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Henry Mahan

Fellowship With God

John 1:1-7
Henry Mahan • April, 28 1991 • Audio
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Message: 1010a
Henry Mahan Tape Ministry
6088 Zebulon Highway
Pikeville, KY 41501
What does the Bible say about fellowship with God?

The Bible teaches that fellowship with God was restored through Jesus Christ, enabling believers to have a deep, personal relationship with Him.

Fellowship with God is described in 1 John 1:7, where it states that walking in the light, as Jesus is in the light, leads to fellowship with one another and cleansing from sin through Christ's blood. Before the fall, Adam enjoyed direct fellowship with God, communicating face to face. However, sin broke this fellowship, making humanity enemies of God (Ephesians 2:1-3). After the fall, all humans are naturally estranged from God, and fellowship is only possible through Christ, who reconciled us to God by His death and life (Romans 5:8-10). This restored fellowship allows believers to walk in obedience and communion with God, as seen in Exodus 33:11, where God spoke to Moses 'face to face.'

1 John 1:7, Ephesians 2:1-3, Romans 5:8-10, Exodus 33:11

How do we know that fellowship with God is true?

We know fellowship with God is true because it is established through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The truth of fellowship with God is confirmed through the work of Jesus Christ, who reconciles believers to God (Romans 5:10). As John affirms in 1 John 1:3, the apostles witnessed Christ's life, which strengthens the claim that through faith in Him, we can experience genuine fellowship with God. Jesus is described as the light (John 1:5, Ephesians 5:8), and as we walk in that light, our fellowship with God is validated. God’s message is that He is light, and in Him, there is no darkness at all, assuring us that true fellowship is based on His holiness and our faith in Christ's righteousness.

Romans 5:10, 1 John 1:3, John 1:5, Ephesians 5:8

Why is walking in the light important for Christians?

Walking in the light is crucial for Christians as it signifies living in accordance with God’s truth and experiencing fellowship with Him.

According to 1 John 1:7, walking in the light as Christ is in the light leads to fellowship with God and with other believers, alongside the cleansing of our sins. This metaphor of light represents purity, truth, and obedience to God's will. Without walking in the light, one cannot have true fellowship with God and risks remaining in darkness, which symbolizes sin and separation from God (Ephesians 5:8). Additionally, being in the light means being aligned with God’s purposes and living a life that reflects His holiness, empowering believers to share the gospel and grow in their relationship with Him.

1 John 1:7, Ephesians 5:8

Sermon Transcript

Auto-generated transcript • May contain errors

100%
But now back to 1 John, chapter
1. Let me read a verse here, verse 7. 1 John 1, 7. But if we walk in the light,
as he is in the light, we have fellowship, one with another,
that is, with him. We walk in the light as he is
in the light. We have fellowship with he that
is in the light. And the blood of Jesus Christ,
his Son, cleanseth us from all sin. John is talking here of
fellowship with God. That may be a bit difficult for
us to comprehend, fellowship with God. But nonetheless, that's
his subject. fellowship with God. Now, I know
something of what it is to fellowship with another person. Barnard
used to say that a good definition of fellowship is fellows in the
same ship. They have a oneness of heart. They have a oneness of purpose.
They're together. Some of our fellows in a couple
of weeks are going fishing, several of them. They're going to be
fellows in the same ship. They're going to be in the boats
together. They're going to be one in heart. They're going to
have all things common. They're going to be together.
They're going to rejoice in one another. That's fellowship. This is what John's talking about
in fellowship with God. Fellowship. You see, fellowship with God
was the richest blessing of unfallen Adam. We talk about all that
Adam had in the garden, but before the fall, Adam walked with God.
He had fellowship with God. He talked with God. That's right. He talked with God as a man with
a friend. He was accepted, he was loved,
he was in communion with God. Unfallen Adam had fellowship. They were one. But sin entered
the garden, and that fellowship was broken. Now, if one reads
correctly the results of Adam's fall, he will clearly see that
that fellowship was broken. Let me show you something over
here in Genesis. Genesis chapter 3. I'll tell you a sentence that
sums the whole thing up. Adam, where are you? When we're in fellowship, we
know where the other one is. Isn't that right? Adam, where
are you? Something's happened. Adam's
running and hiding, and God's asking him where he is. Not that
God didn't know where he was. But this just describes what's
happened. They're out of fellowship. In
Genesis 3, verse 22, listen, And the Lord God said, Behold,
the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil. And now,
lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life,
and eat, and live for ever, therefore the Lord God sent him forth from
the garden of Eden, kicked him out, to till the ground from
whence he was taken, so he drove out the man. And he placed at
the east of the garden of Eden cherubims and a flaming sword,
which turned every way. to keep the way of the tree of
life. From whom? From that man. So
fellowship is broken. Man is banished from the presence
of God. A flaming sword is turned every
way to keep man from the tree of life. God's wrath has fallen
upon the creature and the creature is angry with God. The natural
mind is enmity. And God said, your sins have
separated you and your God. Fellowship is broken. Now, it
doesn't matter what the sentimental religionist says. He may talk
all he wants to of the fatherhood of God. He can talk about how
God loves every man and whatever else that they want to talk about. whatever clichés they want to
use to avoid facing the truth of the situation, it's all right
by me. But as a result of the fall, we're enemies of God. Ephesians 2 says we're strangers,
we're aliens, we're without Christ, we have no We're without God
in this world. That doesn't sound like fatherhood
to me. It doesn't sound like fellowship either, without God
in this world. Scripture says God's angry with
the wicked every day. The Lord said at the judgment,
I'll say, depart from me, I never knew you. I never even knew you. That doesn't sound like fellowship
or fatherhood. So the fellowship because of the fall is broken.
But we're going to deal with this morning how it's restored.
The Lord Jesus Christ came into this world to restore that fellowship
that Adam had with God. He walked with God. He talked
with God. You see, the great object of the person and work
of Christ was to restore us to fellowship. Turn to Romans chapter
5, let me show you that. Romans the 5th chapter, the great
object of the person and work of Christ was to restore that
fellowship. In Romans 5 verse 8, but God
commended His love toward us in that while we were sinners,
Christ died for us. Much more than being now justified
by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if,
when we were enemies, enemies, we were reconciled to
God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled, we
shall be saved by His life. How is a man reconciled to God? How is God reconciled to a man?
by Christ. Turn to Colossians, and we'll
read this again. Colossians chapter 1, verse 19. Listen. For it pleased the Father
that in Christ should all fullness dwell. Colossians 1, 19, verse
20. And having made peace through
the blood of His cross by Christ to reconcile all things to Himself. By Him, I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven. And you that were sometimes
alienated and enemies, isn't that what I said? Enemies, alienated
in your mind, not only outwardly but inwardly by your wicked works,
yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through
death to present you holy, unblameable, unreprovable in his sight. What he's saying here is that
Christ Jesus, our representative, the God-man, by His life and
by His death and by His resurrection, has removed every obstacle, every obstacle between us and
God, everything that would prevent us from being accepted, from being forgiven, from being
received. from knowing God, having fellowship
with God. You see, your sins have separated
you and your God, and Christ has removed that which prevents
that fellowship. As a man, he obeyed and honored
and magnified the law. As a man, he satisfied justice. As our advocate and intercessor,
his presence brings us to God. And actually, we're speaking
this morning of a fellowship with God superior to Adam's fellowship. You know, when I talked about
fellowship with God, oneness and friend to friend and that common friendship and walking
together, And I said that may seem difficult to understand.
Well, I'm talking about something even more difficult to understand,
that our fellowship in Christ and oneness with God is superior
to that position Adam had because he could follow. We can't. He
could lose his fellowship with God, which he did. But you know,
Paul said in Romans that nothing can separate us from the love
of God which is in Christ. He says there's no condemnation,
there's no judgment to them who are in Christ Jesus. Fellowship
with God. See what he says about it. Go
back to verse 1. Fellowship with God. Listen to
it. That which was from the beginning. That which was from the beginning.
Who is this? Well, it's that glorious person,
that blessed God which is from the beginning. The Lord Jesus
Christ. He's from the beginning. In the
beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And in the beginning
was the Word. And the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. And John said, that which is
from the beginning, the Lord Jesus Christ, we have heard Him,
which we have heard, which we have seen, with our eyes, in
which we've looked upon, and our hands have handled. In the
beginning was the Word. And the Word was made flesh.
And the Word was with God. And the Word dwelt among us.
And the Word was God. And we saw Him. We beheld His
glory. We touched Him. We handled Him. What are you talking about, John?
Verse 2, listen. I'm talking about the life. I'm
talking about life itself. I'm talking about the fountain
of life, I'm talking about the author and giver of life, the
life itself, that's what I'm talking about. That very fountain of life, that
very beginning of life, that very author of life, that's who
I'm talking about. He was manifested, and we've
seen him. We've seen him. Grave is the
mystery of godliness, that God was manifested in human flesh. John says, do you understand
what I'm saying? I'm saying that that which was from the beginning,
who said, let there be light, and there was light, by whom
all things were made. The one who gave life to the
birds, and life to the plants, and life to the fish, and life
to the animals, and life to man, and that one who breathed into
Adam the breath of life. I'm talking about that life,
that fountain of life, that author of life, that beginning of life
was manifested and we touched him and saw him. The very life of God was actually
seen, heard, and touched. He said, I'm not talking about
a sign. I'm not talking about a symbol. I'm not talking about a bare
messenger. I'm talking about life himself. That's who I'm
talking about. Life himself. God himself. Listen to how he closed this
epistle. 1 John 5, verse 20. And we know that the Son of God
is come. and hath given us an understanding
that we may know Him that is true, we're in Him that is true,
even in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God. This is
eternal life." Now what he's saying here in
verse 1 and 2, that which was from the beginning, before the
morning stars sang together, before the foundations of the
world, life, God. That life, that eternal life,
was manifested in human flesh, and we saw it, bear witness,
and show unto you that eternal life, verse 2, look at it, which
was with the Father, which was with the Father, and was manifested
to us. Now John knows something about
our nature, and I know something about my nature, and I know something
about your nature. And we know something of the
consequences of sin. We know about these skeptical,
doubtful minds. So he says it again. He repeats
it three times. Verse 3, he said, I'm telling
you that which we've seen and that which we've heard. He
says this three times. He says it in verse 1, that which
we've heard and that which we've seen. That which was from the
beginning. Verse 2, I'm talking about the
life of God. He says in verse 2, I've seen
Him, and I bear witness unto you. And in verse 3, He comes
at us again, and He said, I'm telling you that which I've seen. Do you understand? I know we
have doubtful minds, and we're skeptics, and it takes us a long
time to get anything through these heads of ours, but He says,
I'm telling you What I'm talking about is that God Himself walked
this earth. And I saw Him. And I touched
Him. My hands handled Him. I heard
Him speak. That's what He said. You understand
that? Jesus Christ, that's who that is. Jesus Christ is no inferior
messenger. He is not a mere representative
of God. He's not a mere symbol or sign,
He is God Almighty Himself. You understand that? That's what
He's saying. I've seen Him, touched Him, heard Him. You understand
that? Alright. That you also may have fellowship
with us, that you might see Him, not with these natural eyes,
but with eyes of faith, that you might hear Him. Not just
with his natural ears, with something better, because some people hurt
him with their natural ears down here, didn't do him any good.
But you might hear him with the ear of faith, and you might touch
him. Oh, not with these hands and
touching a body. We know no man after the flesh,
though we knew Christ once. But some touched him, didn't
do him any good. Don't you remember the disciple
said, the multitudes pressed against you? He said, but somebody
touched me. Somebody touched me. Somebody
touched me. But you might touch Him and you
might have that fellowship. Listen, and our fellowship is
with the Father. It has been restored by His Son
Jesus Christ. We have fellowship with God. Hold that place there and turn
to Exodus 33. I want you to read this. Fellowship
with God. Exodus 33, 11. Listen. And the Lord spake unto Moses
face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. Read that again. Exodus 33, 11. And the Lord spake
unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend." That's
fellowship. And John said, that's what I'm
talking about. I've heard him. I've touched him. I've seen him. And the reason he says, back
here in verse 2, he says, I bear witness. Verse 2, he says, I
show it to you. Verse 3, he said, I declare it
to you. In verse 4, he said, I'm writing
it to you now. What else can I do? I bear witness, I show it to
you, I declare it to you, now I'm writing to you. That your
fellowship might be with us and with the Father. And you know,
here's a word in verse 3, truly, truly now, This is not a feigned
thing. This is not just a religious creed. Truly, and you
see that, truly our fellowship is with the Father. Truly, honestly. No dreams, no fancies, no idle
claims. It's honest. It's with the Father. But you might say, Preacher,
doesn't the Bible say two can't walk together except they be
agreed? It does, in Amos 3, chapter 1, verse 3. But in this relationship
between the Father and the Son, between the Father and our Lord
Jesus Christ, our representative, in Him we have perfect agreement
with God. You see, God agreed with Christ
and in Christ and through Christ to redeem and accept us. And
Christ the Mediator agreed with the Father on our behalf. We're
in agreement with God. Let me show you that in Hebrews
2. We're in agreement with God. We're not out of agreement with
God. We're in agreement with God through Christ our Lord in
everything, in all things. In Hebrews 2, verse 10. Hebrews
2.10, For it became him for whom are all things, and by whom are
all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain
of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that
sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one, for
which cause he is not ashamed to call us brethren. saying,
I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the
church while I sing praise unto thee. And again, I'll put my
trust in him. And again, behold, I am the children
which thou hast given me, which God hath given me. For as much
then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself
took part of the same flesh and blood, that through death he
might destroy him that hath the power of death, that is, the
devil, and deliver them. who through fear of death were
all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily, he took
not on him the nature of angels, he took on him the seed of Abraham.
Wherefore, in all things it behooved him to be made like his brethren,
that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of his people."
He brought us to God. You see that? He brought us to
God. Jesus Christ, our Lord, fulfilled
everything, removed every obstacle, reconciled us, and in Him, through
Him, because of Him, by Him, we are reconciled to God. We
have fellowship with God in Christ. Fellowship with the Father and
with His Son, Jesus Christ. All right, verse 5. And this,
then, is the message. This is the message we heard
of Him. This is the message He gave us. This is the Gospel. We heard
it from Him. We saw it in Him. And we declare
it unto you. This is the message we preach
to you, that God is light, God is holy, God is pure, God is
righteous, God is just, God is true, God is unchangeable. In
God there is no darkness. He requires No perfection, no
compromise, no alloy, no less than perfection, and Christ fulfilled
it all. That's the message we're declaring
unto you. Turn back to Romans 4. Let me
show you this in Paul's writings. That's the message. That's the
gospel. Romans chapter 4. Listen to this. Romans chapter 4. Romans 3, I beg you for it, Romans
chapter 3. Now listen. Romans 3, 19. Now we know that what things
for ever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty
before God. There is separation. There is
broken fellowship. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, no flesh is going to be justified in his sight, accepted
in his sight, reconciled in his sight, By the law is the knowledge
of sin. But now, the righteousness of
God. God is light. In Him, no darkness. His righteousness. Without the
law is manifested being witnessed by the law and the prophets.
It's even the righteousness of God which is by the faith of
Jesus Christ unto all them that believe there's no difference.
Christ is our righteousness. This is the message. He restores
us to fellowship. Look at Romans 1. Paul said in
verse 16, Romans 1, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for
it's the power of God unto salvation, to acceptance, to redemption,
to all, to everyone that believe it, to the Jew first and also
to the Greek, for therein, in that gospel, in that message,
is the righteousness of God revealed from one degree of faith to the
other. It is written, the just shall
live by faith. Verse 5 of 1 John 1. I go back to the text. This
then is the message. That which was from the beginning.
God. Life. Fountain of life. I've
seen Him. Touched Him. Heard Him. And this
is the message I heard of Him, which I declare unto you, show
unto you, write unto you. This is the message. God is light. In Him no darkness. But this
representative, this person, Jesus Christ, this life of God
has come and given us a righteousness and died for our sins and reconciled
us to God. That's the message that I declare
unto you. Now, going to verse 6, now listen to me. There's
forgiveness with God. There's fellowship with God in
Christ. There's a way back. There is eternal life by faith
in Christ. But we must not pretend. It's
not a matter of pretending. I know so much religion today
comes across as showmanship. It comes across as a pretense.
I know this. You know this. It just sounds
phony and looks phony and comes across as phony. All the trying
to be pious and the walling of the eyes, you know, and the hallelujahs
and the praise of the Lord and all this, it's showmanship. You know it and I know it. But
now this, I'm talking about something dead serious. I'm talking about
something real. It's no dream, it's no fancy,
it's no idle claim. Truly, he said, our fellowship
with God. Truly, I'm saying that. I'm saying
truly, this is no pretense, this is no put on, this is no show,
this is no raising of the hands. This is true out there when you're
digging that ditch and it's true when you're singing in the choir.
This fellowship is truly our fellowship is with God when you
boys are down there on that boat or when you're up here in the
prayer room. When you're out there on your job, sweating, mashing your finger. And when
you're doing what you're doing, when you women are washing dishes,
when you're down there, I watched Mary Bell last week wash seven
washer loads of clothes. Her boy came back from college
and brought everything he and I think all his roommates had.
And the kitchen was just powerful of clothes. She washed seven
full washer loads and had it stacked up. I'm talking about
fellowship with God right there. Fellowship with God. I'm talking
about fellowship with God now. Let's don't play games. We must
not pretend. We must not do something to be
seen of men. We must be sincere. God looks
on the heart, not the outward claim. God doesn't listen to
our words. He listens to the beat of your
heart. That's what plays that music of praise. The Lord regards
not things as they seem to be or appear to be, but as they
are. Abraham believed God. He believed
God. He walked in a desert. He believed
God. He climbed a mountain to kill
his son. He believed God. He went down into Sodom and fought
with kings. And in a bitter battle to deliver
his nephew, lot, but he walked with God, believed God. That's what I'm talking about.
So he says in verse 6, if we say, we have fellowship with
Him. He says this three times, if
we say, if we say, I'm tired of what people say. If we say
we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, in the darkness
of Ignorance. Ignorance of his righteousness.
Ignorance of his person. Ignorance of his work. Because
the light is Christ. You can walk in religion and
not walk in Christ. You can walk in religion and
walk in darkness. People get upset with me because
I call the names of religious organizations that are in darkness.
Catholicism is in darkness. I'm going down there week after
next week. And those poor people with all
their signs and symbols are walking in darkness. We lie and do not the truth.
Look at verse 7. But we walk in the light. Now,
what's the light? What is the light? If we walk
in the light, it's He, Christ, is in the light. What is this
light? Well, Christ said, I am the light.
You know what He said? I'm preaching on this tonight.
John said, I'm not that light. I came to bear witness of that
light. Why in the world would anybody have to bear witness
of a light? You see that? Sure you do. I don't have to
tell you that light's on, do I? That light doesn't need a
witness. Unless somebody out here is blind. Then that light needs a witness.
And that's the reason Christ, who's the light of the world,
needs a witness, because we're blind by seeing. God has to give
us eyes to see. And once God gives you eyes to
see, I can say, look, there's the light. Yeah, I see it in
that picture. Christ is the light. And He is
the light of the glory of God. He's revealed in the face of
Christ Jesus. Turn to Colossians 1. Let me
show you something here. Colossians chapter 1. Colossians
chapter 1, beginning with verse 12. Colossians 1, 12. Listen
to this. giving thanks unto the Father,
which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of
darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son,
in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sin." Now John said, if you say you have fellowship with
God, on the basis of anything other than Christ the light. And the light of the glory of
God revealed in Christ. And you're walking in that light
of faith in Christ. Christ is the light. You lie,
he said. You see what he said? You lie,
he said. You don't have fellowship with
God on the basis of you living better than somebody else. Or
you're attending church, or you're a Baptist, or a Methodist, or
a prayer lieutenant, or you got sprinkled when you were a baby,
or baptized when you were an adult, or you're a preacher,
or a deacon, or a singer, or whatever. You're lying. You say
you have fellowship with God, and don't walk in the light of
Christ. Christ is the light. He's translated us from the kingdom
of darkness to the kingdom of light, the light of His dear
Son. You see that? And it's the light of obedience.
Turn to Ephesians 5. This light has so many facets,
so many, it just shines from everywhere. In Ephesians 5, verse
8, Ephesians 5, 8, You were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light
in the Lord Jesus. Now, walk as children of light.
For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness
and truth, proving what is acceptable unto the Lord." If we say that
we have fellowship with God, it's been restored, and we've
been reconciled, and God speaks with us, and we speak with God
as friend to friend, face to face. We walk with Him. We look
to Him. That fellowship which was lost
by the fall and sin has been restored. We're one. We're together. We're accepted. And you say you
have that fellowship and you're not in Christ, and not in the
light of Christ, and not walking in the light of Christ, and not
worshiping God, and not walking in obedience? You're lying, he
said. Isn't that what he's saying here? That's exactly what he said.
You lie and do not the truth. But, verse 7, if we walk in the
light as He is in the light. Who is He? It's Christ. He is
the light. He is our reconciler. He is our
redeemer. He is our righteousness. He is
our motivator. We're walking in with Christ.
We're walking in the same light in which Christ Jesus our Lord
is. Then we have fellowship with
one another. And His blood cleanses us from
all sin. That's restored. You see that?
That's what it is. That's just plain. Isn't that
plain? I can't make it any plainer. Just can't make it any plainer.
If you can't understand that, you can't understand 1, 2, 3. If we say, we pretend, and there's
a lot of pretense, There's a lot of pretense. I don't have fellowship with
God because I wear a cross around my neck. I have fellowship with
God because Christ hung on a cross on Calvary's mountain. Now, verse 8 says, if we say
we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. I don't need this fellowship
restored. I have no S-I-N. That's sinful nature. That's
identification with Adam and the fowl. Now, you deceive. You
know what he's saying? That S-I-N is not S-I-N-S. S-I-N is why we have S-I-N-S. It's nature. You say you have
no nature of sin. You say your fellowship's not
broken. You say you didn't participate
in the fall of Adam. You don't need this restoration
in Christ. You're deceived. You're deceived. Truth's not in you. Truth's not
in you. But now if we confess our sins,
We confess the fellowship's broken, we admit our part in it, we acknowledge
our sin, and we look to Christ, He's faithful and just to forgive
us of all of our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness and
restore that fellowship. If we say we have not S-I-N-N-E-D
sinned this morning, this hour, we make God a liar. And His Word is not in us. My
little children, now look at this. And what I preached, and
this is good news. This is good news. And this occurred
to me. I jotted this down this morning.
I added this to my message. Every honest heart sitting out
there is going to say, but preacher, I am still a sinner. I still,
I fellowship with God. What you're talking about there,
fellowship with God like Moses of old and Abraham, it seems
so presumptuous of me. With my nature and my thoughts,
I want to walk with God, but it seems so presumptuous of me
to claim that kind of fellowship, that kind of restoration, that
kind of reconciliation, that kind of oneness. Now wait a minute.
Chapter 2. My little children, these things
write I unto you that you sin not. Believers would like for that
to be. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Never
to sin. Wouldn't that be something? Never to sin. But you know, we'd
be messed up then. We'd think we deserve fellowship
with God. It works against us, doesn't
it? If we went a day without sin, we'd be so proud and high
and mighty and lifted up, then we couldn't fellowship with God.
We'd be lying. Isn't that something? We're just
in a mess. I'd be glad when all this is
over. I write of you to sin not. And,
he didn't say but, he said and. And you will. And if any man
sin, we have an advocate. Thank God I don't have to stand
on my own. I don't claim what I claim on
my merit. I have an advocate. And I'm not
righteous in myself, but He is. Jesus Christ the righteous is
on the right hand of God. And that's my claim to fellowship. That's my claim to reconciliation.
That's my claim to restoration. It's Jesus Christ. And He's the
propitiation. He's the mercy seat. She was
singing about a while ago. He's a propitiation for our sins.
And not for ours only, just a handful here at 13th Street, but for
the sins of believers all over this world. There's a big fellowship
with God. There's a big fellowship with
God. And I tell you, it's not just a few select fellows that
have met certain requirements. It's the whole family of God
for whom Christ has met all the requirements. That's the fellowship. I have fellowship with God. Isn't that good? It's in Christ. Do you understand that? I hope
you understand that. If I've gotten that across, I'm
happy. If we understand fellowship with God, it's in Him, Christ
Jesus.
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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