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Henry Mahan

Words to Live By

Psalm 37:1-9
Henry Mahan • April, 15 1992 • Audio
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Message: 1057a
Henry Mahan Tape Ministry
6088 Zebulon Highway
Pikeville, KY 41501
What does the Bible say about trusting God during trials?

The Bible encourages believers to trust in the Lord amidst trials, assuring them that He cares for their needs.

Psalm 37 emphasizes the importance of trusting in God, particularly during times of trial and adversity. In verse 3, believers are instructed to 'Trust in the Lord and do good,' highlighting that true trust leads to action and faithfulness. This theme resonates throughout Scripture, reminding us that when we place our confidence in God's providence, our anxieties can subside. Trusting in the Lord provides comfort because we acknowledge His sovereign control over our lives and circumstances.

Psalm 37:3, Philippians 4:6-7

Why is it important for Christians to avoid fretting about evildoers?

Christians are called to avoid fretting over evildoers because their ultimate destiny is judgment, while believers are assured of God's care.

In Psalm 37:1-2, David admonishes believers not to fret because of evildoers, reminding them that those who oppose God will ultimately face judgment. The temptation to fret often arises when we see wicked individuals prospering while the righteous struggle. However, this perspective can cloud our judgment and lead to unnecessary fear. Instead, David reassures believers that God is aware of their struggles and will not forsake them. Trusting in God’s justice allows believers to focus on their own relationship with Him, rather than being distracted by the seemingly successful lives of the wicked.

Psalm 37:1-2, Romans 12:19

How does delighting in the Lord affect a Christian's life?

Delighting in the Lord leads to true happiness and strengthens a believer's faith and joy.

Psalm 37:4 encourages believers to 'Delight thyself also in the Lord,' which signifies a deep, joyful engagement with God and His ways. This delight is not mere acceptance of God's will but an active joy in His character and providence. When believers delight in the Lord, they begin to align their desires with His, leading to a fulfilled life grounded in faith. Additionally, this delight transforms our perspective, enabling us to see our trials as opportunities for growth and reliance on God's grace. As we cultivate delight in the Lord, our hearts are changed, producing a more profound faith and a deeper contentment in life's circumstances.

Psalm 37:4, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Sermon Transcript

Auto-generated transcript • May contain errors

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Well, let's open our Bibles again
now to Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Now, I've preached from this
Psalm many times before, and most of you are well acquainted
with Psalm 37. And when I began to prepare this
morning for tonight's message, the thought occurred to me, shall
I preach again from this most familiar passage of Scripture? You elders here tonight who preach
around different places on the Lord's Day are well acquainted
with how difficult it is to find the message Don't you? Once you get the text and the
subject, it's like a fisherman when he hooks a fish. It's gone,
you know. It's no problem. Reel it in. So I just let it lay there. My
Bible opened there on the desk and read it a time or two. And then the following telephone
conversations took place. I was on the phone about an hour
to different people, and when I finished with all these conversations,
I knew I had the right subject. Because if everybody out there
is as burdened as they are, there's bound to be somebody here that's
burdened too. Keep me safe till the storm passes
by." And there's a storm going on. First, a friend called me from
work in another state whose church is divided over the gospel. And they have no place to worship
on the Lord's Day. They've been going to this church
for years and years and years. And now they have no place to
go on the Lord's Day to hear the gospel preached. And it's
a, it's a weary land. I talked to that one a while,
and then another conversation minutes later, a friend of many,
many years who's had brain surgery, had the same problem our dear
brother Maurice Montgomery had. tumor on the pituitary gland.
And they went in and removed what they could and left what
they had to leave. And he's in the midst of 20 some-odd
chemotherapy treatments, and some of you are familiar with
that. And uncertainties and questions
that lie before him, he just needs a little comfort, needs
a little He said, I told my wife yesterday, he said, I've had
Brother Henry on my mind all day long. I'm going to write
him a letter. Well, God providentially led me to call him this morning,
so we had a good time. I no more hung the phone up from
that call till another friend called me and said, my mother
died at four o'clock this morning. I want you to come and preach
her funeral next Saturday. And that was all while I was
sitting there looking at Psalm 37. And then I know many of you,
I have great concern for you who are engaged in the conflicts,
real conflicts, real trials, bearing sometimes heavy burdens. So you who are in need of the
message tonight, I believe you will be blessed, I am. And I
have been, and I will be, as we go over it again. I call this
message, Words to Live By. Words to Live By. Now, we have
Words to Die By. That's been settled. I'm not
crazy about that song, Mike, so don't sing it. The old account
was settled long ago, but it was. It was indeed. It was indeed. Our Lord Jesus
Christ said to his disciples, let not your heart be troubled.
This issue is settled. You believe in God, you believe
in me. For in my Father's house are many mansions, dwelling places. And if it were not so, I would
have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
And he has prepared the place and he's prepared us for the
place by his precious blood and his perfect obedience. And I'll
come again and receive you unto myself. Those are precious words
to die by. And then in Philippians 1, Paul
said, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. I'm in a
straight betwixt the two. I have a desire to depart and
be with Christ. which is far better. And then
he said, the time of my departure is at hand. I fought a good fight,
and I kept the faith, finished my course, and laid up for me
a crown of righteousness. That's sure, that's steadfast,
that's settled, which the righteous judge shall give to me in that
day, and not to me only, but to all those that love his appearance. So really sometimes it's more
difficult to live for the glory of God than it is to die for
the glory of God. That's just so. That's just so. We can die, I think, maybe with
a whole lot more grace than we can live for his glory. speak tonight on words to live
by. Words to live by. Live. We've
got to live a while longer here. And I've chosen Psalm 37. Now,
the author of this psalm is beloved David, man after God's own heart,
called the sweet psalmist of Israel. well-loved king of Israel, the one from whose loins came
our Messiah, the Son of God, Son of Man. And the time of this
writing, did you notice verse 25, the time of the writing of
this psalm was when David was old, in old age. He says in verse
25, I've been young and now I'm old. Yet have I not seen the
righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." So this was written
in his old age. And the occasion of the writing
of it is the afflictions of the people of God. That's what he
deals with all the way through here. The afflictions and the
trials and the burdens of the people of God especially. especially
in the light of the prosperity of the wicked. Over and over
again he talks about how difficult the way of the believer is and
seemingly how easy the way of the transgressor is through this
life. And it troubled David. But you
have him here, the picture I get is David the old experienced
elder who's been through the battle, whose days upon earth
are few, and he's sitting with the family of God about him,
the people of God. Like Charlie said when he started
reading this, he said, this is not for them believers, this
is for the believer. The unbeliever doesn't have anything
to do with these words. They mean nothing to him. But
David is sitting here with the family of God about him, listening
to him. Listening to him. And listening
to him speak unto divine inspiration, the wisdom of God, and giving
us words to live by. Words to live by. Now, you leave
here tonight Go home, get a little rest, and you'll be back out
there tomorrow. You'll be back out there tomorrow.
And these are words to live by, tomorrow and the next day. All
right, let's get right with them. Psalm 37, verse 1, he says, fret
not, fret not, fret not thyself because
of evildoers. And neither be thou envious against
the workers of iniquity." It's so common, it's so common for
all of us in the hour of adversity and in the hour of trouble to
fret. Oh, how we fret and how we complain
and how we become discouraged and sometimes feel like that
our way Our way is too difficult, especially when we see others
who have no interest in God and no interest in the gospel faring
so well. We feel perhaps that we've been
singled out for special adversity, and that the way God's chosen
for us is just too harsh. And really sometimes we feel
like it's undeserved, and we begin to fret. Well, I read a
story. about Princess Elizabeth. Elizabeth
later became Queen of England, and she reigned as Queen of England
for 44 years, 44 grand and glorious and triumphant and wonderful
years, good Queen best. Well, at this time she was in
prison. You remember her early days were
spent in prison. I forget, was it Mary that imprisoned
her, I believe? Bloody Mary. But anyway, she
was in prison. And she testified to this fact,
that when she was in prison, when she was confined to the
prison cell, she said, I envied even the milkmaid. I envied even
the milkmaid who had the freedom to come and go as she pleased.
But she said, had I known at that time, in my confinement
and in my suffering, the glorious reign that I would have for 44
years as Queen of England, I would never have ended the milkmaids. And that's what he's saying here.
They'll soon be cut off. Isn't that what it says, verse
2? They'll soon be cut off. cut
down like the grass and withers the green herb. So why should
I be envious of the wicked? And why should I complain of
my lot when actually I have been ordained and predestinated of
God by his grace to reign eternally with my Lord? Had I known the
grand and glorious reign that I would have for 44 years, I
would never have ended the milkmaid. And I'll tell you, if we bear
that in mind, that whatever path God chooses for us here is just
going to school, getting ready for glory. It's our Lord preparing
us for that grand and glorious inheritance He's already purchased
for us. And that is reserved in heaven,
incorruptible, and faith is not awake. So put that down. Fret not. Fret not. No matter how trying the circumstances,
and no matter how rocky the path, don't fret. It's God's purpose
for us. All right, verse 3. Run into
the second word. Words to live by. Fret not. Verse
3 says, Now here's the second word, trust. Trust in the Lord. No confidence in our flesh, of
course not, but all confidence and trust in our Lord. You know
what will cure Freddy? Trust the Lord. That's the reason
that's the second word, fret not, but trust the Lord. There's only one cure for anxious
care, and that is to trust the Lord. trust the Lord. Now, you know John made this
statement. He said, if you receive the witness
of men, and we do so often, there are people whom I trust. And
if they tell me something, I believe them. And we receive the witness
of men, the witness of God is greater. And let me illustrate
this point. When I go down to Mexico, There'd be many reasons for me
to fret and to fear. In the first place, I don't speak
the language. I'm among a people I do not understand. I can't even read the signs. I don't know what anybody's saying.
The food is deadly and dangerous if you're not careful. You don't
have to fear the bandits. Any more and you have to fear
the police. That's right. The authorities. An American
could disappear in a Mexican jail and never be heard from
again. That's a drop of a hat. Vehicle breakdowns. Mountainous
roads. One lane. A 2,000 foot drop on one side
and fallen rocks on the other side. Go into a village in total
darkness, where people are poor and deprived and have nothing,
and you have a new vehicle and money in your pocket. Who's to
know if you don't come back? But I don't fret. Honestly, from
my heart, I say to you, I'm as comfortable there as I am standing
right here in this booklet. You've been with me. You've been
with me. Comfortable. Because I'm with
Milton, Howard, and Walter Gruber, and I trust them. I don't make
any decision. I don't tell them what road to
take. I don't tell them how fast to drive. I don't tell them where
to eat, do we? I don't tell them one thing.
I just sit there and trust them. And you know, I'm not anxious
at all. I have no fears. And if I didn't have them, and
if I didn't trust them, I wouldn't go. And that's where Moses said
to the Lord, if you don't go with us, don't let us go. And that's what I'm saying. In
this journey of life, I trust my Lord. And that's the cure
for anxious character. We can just learn that word trust. Did you ever say that to your
children, trust me? You remember how you were when
you was a kid, just a little bit, well trust me, trust me. And I trust my Lord, I trust
his righteousness. It's sufficient to make me accepted
of God. I trust him. I trust his blood. It cleanses me from all my sins.
I trust his good providence. Brother Scott stood here just
a few weeks ago and moved our hearts by the Spirit of God when
he quoted that verse. He knows the way I take. And
after he's tried me, I'll come forth like gold. Trust him. I trust his good providence and
I trust his care. So trusting, look at this verse
3 again. Trust in the Lord and do good.
Those two words cannot be separated. But when a man truly trusts the
Lord, he'll do good. When you believe, you act. Well,
there's another word. Look at verse 4. Now, stay with
me. And these words sort of follow one another. As I looked at them,
there seemed to be just one lead into the other. He says, Pray
it not. Verse 3, Trust in the Lord. And then he comes along, verse
4, and says, Delight thyself. Delight thyself also in the Lord. Not only trust him, but actually
delight in him. This won't be as easy as it sounds,
but it's the way of true happiness and true faith. Now, sometimes
we're prone to think in this manner, and sometimes we're prone
to have this type of attitude. All right, preacher, I'll accept
my lot. I'll accept my lot. I'm not particularly
happy about it, but I'll accept it. That's not what he says here. I'll bear it. I'll endure my
trial. and I'll try to keep my chin up. Got a letter from a
fellow recently who said I'm doing more chin-ups lately, keeping
my chin up. I'll take whatever comes, and
I'll try to be brave, and I'll try to believe. No, that is not
what he's saying. He says actually to delight thyself
in the Lord, in his will in his way. Now listen, the unbeliever,
the wicked of this world, they delight in their way. Their way
is the way of death, their way is the way of destruction, their
way is the way of the world, their way is the way of carnality,
their way is the way that passeth away, but they delight in themselves,
they delight in their wisdom, they delight in their riches,
they delight in their strength, they delight in their successes,
they delight in all these things, and they're all temporary. My situation is eternal. My inheritance
is eternal. He has no cause to delight or
rejoice. I do. So don't fret, but not only don't
fret, trust him and then get happy about it. And delight yourself
in the Lord. Let me show you that. Turn to
a few verses here. First of all, 2 Corinthians 12.
Let's see if we can make good on this. 2 Corinthians 12, that's
where Paul talked about his afflictions, his thorn in the flesh. And he
says in verse 9 of 2 Corinthians 12, in 2 Corinthians 12, 9, he
said to me, and he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you.
My strength is made perfect in your weakness. So most gladly
with our rather glory. Not just accept it. but glory
in my infirmities, that the power of Christ might rest upon me.
Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in
necessities, in persecution, in distresses for Christ's sake.
For when I'm really weak, then am I strong. I delight in the
providence of God. I delight in the way of the Lord. Isn't that what he's saying?
Back over to Romans 5, the 5th chapter of Romans. Listen to
this, Romans 5 verse 3. Listen carefully. and experience hope and hope
make it not a shame because the love of God is shared about in
our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. Be done with self-pity. Be done with self-pity. Pity
rather the wicked. Pity the wicked. Rejoice in the
Lord. Rejoice. Ten times, I think,
in the book of Philippians, we're told to rejoice in the Lord and
whatever He sends our way. I know it's difficult, no question
about that, but they're still words to live by. Delight thyself
in the Lord. And then verse 5, here's another
word to live by. He says in verse 5, commit thy
way unto the Lord. Trust also in Him. He'll bring
it to pass. You know, Paul used this word,
commit, in his definition of faith. Charles Spurgeon preached
a sermon one time dealing with definitions of faith, and he
said this, he said the best one, the best real definition of faith,
which I have found, is in 2 Timothy 1.12, in which Paul said this,
I know whom I have believed. That's knowledge. Not I know
what I believe or I know when I believe, I know whom. I know
him. Salvation is not a profession,
it's a person. Salvation is not an experience,
it's a person. He's a glorious person in work. I know whom. And then he said,
secondly, I am persuaded, I'm confident that he's able. I'm confident, I'm persuaded.
Abraham was persuaded that God could do everything He promised.
Totally persuaded. And then the last word he used
was this, that which I'm persuaded is able to keep that which I've
what? Committed. I've committed, committed,
committed. Cast all your cares upon Him. Commit thy way. Isn't that what
this says in verse 5? Commit thy way. Thy way, not
just your soul, your way. Not just your salvation, your
way. And all that's involved, just
commit it. Spurgeon said this, Commit thy
way unto the Lord. This means roll the whole burden
of life and eternity upon the Lord. Leave it with thy God. Not only your present trial,
but all your life, and all your possessions, and all your family,
and all your care. Cast away anxiety. Resign your will to his will. Resign your way to his way. Submit your judgment to him. Take every burden, every care,
every play, and every sin to the Lord. Leave it there. There's the key. Leave it there. Leave it there. Can you do it?
Commit. I've committed it to Him. The hymn writer put it this way,
Thy way, not mine, O Lord, however dark it be, lead me by Thy right
hand. every path for me. Smooth, let it be, or rough,
it'll still be the best. Winding or straight, it matters
not. It'll leave me to rest. I dare
not choose my lot. I would not if I might. But choose
thou for me, O Lord, and I'll walk aright. Take thou my cup,
and it with joy or sorrow fill, as it best to thee may seem. Choose thou my good and my ill."
That's commitment. Take your burden to the Lord
and leave it, leave it. leave it, commit thy way. And I know, I know it just seems
like that we Calvinists talk a whole lot about sovereign grace,
and we ought to. Talk a whole lot about justification
by an act of God, and we ought to. And how that God loved us
and gave himself for us, and we ought to. But we need to talk
also about committing our way to the Lord, not just our inheritance,
and not just our future, and not just our day of death, but
our way committed to the Lord. You can't separate faith and
conduct. As a man thinketh in his heart,
so is he committal. That's a word to live by. Now,
verse 7, and rest. rest, would you bear with me
if I go back just a moment, if I can learn not to fret. And
you notice I'm not preaching to you, I'm preaching to us. If I can learn not to fret, if I can learn to trust, trust
God and be not afraid, if I can learn even to rejoice and delight
in the way he's chosen for me at all times, and I can in reality
literally actually commit my way unto the Lord, then this
next word will be mine, rest. I can rest. I can in reality
rest, because I can rest in his wisdom. I certainly don't have
any rest in mine. I can rest in his will. My times
are in thy hands. My God, I want them there. That's
my theology. But I'd like to get my theology
in keeping with my experience. Rest in his will. I can rest
in his love. He says I have I have loved you
with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn
thee. He loves me. Why would I doubt
his care? I tell you, when I doubt his
care, I'm doubting his love. I rest in his mercy and rest
in my relation to him, rest in his promise. Here's a man carrying
a load. It's much too heavy for him,
much too heavy for him. And he's trying to negotiate
a steep hill with that awful, awful load on his back, and he
keeps falling beneath the weight of it. And along comes a friend
who loves him, who knows him, and who's perfectly capable of
carrying that load and many others just like it. And he reaches
over and takes that burden, takes that load off the back of his
friend and puts it on his own back and carries it. Now what's
this man to do? I tell you what he's to do is
rest. Rest. Cast all your care upon him. He cares for you. And rest. Enter into his rest. Cease from
fretting. He's from labor. Tell you something
else, this word rest means here, it means to be silent before
the Lord. Hold your peace. Hold your peace. And the author that I was reading
on this point referred to Aaron when God sent down fire from
heaven and destroyed his two rebellious sons. And you know
what scripture says? Aaron held his peace. And that means he didn't say
anything. He didn't say anything. Somebody said, a silent tongue
not only shows a wise head, but sometimes a holy heart. A silent tongue not only shows
a wise head, but it shows also a holy heart. And then verse 8 is another word
to live by here, and that's cease. Cease from anger. I suppose that
this word is one of the most difficult assignments that God
can give us, cease from anger. But oh, how vital, how necessary
not only for the peace and unity of a church or a home or any
situation, but how necessary for our own peace and joy and spiritual well-being. Most of our problems are from
being stirred up inside. That's what does more damage
to my peace than anything else. It's stirred up inside. Cease
from anger. And I think there's several directions
that this anger takes. It's cease from anger against
God's providence. We've already dealt with that.
Cease from anger against God's providence. And then cease from anger against
unbelievers. and their ways. Now, so often,
and we know this, I'm not telling us anything we don't already
know, unbelievers are unbelievers by nature, by birth. And they'll
remain unbelievers unless God, by grace, opens their hearts.
It's like one man said when he pointed to a drunk, he said,
but for the grace of God go I." There, but for the grace of God
go I. So you wouldn't get mad at a
blind man who stumbled, would you? You wouldn't get mad at
a deaf man because he didn't hear a cry of alarm. Well, don't
get mad and pray it against unbelievers, because God has not been pleased
to open their hearts. He's been pleased to open ours.
But so cease from anger against these people. Pity them. Pity
them. Paul the Apostle said, I have
great heaviness of heart, sorrow for my brethren according to
the flesh. He said, I could wish myself a curse from Christ for
my brethren according to the flesh. Bound in sin, where we
were bound till God set us free. Wrapped in the feathers of self-righteousness
in which we also were wrapped till God broke us free. So cease
from anger against God's providence, against unbelievers and their
ways. Their ways are our ways by nature. Did you know that?
They are our ways, except for the grace of God. And we look
at somebody and say, I wouldn't do that. The only reason you
wouldn't is the grace of God, or maybe you never had the opportunity. One or the other. Cease from
anger against your brother or your sister. They're still human
too. Now watch this. Cease from any
anger that will lead to vengeance. Watch this verse. Let me look
at it again. Cease from anger and forsake wrath. Threat not
thyself in any wise to do evil. What's that saying? It's saying
this. Don't let another person's neglect in gratitude or treatment
cause you to sin. You see what I'm saying? Don't
let another person's waywardness or neglect or indifference or
carelessness or whatever might have occurred or treatment cause
you to have a bad attitude. You're going to suffer for that,
and I am too. In other words, if I let someone's
behavior influence my thoughts, then I'm going to suffer. I've
fallen into that awful trap of returning what they gave, and
that's not God's way. And it hurts me. It doesn't hurt
them, because they're going to be like they are anyway. But
I'm the one that's hurt. I built up an attitude and a
situation and a feeling that is detrimental to my walk with
God. And that's what he's saying here. So cease from anger and
forsake wrath and fret not yourself in any wise to do evil. What
evil doers are going to be cut off. But those that wait, now
here's the other word, those that wait upon the Lord. It's my last word, wait. Time is nothing to the Lord. Peter said a day with the Lord
is a thousand years, and a thousand years is a day. Time is so important
to us on this earth because we have so little of it. But it's
nothing to God. And Spurgeon said, therefore,
let it be nothing to you. Time is nothing for the Lord. God's worth waiting for. Whatever
he has is worth waiting for. The Lord is never before his
time and he's never late. Everything occurs in the fullness
of time. He will exalt thee. Look over
here for this verse at number 30, verse number 34. Look at
what it says. Wait on the Lord and keep his
way and he'll exalt thee to inherit the land. Well, that's his business. It's my business to wait, to
occupy till he comes. Wait on the Lord. And he'll exalt
thee to inherit the land. Some of you are readers. You read a lot. You read books. And when you read a book, you're
busy reading a book, and the plot thickens. And the hero is
in a terrible situation. But you don't quit reading, do
you? You're out in the middle of the
book here, and things are just going so bad and confusing, and
everything's difficult and just upsetting, but you don't quit
reading. You continue to read. What are
you waiting on? You're waiting for the end of the story to clear
up the picture and clear up the plot. And everything turned out
all right. Well, I'll tell you this. We
ought not to judge God's will and God's way and God's times
by today only or tomorrow or this week. Let's stick around. for the end of the book, the
closing chapter, and it's going to be all right. I read the last
chapter, didn't you? You read that over there? God
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be
no more death, no more sorrow, no more crying for the former
things that passed away. Behold, I make all things new. Stay around to the closing scene,
because he wrote the book. He who wrote the end wrote the
beginning, and all that's in between, because he's the what?
Author and finisher of my faith. People laugh at me for a peculiar
habit I have, and it's all right, because I'm happy with it. But
I watch a Kentucky basketball game only if they win. And you ask me, how do you know
they win? I tape it. While I'm off somewhere else,
I tape it. And I find out the score, and
then I just sit there and I watch. I enjoy it. Y'all all shook up.
You get behind, you get all shook up. Get a bad call, I just sit
there calmly, enjoying every bit of it. I enjoy the bad calls
and missed shots and all the other things, because I know
how it's going to come out. That's right. save myself a heart attack,
ulcers, I'll come see you in the hospital, because I know
how it's going to turn out. And that, you know that may sound
silly, and it is, it's all right, but I'm happy with it, the arrangement. And that's what I'm saying about
all this. Got a pal called on you today.
You're going to win this game. Even the referee is on your side.
The judge is on your side. The king is on your side. And
the last, the score has already been settled. Already been settled. And so, let's adopt that attitude,
let's wait on the Lord. Wait until it's over. Don't do
like Cecil now and turn it off and run out of the room. pace around, come back in, turn
it on, run out again, you know. If you know the final outcome,
you can rest. And we do, don't we? I have his
word for it. I have his word for it. Whatever...
Those good works live by, aren't they? You live by them, Pastor? I want
to. Let's put it that way. I want to. I'm going to try.
I'm going to try, because he keeps telling me to. And I know
it's best. I'm going to try. How about you?
I'm going to try. All right. Mike, come lead us
in a closing here.
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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