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Henry Mahan

Why Men Find Sovereign Grace Offensive

Ephesians 2
Henry Mahan • February, 3 1991 • Audio
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Message: 0997a
Henry Mahan Tape Ministry
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All right, let's turn back to
Ephesians 2. The gospel, and there's only one gospel. It's the gospel of God. It's
the gospel of God's glory. It's the gospel of God's grace. And this gospel is called by
some Calvinism. It's called by some the doctrines
of grace. It's called by some sovereign
grace. And it's offensive. Paul talked
about it being offensive. He said it's offensive to the
natural man. He called it the offense of the
cross, hated by some. And whether a man's in the pulpit,
there are men in the pulpit who hate Calvinism, there are people
in the pew, there are people in the world. But the natural
man, wherever you find him, the unregenerate man, the one who's
never been called by the grace of God, Whether he's in the pulpit
or the pew or out there in the world, whether he's religious
or otherwise, he's offended. He's offended. And there are
several things that offend him. The sovereignty of God is offensive
to the natural man. Now, men do not object to God
ruling the waves. ruling the wind and ruling the
world. But they object and they're offended
when we preach that God's sovereignty also reaches to salvation. That he not only is sovereign
in creation and in providence, but he indeed exercises his will
and his purpose and his sovereignty in whom he saves. He said to
Moses, I'll be merciful to whom I will be merciful. I'll be gracious
to whom I will. Now that's where men are offended. When we bring the purpose and
sovereignty of God to this matter of redemption. And then election. It's so offensive that many preachers
will not even use the word. They say it's not fair. It's
just not fair. Every son of Adam deserves a
chance. I remember what Brother Barnard
said when a man said that to him. He said, Brother Barnard,
don't you think everybody deserves a chance? And Barnard said, son,
salvation is not by chance, it's by choice. You chose your bride, but we
won't give God the same privilege. You chose your house, but we
won't give God the privilege of choosing his temple. It's unrighteous for God to choose
one and pass by another, that's what I'm told. And yet God said,
can I not do with my own what I will? Can I not do with my own what
I will? Who can stay his hand? Who can
say unto him, What doest thou? Hath not the potter power over
the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and
another unto dishonor? It's offensive. And then effectual redemption. Now, redemption
is not offensive. But effectual redemption is offensive. People say, let Christ come,
let Christ die, let Christ rise to make salvation possible, but
not certain. Leave some part of salvation
to the will and work of the center. Don't give Christ Jesus all the
glory. Let men decide whether his blood
shall avail. Let men decide whether his atonement
shall atone. Let men decide whether or not
his merits are sufficient. Leave us apart in this matter
of salvation. And then another thing that's
offensive. It's offensive. Invincible grace. They used to
call it irresistible grace. But all of us are guilty of resisting
the grace of God too often. But I say that the grace of God,
while it is even resisted by the sheep on many occasions,
will be invincible. It will conquer, it will conquer. If our God sets his love upon
an object of his affection, he'll bring it. He will be willing,
God will make him willing. There may be a lot of struggling
and conflict and resisting, but that grace will be effectual,
that grace will be invincible. And men are offended by invincible
grace. But these all stand to fall together,
whom the Father purposed to save, the Son purchased and whom the
Son purchased, the Holy Spirit will effectually call. If God
chooses and Christ redeems, the chosen will be redeemed. And
the Holy Spirit will call and make them willing. But here's
what we say, we can't violate man's will. We can't violate
man's will. What we preach must be consistent
with the free will of man. No, sir. What we preach must
be consistent with the free will of God. Man's will is in bondage. Man's will is under the guilt
of sin. And all men will perish if they
can. Christ said, you will not come
to me that you might have life. And then another thing that's
offensive. the Lordship of Christ. That's offensive. Now, today,
men will accept Jesus as their Savior. It's all right for him
to be my Savior, and he can keep me out of hell, and he can take
me to heaven. But my life and my time and my
possessions are mine. And if I choose, it's all right
for him to be my Savior. And if I choose in some act of
devotion or consecration to make him my Lord, then I will. But
if I make him my Lord, I expect in glory a special reward for
my devotion and my dedication. To declare his Lordship over
all whom he saves is offensive. Now, I plan to show you from
this chapter in Ephesians, chapter 2, the foundation of the whole
problem. God's sovereignty and salvation, God's elective grace, the effectual
redemption of Christ, the invincible power of the Holy Spirit, and
our Lord Jesus Christ's lordship and reign in the heart of every
person whom he saves, that's offensive. And I plan to show
you why. Here's the chief reason. It's
found right here in Ephesians chapter 2. The reason why men
and women, preachers, have problems with salvation by grace is threefold. It's threefold, and it's covered
in this chapter. They do not understand three
things. Number one, they do not understand what happened in the
garden. What really happened in the garden? I'm talking about the Garden
of Eden. What really happened? What took place? How did it affect
us? How did it leave us? What happened
on that cross? When Jesus Christ, the Son of
God, died on that cross, what really happened? What really
took place? Thirdly, what really happens
in a sinner when God saves him, when God effectually does a work
of grace. Now what really happened? And
this, this is what the preachers don't know and the people don't
know and the world does not know. What happened? What really happened
in the garden? What really took place? Do we know? If we find
out what happened in the garden, we'll find out what sin is. If
we find out what happened on the cross, we're going to find
out what redemption really is. And if we find out what God does,
when he conquers, when he conquers a rebel and saves a sinner. We're going to find out what
salvation really is. All right, here it is. And you, verse 1,
and you hath he quickened. And we know what quickened means,
make alive. We use the term the quick and
the dead. Well, that means the dead and
the alive. And he says, you hath he made
alive, you hath he quickened. who were dead in trespasses and
sin. Who were what? Dead. Dead. Dead. What is dead physically? Do you know what dead is physically?
Of course you do. I do too. It means a person is
dead. They have no sight. They have
no hearing. They have no thoughts. They have no life. They have
no warmth. They're gone. They're dead. What is dead spiritually? What
is this dead? This is dead spiritually. What
is this dead? It's the same thing spiritually.
They cannot see. They can see physically, but
not spiritually. They cannot hear. Christ said
they have eyes and they do not see. They have ears and they
do not hear. They have hearts. They do not
understand. They have no thoughts. Look down
at verse 12. This tells you the state of a
dead sinner. verse 12 in chapter 2, that at
that time you were without Christ. You were aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel, strangers from the covenant of promise, having no
hope and without God. Absolutely without God. This
is what it means to be dead. Without Christ, without hope,
without God. That's dead. I was reading a
sermon by Spurgeon one time on this, and I've given this to
you before, but it helped me more than anything I know. You
see, the scripture says, as by one man, Adam, what happened
in the garden. By one man, Adam, sin entered
this world, and death, and death by sin. Now, we know that sickness
and disease and physical death are the result of sin. That's
the result of sin. We die physically because we're
sinners. But the death of Adam in the
Garden of Eden was a spiritual death, first and foremost. That's what brought physical
death. Actually, Adam lived 800 years after he sinned, after
he fell. And then he died physically.
But he lived that 800 years dead spiritually. That's right. Dead. He died. And when he died,
we died spiritually. And this is what Spurgeon said
that helped me so much. He said, you must realize there's
several kinds of life. There's several kinds of life.
There's mineral life. There's life in the minerals.
That's the reason oil burns. You get it out of the ground.
But it's got energy. It's got life. Something's going on. It's not
dead. Something's going on that sparks
some kind of combustion. And then the plants have life.
Plants live and they die. And animals have life and they
die. And human beings have life. And
that's four kinds of life. Mineral. animal and human life. And human life is far above animal
life. You wouldn't kill one of these
boys and girls here for ten million dollars. That's right. I know there's bleeding hearts
talk about us using animals for experimenting, medical experiment. Isn't that silly? I mean, if
you can kill 10,000 rats and save one human being, wonderful!
Or 10,000 pigs and say, we eat pigs and we eat cattle. I mean,
there's animal life, but human life's above it. Well, now, there's
another life I haven't mentioned, spiritual life, the life of God. When Adam was created in the
Garden of Eden, Adam had the life of God. He was made in the
likeness of God. He walked with God. He was naked
and didn't even know it. He didn't know sin or evil. He's spiritually alive. God talked
to him. He talked to God. He was alive
spiritually. But when he sinned, he died spiritually.
He lost that life. He lost it. It died. It doesn't
exist anymore. He's alive physically. Natural
life. You see, that's what Christ told
Nicodemus when he breathed in the house that day and said,
good master, we know your teacher come from God. No man could do
these miracles except God be with you. And Christ said to
him, Nicodemus, you've got to be born again. He said, born
again? Yeah, born again. So you've got
natural life. You've got to be born again.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born
of the Spirit is spiritual life. They could even say, well, I'm
going to be born again, can I enter my mother's womb and be born
again? Well, you'd still be born of the flesh, you'd do that,
but that's impossible. And our Lord said that which
is born of the flesh stays flesh, but that which is born of the
Spirit of God is spirit. And that's what I'm talking about,
and that's what he's saying here. You have to be given new life,
spiritual life, the life of God, who were dead. You weren't dead
physically. But you were dead spiritually.
That's what happened back there when Adam fell. Dead. The whole human race was without
God, without hope, without Christ, dead. And here's the results
of that death. Look at it. Verse 2. And you
walked. In times past, you walked. What
is your walk? It's your direction. It's the
tenor of life. It's your bin of your will. It's
your occupation. A flower, a dog's going to be
a dog. A dog's a dog is a dog. And a dog's going to think like
a dog, and act like a dog, and bark like a dog, and eat like
a dog, and act like a dog, because he's a dog. You can't change
it. You'll turn to his vomit. You wouldn't do that, but a dog
will. That's his nature. And the reason he does it is
because he's not a man. He's a dog. And a pig is a pig
is a pig. And you're not going to change
it. A pig's a pig's nature. A pig loves the hog walleyes.
That's what he loves. A pig will go to his waller.
He's a pig. You don't enjoy lying in the mud, rooting around, eating
your food out of a trough. Because you're not a pig. You're
not a pig's life. Human life. But a pig's a pig.
And a man's a man. A natural man's a natural man.
Can the Ethiopian change his skin? No, he's black by nature.
Can the leopard change his spot, cut his hair off, it'll grow
back and he's still spotty, because it comes from within. And neither
can you do good. You and I cannot do good. We
can't please God because we're doing. We're alive physically. We can eat and drink and talk
and think. But just like a dog's a dog,
a man's a man, a woman's a woman. You're not going to be anything
else. You can't make it anything else. You can't dress it up,
clean it up, shine it up, smell it up, do what you want to, but
he's still a human being. That's that. And the way we walk,
look, according to the course of this world, the principles
of this world, the thoughts of this world, the values of this
world, the manners of this world, sitting out here this morning,
if you thought You know, we're in the presence of God, we're
here to worship God. Has any thought entered your
mind that you're shamed out? Anything you've gone through
your mind and thought? You say, well, yes, to be frank,
it has. Well, that's natural. You're a human being. That's
natural. And I can get up here and I can
say, now, let's everyone just think on nothing but God. It
ain't possible. That's absolutely it, because
our manners and values and principles and ways and thoughts are flesh. Read on, read on. And according
to the prince of the fire there, that's Satan. Why is he called
prince of the fire there? Because he controls the wind?
No. Because he controls the storms and tornadoes? No. God controls
those things. But he's talking about the principalities
and powers and demons and devils and things that inhabit the air.
That's his domain. And we, Christ said to those
people, said, Satan's a liar and you are too. He's a murderer
from the beginning, so you do the deeds of your father. And
we were motivated by that gentleman, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience. Among whom also we all, everybody
here, every human being, every son of Adam, had our conversation,
our citizenship, our behavior, our principles, our values, in
the flesh. We say it just comes second nature
to think those things. No, it's first nature. It's first
nature, because that is our nature. Fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind, we were by nature children of wrath,
even as others. Do you understand what I'm saying? And you can't make it anything
else dead, without God, without Christ, without hope, dead. Physically alive, naturally alive,
fleshly alive, and oh, so alive in those areas. But dead spiritually. Now, that's what happened in
the garden. When Adam fell, death passed
upon all men for all sins. As in, Adam all died. Now, that's
not talking about physical death, though it is. We eventually will
die physically because we are nothing but flesh. And the flesh,
dust returns to the earth, dust from whence it came, the earth
from whence it came. But spiritual life, we just by
nature don't have it. And walking down this aisle and
shaking my hand won't do it. Going into the pool won't do
it. Won't do it, we can turn over that leaf and it's clean
on that side for a while, but after a while it looks just like
the other side. Because it's the same leaf. We've got to have
a new leaf. Got to have a new tree. Got to
have a new life. Now watch verse 4. But God, but
God, not but you, or but the preacher, or but we, or but the
church. It says this is what we were, even like everybody
else, without God, without hope, without Christ, but God. But
God, who is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith he
loved us, we didn't love him. Desi just sang that song by John
Newton, who wrote, Oft it gives me anxious thought, Do I love
the Lord, or no? Am I his, or am I not? Do I love
God? Not like I ought to, not like
I want to, not like I will. But that's not the issue. It
says, but God who is rich in love for his great love, rich
in mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved us. He loved
us. He chose us. He set his love
upon us. He purposed to save us. But God,
when I was in this dunghill and in this pit and in this state
of inability and wretchedness and corruption, I didn't make
a decision, God made a decision. I didn't love him, he loved me.
I passed by you, he said, when you were in your blood. And it
was a time of love. You didn't love me, I loved you.
And I said, what? What did I say? Live. Yeah, but
I'm alive. No, you're not, you're dead.
You're alive physically, you're dead spiritually. I said unto
you, live spiritually. And my friends, when that took
place, listen, even verse 5, when we were dead in sins, he
quickened us, he made us alive. He gave us his life, divine life,
spiritual life, the life of God, and he quickened us together
with Christ. By grace you are saved, and he
raised us up. He raised us up. When Christ
lived, we lived. When he died on that cross, we
died to sin. When he was buried, we were buried.
When he arose, we arose. And he raised us up. And he made
us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. God did that. You say, when did God do that?
All right. Let's talk about when God did that. The Bible said, Whom he foreknew,
he predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son. And
whom he predestinated, he called. And whom he called, he justified.
And whom he justified, he glorified. When did God do this? God did
this back in eternity. Back in eternity. You say, you
mean we're eternally justified? In a sense, yes. Now, let me
illustrate. Our Lord Jesus Christ in the
Bible is called the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Isn't that right? The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
In other words, in the purpose of God, in the mind of God, in
the covenant of God, who declares the end from the beginning, Christ
was already the Lamb slain. That's the only way God could
love us and God could accept us and God could choose us. He
chose us in a Redeemer. A Redeemer is one who has redeemed. So Christ was already crucified,
but Christ had to come and be born of a woman and live in this
world, and he had to die on that cross. God decreed it, God purposed
it. In God's purpose it was done,
but it had to be done experimentally, it had to be done in time. He's a lamb slain, but he had
to be slain. He was the covenant surety, but
he had to come and fulfill our righteousness and die for our
sin. And he had to be buried, and he had to rise. And he's
the surety, he's the mediator from all eternity, but he had
to sin and sit at the right hand of God and be our mediator. So
even though God decreed it in eternity and in the purpose and
mind of God it was good as done, Christ had to come and literally
fulfill it. Now watch. When God chose us
in Christ, in the covenant of grace, he says, whom he foreknew, he
glorified. Past tense. Whom he foreknew,
he predestinated, he called, he justified, and he glorified.
before the world began. Arthur Pink has a sermon on full-fold
justification. In the mind of God, I've always
been in Christ, always been loved, always been accepted. But when
Christ came to this earth and died on that cross, he took in
his body our sins and paid for them. And when he died on that
cross, I was justified. His blood was shed for me and
for you, and we were saved. That's 2,000 years before I was
born. I was saved 2,000 years before I was born. Isn't that
correct? It has to be. 2,000 years before I was born,
I was justified by the blood of Christ. But even though that's
done in the mind and purpose of God, I was born into this
world and lived, and there came a time when God crossed my path,
and I was his son. He's looking for sheep. The boy
who was lost never ceased to be a son, but he had to be brought
home. And that same way, you and I
got to hear this gospel and believe it. Just like Christ is the Lamb
slain for the foundation of the world, and with children of God
in his eternal purpose still, Christ had to come and die. And
we have to die to this world and receive Christ. That's right. Bow to him, receive him, and
it will be done. But now wait a minute. I'm not
justified yet. One day God is going to raise
me from the grave and leave this old flesh in the ground and this
old nature. It's going to be done. He's going
to raise me. The corruption will put on incorruption. The defilement will put on immortality
and holiness. The shame will put on glory. And I'll be taken into his presence,
you will too. And then I can say, free at last! Free at last. Isn't that right? So this is what this is saying
here, you were dead, but God, but God, who is rich in mercy
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead, quickened us with Christ, quickened us with Christ, and
raised us, it's all been done. raised us with Christ, and everybody
in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, even these boys and girls
here, some of them haven't confessed Christ, they haven't received
Christ, they haven't followed in baptism. But I'll tell them
right now, if you want a God's own, you're already seated at
the right hand of God. That's right. When Saul of Tarsus
was on his road to Damascus to kill Christians, he was already
seated at the right hand of God. That's right. in the mind of
God, in Christ, all who are in Christ are in Christ. And what
we're doing, we say, what you're doing, I'm preaching the gospel
to call them to Christ. They've got to love him, they've
got to read on. And verse 7 said, in the ages
to come, he's going to show the exceeding riches of his grace
in his kindness toward us. He's not going to show off our
faith, he's going to show his faith. He's not going to show
our love, he's going to show his love. Maybe you boys and
girls have a trophy you won as a football player, a basketball
player. Well, the trophy is a trophy
of what you did, not what the trophy did. People don't stand
there and say, that was a sure fast trophy running, wasn't it? How many free throws did that
trophy make? Trophy didn't make any. I made
them. That trophy didn't cross the
blue line, I crossed it. Well, what's the trophy for?
It's there to show what I did. And that's what you're going
to be in glory. You're going to show what he did. You're not going to show
what you did. You're going to be a trophy of his grace and
of his love and of his faithfulness and his call and his righteousness. That's right. He's going to show
off his kindness towards you. For by grace have you been saved
through faith. And that's not of yourselves,
that's the gift of God. It's not of works, lest any man
should boast. But let me tell you something.
We are his workmanship. And he who chose us and loved
us and redeemed us in Christ, he's going to call us. Watch
it here. We're created in Christ Jesus. Created. Created. That's right. That new spiritual
life, that life I was talking about a while ago, is created
in Christ Jesus. Down here you came from your
mom and daddy, but this new life is created by God and given to
you. Created on two good works. We're going to work the works
of faith and labor which God before ordained. We're going
to walk with him because he ordained it. We're going to believe on
him, he ordained it. We're going to love him, he ordained
it. We're going to serve him, he ordained it. We're going to
help the missionaries, we're going to help our neighbor, we're
going to forgive one another, we're going to love, because
he ordained it that way. Just like his son was ordained
to walk this earth in perfection, his people are ordained to walk
this life in obedience. He ordained it. So, therefore,
now, verse 11, this is what happened, you see, in the garden, we did.
What happened on the cross, he redeemed us, justified us. What
happens in a sinner? God makes him a new creature,
creates spiritual life. Now, verse 11, you remember.
Remember what you were. In times past, you were Gentiles
in the flesh. You didn't even have a part in
Israel, circumcision. You were called uncircumcision
by that which is called circumcision. At that time, remember, you were
without Christ. Being aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel, strangers from the covenant of promise, having no
hope without God. Remember that and remember what
God did now in Christ Jesus through Calvary's cross, through his
obedience. You that were one time far off. How far off? Dead. How far off? In the grave. How far off? Without
hope. How far off? Without God. That's
what you were. You are now made nigh. How? By the blood of Jesus. That's
what happened on that cross. He didn't try to save anybody.
He saved them. That blood of tongues, that blood
cleanses, that blood redeems. That old sinner that was dead
is made alive. That old sinner that was so far
off you couldn't even see him is now made at the right hand
of God. Now remember that. And remember
who did it. Verse 14. He's our peace. He's
our peace. Christ is my peace who made both
Jew and Gentile one and broke down even that middle wall of
petition between Jew and Gentile. He abolished in the flesh the
enmity, even the law of commandments. He is our tabernacle. He is our
Sabbath. He is our sacrifice. He is our
high priest. He is our Passover. He put away
all those types and shadows contained in the ordinances and made in
himself. in Christ, of those two, Jew
and Gentile, one new man, brand new, so make him peace. And that
he might reconcile both under God in one body by the cross,
having slain the imitator thereof. And he came and preached peace
to you. Who did? Christ did. Christ never
preached to me. He preached to you just like
he preached to those people in Noah's day, over there in When
Noah preached to them, Christ preached to them. And when I
preach to you this morning, Christ is preaching to you. We are ambassadors
of Christ, as though God did beseech you in Christ's stead. He came and preached to every
one of his people. He'll cross your path. He came and preached
peace to you that were far off and to them that were nigh, both
Jew and Gentile. For through Christ we both have
access by one Spirit to the Father. Come boldly before the throne
of grace. We have access to God by Christ. Now, therefore, you're
no more strangers. Isn't that great? Who'd they
make but God? Most people want to say, but
I did this, but I did this. No, but God. You who were far
off, without hope, without Christ, without God, dead. You're no
more strangers. Now, listen. Fellow citizens,
with the saints. fellow heirs of Christ, the household
of God, and you are built upon the foundation of the apostles
and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone,
you are a temple of God, you are a building of God, and the
whole building, in whom in Christ the whole building is fitly framed
together and groweth unto a holy temple to the Lord. Let me illustrate
that. Years ago, Brother James Thompson
and H.B. and I and some more fellas built
a house over here, back of this university. You remember on that
hill? A prefab house. Did you ever see a prefab house?
Prefab. You laid the foundation. They laid the foundation. I helped
them. I laid the foundation. And then they brought in a truck.
And that whole house was on that truck. You remember? That whole
house was on that truck. That's so strange to me. This
wall was on that truck. This wall was on that truck.
It was numbered. On the blueprint, every piece.
The doors were on that truck. The windows were on that truck.
The joists were on that truck. The studs were on that truck.
The roof was on that truck. The roofing was on that truck.
The cell floors on that church, closets were on that, everything.
And we just got the pieces and put them together. That stood
back after several days, and there stood a house. Well, let
me tell you something. God has a temple, a building. He laid the foundation. Christ
Jesus came into this world, and He's the foundation. He's chief
cornerstone. And He's going to build on that foundation a holy
temple to the Lord. And let me tell you something,
every part, every brick, every stone, every door, every window,
every wall is already marked. Got a right wall marked on it.
That's right. Got a left wall, got a this wall,
south wall, a north wall. It's got a, this is a joist,
and this is a truss, and this is a, and he's bringing it together. That's right. He's building a
temple. and have a peace. That's what this verse is saying.
This verse is saying, verse 20, and you're built upon that foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ, the chief cornerstone,
and the whole building is already marked, decreed, or every living
stone is chosen, that it's going to be a part, I want to be a
part of that temple. That's right. And there's not
going to be any odd parts in it either. It messes up the whole
thing. It's going to be perfect. It's
going to be a temple created in Christ Jesus. Now, look at
verse 22. "...in whom ye also are built together for habitation
of God to the Spirit." Brethren, I know that out yonder in the
world today, there are a lot of people that I preach that,
they've gnashed their teeth. I know there are a lot of preachers,
I don't know, maybe somebody here, I don't think there is,
but they say that's too cut and dried for me. It's not for me.
Especially if God cuts it and dries it. Especially if God purposes
it and plans it. It's His temple. It's His temple. And I tell you, the building
is going to fit the foundation too. It ain't going to stick
out anywhere. It's going to fit the foundation.
It's going to rest on that foundation. And you also are living stones
in that holy temple. And God's bringing them together.
And here's the thing. It's like I told you a while
ago. It's just like Christ is the Lamb slain in the foundation
of the world. But he had to come into the world and fulfill all
that was decreed of him. And you and I, and whomever makes
up this house, we're going to fulfill what's decreed of us.
And God's going to call them. And this is the gospel by which
we're called. You say, how do you know whether you're one of
God's elect? If you hear the gospel and believe it, you're
one of God's elect. And this is no little house now, brethren.
This is a great temple. A great temple. A great temple. All for his glory. That's so. Let's don't talk about that mystery
tonight. Talk about Chapter 3 tonight.
All right. Very well, Al. Yes, he is guilty.
He'll talk.
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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