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Henry Mahan

Hebrews Nine

Hebrews 9
Henry Mahan • July, 9 1989 • Audio
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Message: 0927a
Henry T. Mahan Tape Ministry
Zebulon Baptist Church
6088 Zebulon Highway
Pikeville, KY 41501
Tom Harding, Pastor
What does the Bible say about the tabernacle in Hebrews 9?

Hebrews 9 explains the tabernacle as a symbolic representation of Christ and how it facilitated access to God through sacrifice.

In Hebrews 9, the tabernacle is presented as a significant symbol that illustrates God's holiness and His way of reconciling sinners to Himself. The tabernacle served as a place where God would meet His people, allowing for acts of worship and sacrifice under the Old Covenant. The structure included various elements like the altar, the holy place, and the Holy of Holies, each representing aspects of Christ and His redemptive work. The tabernacle was ultimately a type that pointed to Jesus, who fulfilled these roles through His sacrifice, allowing believers to have direct access to God through faith in Him.

Hebrews 9:1-12

How do we know Christ is our High Priest?

Hebrews 9 affirms Christ as our High Priest, highlighting His unique access to God and His once-for-all sacrifice.

Christ is affirmed as our High Priest in Hebrews 9 by illustrating the inadequacies of the Old Testament sacrificial system. The high priests of the Old Covenant could only enter the Holy of Holies once a year and repeatedly offered sacrifices that could never remove sin. In contrast, Christ, as the perfect High Priest, enters the heavenly Holy of Holies with His own blood, securing eternal redemption for us through one sacrifice. This uniquely positions Him as the mediator of the New Covenant, making Him the effective means by which believers can approach God.

Hebrews 9:11-15

Why is the blood of Christ important for redemption?

The blood of Christ is essential for redemption as it represents the complete atonement for sin, offering peace and cleansing to believers.

The blood of Christ is central to the theme of redemption discussed in Hebrews 9. Unlike the repeated sacrifices of animals that were only temporary and could not genuinely cleanse the conscience, Christ's sacrifice was once and for all, fully satisfying God's justice. His blood provides forgiveness and inaugurates a New Covenant, ensuring that all who believe are cleansed and justified before God. This concept highlights not only the seriousness of sin but also the profound grace offered through Christ's willingness to bear the penalty for our transgressions.

Hebrews 9:22-28

What is the significance of the mercy seat in Hebrews 9?

The mercy seat symbolizes God's presence and the place where He offers forgiveness through the blood of Christ.

The mercy seat is a crucial element described in Hebrews 9, representing where God meets His people and extends mercy. It sat atop the Ark of the Covenant, which contained the law—symbolizing humanity's sin against God. The high priest sprinkled blood on the mercy seat on the Day of Atonement, illustrating how God's justice met with mercy. In the New Covenant, Christ's sacrifice has fulfilled this symbolism; His shed blood now serves as the basis for our forgiveness and reconciliation with God. This demonstrates God's character as holy and just while providing a means for sinners to obtain grace.

Hebrews 9:5

Sermon Transcript

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All right, let's turn back to
Hebrews 9. Now the great, the great question,
the great issue, God is real. God is real. God made the hexes in the earth. They said, David, where's your
God? He said, our God is in the hexes. Our God is not an idol. Our God is not an idol of our imagination. Our God's in the heavens. He
has done whatsoever he pleased. And our God is holy. Unspeakably, infinitely holy. Our God is almighty. God is real, and we're real,
we're sinners. God's nature is light, ours is
darkness. God's nature is life, ours is
death. God's nature is truth, ours is
lies. God is perfectly holy, and we
are totally unable in any way to produce any holiness. That's
the fact. All right, here's the issue.
is what this chapter is all about. How does this center approach
this holy God? If God leaves us in our natural
state, and in our nakedness, and wickedness, and corruption,
we must forever be separated from God. But if we are enabled, and by
some way to come to God, to be brought to God, to be declared
righteous as God and holy as God. If we can have some fellowship
with God, then we can live with God. Isn't that right? We can
eternally live with God. We can enjoy his glory and his
presence, not only after we die and in eternity, but now we can
have a peace and a joy and a rest. in that communion and fellowship
with God. But how do we, how does it accomplish? God can't
change. God must remain holy, and God must remain just. He
must punish sinners. So some way has got to be purposed
and provided whereby this sinner can come to God, and that's what
Hebrews 9 is all about. The way has never changed, it's
always been the same. The first sinner, be that sinner
Adam or Abel, I don't know, the first sinner, we'll use Abel
as an example, came to God. But he came to God by sacrifice,
by blood. He came to God in such a way
that God's character and holiness did not have to be compromised
to receive him. And in the Old Testament, God
set forth a typical covenant, a pattern, to show how a sinner
could come to God. How he could come to God and
be received, and that's what we have here in chapter one,
chapter nine, verse one of Hebrew. Then verily, the first, or typical
covenant, that Old Testament covenant, had also services ordinances
of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary, for there was a tabernacle
made. God called Moses to the mountain,
and gave him a description and dimensions for the building of
the tabernacle, where God would meet sinners, and sinners would
meet God, and something would take place to justify God, and
glorify God, and enable God to behold and receive those sinners,
forgive their sins, that tabernacle was made. Now he says that tabernacle
was in two parts. There was a tabernacle made.
The first wherein was the candlestick, the table, the showbread, which
is called the sanctuary. Let me take just a moment to
describe that tabernacle, not in detail. We could be here for
days and days. But that tabernacle sat out in
the wilderness, in the midst of the camp of the Israelites.
surrounded by that eight foot white linen fence that revealed
God's holiness and things pertaining to God being holy, and all the
people were outside showing your sins have separated you from
your God. And that tavern echo, 15 feet
wide, 15 feet high, and 45 feet long, covered with three coverings. There was the badger skin, and
the goat skin, and the ram skin, and the white linen. all meaning
something. I don't have time to go into
it, but the tabernacle, that was where God met man, men, and
that's where men met God through the priest. That's what this
chapter is talking about. Under that old covenant, under
that typical covenant, under that first covenant, God made
a tabernacle. And this tabernacle, 45 feet
long, 15 feet wide, 15 feet high, was divided into two parts. Now
out here in the courtyard there was the altar where the lambs
and bullocks and goats and all were slain. Across the courtyard
was the labor of clean fresh water where the priest would
wash his feet and his hands before he came into the tabernacle.
That altar is the cross, justification, that cleansing fountain, the
water of sanctification. From his side came blood and
water. But in the What they called the holy place of the tabernacle,
out here, was the candlestick, was the showbread, and was the
table of incense. And all of this means something.
Here the candlestick on one pole, but seven candles, seven going upward. This is Christ,
the light of the world. That's the only light in that
whole tabernacle, was that candlestick, that Christ is the light of the
world. Over here, there was the table of showbread, showing his
two natures. Gold overlaid table, revealing
his divine nature. The table made of wood, his human
nature. And the bread, the twelve loaves
of bread, changed every day, representing the twelve tribes
of Israel. And then separating, this was
30 feet by 15, that was the size of this holy place out here. And the priests came here often,
they kept the candlestick burning, they kept the table of showbread,
the fresh bread every day. And here in front of the veil,
there was a veil separating the outer court, or rather the holy
place, from a place back here we're going to talk about. This
heavy four-inch thick veil of white linen with designs on it,
thick veil. up to the top of the tabernacle,
right to the bottom, right to either side with no entrance
in it. Right in front of it was an altar of incense that was
kept burning 365 days, 24 hours a day, 60 seconds every minute,
burning. That incense was burning and
the smoke going up, that's the prayers of Christ. Everything
represents Christ Jesus. This is a typical covenant. This
is a typical tabernacle. This is typical of Christ, because
he tabernacled among us. That's what this is all about.
And the priests were in the courtyard, there were many priests of the
tribe of Levi. And they slew the animals, and
they came up and they washed their feet and their hands before
they came into the tabernacle, and they changed the showbread
and the candlestick, and kept the incense burning. Now, look
at verse three. But after that second bagel,
you say, where's the first one? at the opening of the holy place.
There's a veil as you came in, and then there's a second veil.
After the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the holiest of
all. Now, folks, I'll try to be plain
and simple and brief and to the point, but this is so important
right here. The holy of holies, the holy
of holies. What's in there? It had the golden
censer. You say, what is the golden censer? When the high priest would come
before the Lord on the Day of Atonement, he took a golden scepter,
and out here before he came into the second veil, he had that
incense and he got the fire and he put it on that incense, and
the smoke from that incense, that's the prayers and intercession
of Christ. It always is offered before the
Lord. There's the blood and the prayers
of Christ. There's the sacrifice and the
intercession of Christ. There's this bloodshed, and there's
the prayers of our Lord, the presence of our Lord, his intercession. As someone said, he doesn't have
to say a word, just his presence, his intercession. That's the
golden sentence. And the art of the covenant overlaid
round about with gold. Now here's the art, and so many
people talk about the art, who know so little about the art.
But the art was not a large box, it was about two and a half,
three feet long. something like that, and a foot
and a half wide, and a foot and a half high, or two feet wide,
something like that. But anyway, about this size,
and that ark was in that holy of holies, that holy of holies,
that place 15 feet wide, 15 feet high, and 15 feet long, right
here. And he was sitting in here, and
in that ark was, look at verse 4, and the art of the covenant
overlaid round about with gold which had the golden pot that
had banner there was a there was a pot in that art that contained
the manner the bread you know that god gave israel in the wilderness
about four pints is what it held and it had that manner in it
all the time reminding them of god feeding them and sustaining
them and giving them life all the way through the wilderness
And then there was a rod in there, Avon's rod, that budded. Now
if you want to read that, it's in number 16 and 17, when the
sons of Korah came to Moses and they said, you and Avon, Moses
was the prophet, Avon was the priest, you and Avon take too
much on yourselves. All of God's people are holy,
all of God's people can come to him, all of God's people can
prophesy. And Moses said, all right, every
one of you men throw your rod down. is shepherd's rod, evidently. Avon, throw yours down. Sons
of Korah, throw yours down. Now, the rod that buds, the rod
that buds is the one God's chosen. They threw him down, Avon's rod
budded. See, the God designated his priest.
Don't argue with God over his priest. Don't argue with God
over his prophet, Christ is that prophet, Christ is that priest,
Christ is that king. And this is a symbol of that
very fact that don't argue with God over the one he chooses.
No man takes this honor upon himself, but ours is the one
God chooses. And that was in that in that
ark. And then the tables of the covenant,
that is the ten commandments that God wrote on tables of stone
and gave them to Moses. and he brought them down from
the mountain, you remember, and they were in there. Now watch
this, and over it, over this ark, was the cherubims of glory,
shattering the mercy seat. I can't speak in particular about
these cherubims, and whoever wrote Hebrews can't either. I
can speak about the mercy seat, but the cherubims I can't. But
there were two winged creatures. Here's the ark, in the Holy of
Holies, and these two winged creatures on either side. You
can read this in Exodus 25. And these two winged creatures
face in one another, cherubim, and it says the mercy seat between
these cherubim. And God said, I'll meet you on
the mercy seat. I'll meet you at the mercy seat,
and that's where our communion is. Now, verse 6, when these
things were thus ordained, Like I told you, when this tabernacle
stood, this tabernacle in the midst of the camp, and the tabernacle
with its different pictures, and symbols, and ordinances,
and services, and sacrifices, and priests, every act, everything
given by God to Moses on the mount, everything pointing to
Christ and meaning something, while this stood, while this
stood. The priest went always into the
first tabernacle accomplishing the service of God. Didn't I
tell you that? They came in and changed the
candles. They had to continually minister. They came and changed the bread.
They came and kept the incense burning. They sacrificed the
morning sacrifice, the noon sacrifice, the evening sacrifice, the turtledoves,
the bullocks, the red heifer, all these sacrifices. You don't
need to learn them all, because they've all been fulfilled. There's
no need in getting them bored and bogged down in all these
different sacrifices. They just did the services of
God. But now here comes the key. But into the second, into the
holy of holies, into that place I described a moment ago, the
high priest went alone. Alone. Nobody but the high priest. There were many priests. There
was one high priest. One high priest. and he went in there
alone, not without blowing, which he offered for himself and for
the heirs of the people." Now, this is the day of atonement.
This is the day when the high priest, dressed in a special,
special dress, with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel
on his breastplate, with the holy miter written across it,
holiness to the Lord. This is the day of atonement.
the very glory of God was over that tabernacle and over that
mercy seat. And the high priest out there
at the altar would sacrifice the goat and the bullock, and
he would take that blood in a basin and roast that body of that goat
and bullock. And he'd come across the courtyard
there, and he would bathe his feet, his hands, his dress. He's
the high priest, he represents these sinful people. in everything
pertaining to that holy God. And he comes into the holy place,
and he gets the incense, the burning incense, the prayers
of Christ and the blood. And then he comes under that
veil. I don't know how, nor where they set these things down, but
he came into the holy of holy, into this awful, into this reverent,
into this holy place. No one there but him. And here's
this ark with its broken law. God's law's been broken with
its symbol of man's rebellion against God's chief priest and
high priest. God had to give them a deliberate
sign that there was one priest. And then that bread, starving
people, and God provides everything they have to eat. It's all right
there in that ark. Our whole troubles are right there, but
thank God there's a mercy seat over our troubles. God will be
merciful. If God should mark iniquity,
who would stand to thank God this forgiveness, this mercy?
It's called the mercy seat, and the very glory of God was over
that mercy seat, and that priest would come. Difficult This blood
never took away sin, this priest could never effectually put away
sin, this sacrifice could never make those people perfect or
him. It was typical, it was a pattern, it was a picture of what Christ
would do. And he brought that blood, and
he would stand before that ark with that prayer, that smoke,
filling that small place, 15 by 15. And that smoke, that incense
burning, that's the prayers and intercession of Christ, and the
very glory of God's over that mercy seat. And he picked that
blood with hyssop and sprinkled it on that mercy seat. He didn't
douse the mercy seat with the blood, he sprinkled it on the
mercy seat. He sprinkled it. And that was
a coma. And he had bells on his garment,
didn't he? To show he was still alive in
there. It's something to come before
God. We're not playing games, you just don't run into God,
well here I am God, yeah there you go to. God's holy, almighty,
infinite. We're everything he's not, but
he has purposed a way to come, and this is the way he said.
This is the way, this is the way. Now watch verse eight, the
Holy Ghost is telling us this, as long as this tabernacle stood,
and this ark. that the way into the holiest,
the way into the presence of God, was not yet made manifest
while that first tabernacle was standing. We got a picture of
it, but we don't have the fulfillment of it. We don't have the fulfillment
of all that this is saying. In other words, if this tabernacle
and this priesthood, and this sacrifice, and this blood, and
this mercy cannot effectually, savingly, eternally make us perfect
and bring us to God, then what's it there for? It's there to represent
the one who came. You see that? It's typical, to
represent the one who came and the one who don't. I read on.
This was a figure for the time then present in which was offered
both gifts and sacrifices, it could not make him that did the
service perfect as pertaining to the conscience, because these
things stood only in meats and drinks and divers washings and
carnal ordinances imposed on them until the time of reformation,
until the time of Christ's coming. God had promised Christ would
come. Now, he pictured it. God had prophesied that Christ
would come. Here he showed the passage. God
had promised us that the high priest, the prophet, the king,
would come and redeem his people, offer one time a sacrifice effectual
to saving his people. All this is a picture. Now, verse
11, but Christ being come, born in Bethlehem, born of a woman,
made under the law, a man. You see, our priesthood got to
be a man. He got to be God in man. He got to have access to
the Father, and he had access to us. He got to be the God man. And he came in the flesh, and
he took, he didn't take this office upon himself, but God
who said unto him, thou art my son. He gave him the office,
and he came. a high priest of good things
to come. Not typical things, but good
things like justification, sanctification, resurrection, eternal life, redemption,
good things. By a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands. This tabernacle by which Christ
came is not one that they got the wood somewhere, and the gold
somewhere, and they made it with their hands. The tabernacle that
he ministered in with his own body. He tabernacled among them,
not made with him, that is to say, not this building. And not
by blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood. He entered
in not many times, but one time. You see, these priests, and some
folks seem to get the idea that since Christ came, we're saved
by grace. They were saved by work. Since
Christ came, they were saved by his sacrifice. Before then,
they were saved by their faithfulness to the Old Testament sacrifice.
These sacrifices could never take away sin, because if they
could, they would cease to be awful. Once the high priest,
say the first high priest, Avon, dressed in his garment with holiness
to the Lord and the names of the people on his breastplate
with the blood of the animal and the senses, came into the
holy host, sprinkled the mercy seat. Sin's pardoned? Well, if
there were, that's the last thing you need. Don't come back, because
the one purged would have no more conscience to sin. But this
blood could never take away sin, it wasn't given to, it was typical. And look at verse 12. He entered
in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption
for us. For if the blood of goats, bulls
and goats, and the ashes of the red heifer spanked on the unclean,
sanctified to the flesh temporarily, In other words, these people,
Abel brought his offering, and Abel, God had respect to his
offering, and respect to Abel, because Abel was looking to Christ.
And if God would withhold judgment on the basis of a man's obedience
to sacrifice, look at verse 14, how much more shall the blood
of Christ, how much more See what he's saying there in verse,
how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal
spirit offered himself without thought to God, purge your conscience,
give you peace and rest. It's not the ritual. It's not
marching, getting dressed up, marching to church. It's not
going through the motions of singing and a time for prayer
and these things that bring us to God. It's the blood of Christ.
It's the blood of Christ. We come here because it's convenient
to come here and sit and worship God together. It's a place big
enough to hold us. We sing because we want to praise God for his
blessings. We pray because we need his presence,
and offer thanksgiving and praise to him, spiritual sacrifices.
But these The days of rituals, and the days of duties, and the
days of ceremonies, and the days of prescribed performances is
gone. Christ hath redeemed us, and
my conscience is at peace." See what I'm saying? And if they
went through this, went through the motions of these pictures
and got some peace, how much more? All right, verse 15, watch
this, "...and for this cause, because he offered one sacrifice,
for this cause, he is the mediator of a new covenant, of a New Testament,
that by means of death, or the redemption of the transgressions
that were under that first covenant, transgressions of all the Old
Testament beliefs, they which are called might receive the
promise of eternal inheritance. He paid their sin debt For where
a testament is, there must of necessity be the death of the
testator. Say, somebody in here writes
out a will. Somebody writes out a will. Take
any of you men here. Let's just take John Chapman.
He's got a wife and two children. John makes out a will. This is
his last will and testament. He leaves everything to his wife,
Dickens, his two children, designates his church, his friends, so he
leaves in his will, signs it, gives it in effect. Well, no. No. Nobody on there gets a thing.
So what happens? Well, he dies. When he dies,
he's in effect. He's signed it. He's left it. See what I'm saying? Look at
verse 16. Where a testament is, there must be the death of the
testator. For a testament is a force after men are dead. Otherwise,
it is of no strength at all while he lived. Well, Jesus Christ
is the mediator of a new testament, his testament, his will, and
he has left us forgiveness, mercy, life, all things. He has promised
it. He promised it back down in the
beginning, but there's got to be the death of the testator,
and when the testator dies, then everything he left, to whomever
he left it, is theirs. Is that correct? All right, now
here's a problem we have. John makes his will. Say he's
getting older, and he's got a brother, a cantankerous brother, or somebody,
that contests the will. He's going to contest the will.
He's going to say, you can't leave everything to Dixie and to those
boys. I'm your brother, and takes it to court, and the court sides
with you. Yes, he deserves something, and
nothing you can do about it. Not a thing. Mediator wrote his
will, and he died, and it went into effect, and then he lives
to enforce it. Ain't nobody going to challenge
his will, his testament, because he is the court. If you've got
any claims, you take it to the court, but I'll tell you where
you're going before him with whom we have to do. See what
I'm saying? It's all in his hands. Now, you
can talk about your denomination. You can talk about all your rituals
and the Catholics and all the Episcopals and all the different
ones have got their processionals and their rituals and their services
so you shouldn't criticize it. I'm going to because it's wrong.
There is no priest today except the great high priest. There
is no mediator but our Lord Jesus Christ. And he has decreed his
testament and his will and his covenant, and he died to put
it in effect once and for all, and he has gone to glory and
sits on the throne, and God the Father said, sit here and I'll
make every enemy your footstool. Every imposter, every counterfeit,
every imitator, and every false prophet is going to be your footstool.
Everyone who challenges his priesthood and his prophetic office and
his kingly office is an enemy. Is that right? That's just so,
and he's going to enforce this thing, is what it says here.
All right, verse 18, these are the first testimonies dedicated
without blood. It wasn't a bloodless religion.
It wasn't a bloodless hope. Even Abel, Moses, Abraham, all
the way through the Old Testament, blood was prominent. Without
the shedding of blood, there's no remission. The soul, it's
finished, it's got to die. For when Moses had spoken every
precept to all the people according to the law, according to what
God gave him in the mountain, he set forth this precedent.
He took blood of an innocent victim, of calves and goats,
with water, scarlet wool, hyssop, and I told you he sprinkled the
book, he sprinkled the people. Verse 21, he sprinkled the tabernacle,
he sprinkled the vessel. Verse 22, and under the law,
almost everything was purged or purified with blood, and without
the shedding of blood there's no remission. But we don't come
this morning with sprinkled books of animal blood, people. We've been sprinkled. We've been
sprinkled. We've been purified. We've been
purged by His blood, by His blood. This is so clear to me. I don't
even have a note up here. I could preach for four weeks
on this passage up here, and I hadn't even got started. It's
so real to me. There isn't anything else. There
isn't any other way. This is it. Therefore, verse
23, it was therefore necessary that the pattern of things in
heaven should be purified with blood. If you're going to show
a pattern, it's got to show some identification. to what you're
showing. But all the heavenly things with
better sacrifices than those typical, typical offerings. For Christ is not entered into
the holy place made with hands. He wasn't even of the tribe of
Levi, he's the tribe of Judah, he's the king's place. And he
didn't go into that tabernacle as simple, which is the figures
of the truth. He keeps saying this is a picture,
this is a picture, that's a picture, that's a figure, but in the heaven
itself, that's where my high priest is going, right into the
holy of holies. Do you know why, as a man, he
could go there? Because of his perfect holiness. Do you know why, as a man, I
can now go there? Because in him I have a perfect
holiness. God didn't change to change me,
He gave me a holiness, and He appears in the presence of God
for us. We've got a high priest. Just
like Israel stood out there around that tent, and there was one
man, God designated, who came into that Holy of Holies, brought
that blood, that one man, and they watched him come out. They
were together, and my great high priest went into the presence
of God, not with the not with blood of animals, but with his
own blood. And when I stand before that open grave and I see him
come out, it says, God has accepted all that he's done. Let's read
on. Not that he should offer himself often as the high priest
in and in the holy place every year with the blood of others,
for then must he have suffered since the foundation of the world.
How long has he been a priest? How long has he been the Lamb
slain since the foundation of the world? But now once in the
end of the world. as he appeared to put away sin
with the sacrifice of himself. Now then, don't build any more
tabernacles, don't build any more temples, don't worship at
any more arcs, don't build any more tables of stone, don't ordain
any more priests, don't set aside any more days of atonement, don't
get back under that law, leave the circumcision and the sabbath
and the tithing, and all the ceremonies, and all the processionals,
and all the duties, and denials, and deeds, and doings, and all
these things. Leave him alone now. He's the
first. He's the one who fulfilled all
of this. We worship him. We worship him. He is put away
soon for the sacrifice of himself, and as it is appointed unto me
and wants to die, and after that the judgment. Do you fear that day? you don't
if that next verse pertains to you. So Christ was once offered
to bear the sin of many, and unto them that look for him shall
he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Three appearances
of Christ given there in those last few verses. He appeared
on this earth to put away sin with the sacrifice of himself.
He appears in the presence of God to make intercession for
us, and one day, to them that look for him, he'll appear again.
without seeing the disciples, take them to glory. Have I made
that clear? That's the way to God. That's
the way to God. We have a high priest. He has
a sacrifice. We have a tabernacle. Christ
is our tabernacle, Christ is our high priest, Christ is our
sacrifice. We have a mediator. It's the
Lord Jesus. He's entered within the veil
into the Holy of Holies, and we come through him. in him,
because of him, that's the way we come. That's the way. All right, let's turn to number
475. Tonight, Hebrews 10. We're going
to look at that. 475, redeem, redeem. We'll sing it to the new tune.
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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