
to be here, to worship Him, to live for His glory, and that's
not going to change. I'll experience a lot of highs
and lows, but I'll tell you, this stays the same. To win Christ
and be found in Him, that's my desire. And I'll tell you this, every
trial that comes my way, every trial that comes my way is for
my good. And one day, that last one will
be experienced, and it'll be for my greater good. I'm going
to be with Him. Now, here are four suggestions. Think about them. Someone here
may say, well, preacher, those things are just not my experience.
I haven't been brought by the Spirit of God to that place.
I just happen. Some of you all have, but I haven't.
What shall I do? What do you suggest? Well, I'd
offer four suggestions. Number one, take your place before
God as a sinner. Quit seeking acceptance with
God by what you do, what you are. Take your place as a sinner. That's what the Canaanite woman
did. She said, Lord, be merciful. He said, you can't give the children's
bread to dogs. She said, yeah, but dogs eat
crumbs. Thief on the cross asks for mercy. And that's what you
can do. Secondly, you can seek the Lord.
Cornelius did. The eunuch did. The woman with
the issue of blood said, if I can just get to Him, I'll be made
whole. Seek the Lord. Seek Him in His
words. Seek Him in the preaching of the gospel. Seek Him among
His people. Seek Him where He is. Thirdly,
ask for mercy. The publican stood in the temple
and he said, Lord, be merciful to me. Ask Him. Ask for mercy. Don't ask me. I don't have any
mercy to give. He has the mercy. He's plenteous
in mercy. Ask Him. You have not because
you ask not. Ask and it shall be given. Seek
and you'll find. Knock and it'll be opened. Ask
Him. And fourthly, I suggest this. I suggest that a person
walk in the light to have. Are you walking in the light
to have? Walk in the light to have. That
centurion said, Lord, be merciful. And the Lord said to him, well,
if you can believe, all things are possible to them that believe.
He said, Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. Walk in the
light you have. And He'll give you more light.
Redeem the time. I hope that's a blessing. I hope
God will use it for you. for his glory and your good.
Henry Mahan
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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