Bootstrap
Henry Mahan

What Can a Sinner Do?

Acts 16:30-31
Henry Mahan • April, 30 1989 • Audio
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Message: 0917a

Henry T. Mahan Tape Ministry
Zebulon Baptist Church
6088 Zebulon Highway
Pikeville, KY 41501
Tom Harding, Pastor

Sermon Transcript

Auto-generated transcript • May contain errors

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If you would, for the moment,
open your Bibles to Isaiah 64. I rejoice when men pray according to the Word of
God. As Brother John Flanagan just
prayed, we are all as sinful creatures. We're all sinful men,
that's what the scripture says. In Isaiah 64, chapter, verse
6, Isaiah said, but we're all as an unclean thing. And all our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags. There's no one has anything here
today to recommend them to God. There is no difference, all that's
sin. And we all do fade as a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. There
is none that calleth upon thy name, O Lord. There is none that
stirreth up himself to take hold of thee. For thou hast hid thy
face from us, and hast consumed us because of our iniquities.
But now, O Lord, but now, O Lord, thou art our Father. And we are the clay, and thou
our potter, and we're all the work of thy hand. Yes, we're
all as an unclean thing. But when we preach the word of
God to a congregation as large as this one, there are always
four classes of sinners present. We're all sinners. Everybody
says there are two classes of people in this world, saints
and sinners. That may be and it may not be,
but there are four classes of sinners present right here, and
I include this one standing here and everybody else, male, female, young or old. The first class
is this. There are those present right
here every time I preach. who have a genuine saving faith
and interest in Christ, and they know it. I don't know who they are, you
don't know who they are, so don't try to suppose who they are. But there are people in this
building who are able to say, not in pride and not in arrogance,
but in deep, humble confidence in Christ, they're able to say,
the Lord is my shepherd. I have no other shepherd but
Christ. The Lord is my shepherd. There are people here today who
are able to say with the Apostle Paul, I know whom I have believed. I don't believe anyone or anything
else, I believe him. And he's able to keep that which
I've committed to him. Or with Job, whatever happens
to me, he said. Do what you will, say what you
will, think what you will. Though he slay me, I'll trust
him. For I know that my Redeemer liveth. Now that's not pride. And that's not arrogance. That's
a humble, genuine confidence and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. There's people here who have
that. Yes, sir, they do. They believe God, like Abraham
of old. But there's another class always
present, and that's people who have faith in Christ, genuine
faith in Christ. But they struggle. They struggle
with this matter of assurance. They struggle with the matter
of confidence. Oh, sometimes they do have confidence. I know many people like this.
I know many people like this. Sometimes they have confidence
of a saving interest in Christ and sometimes they don't. Sometimes
they're on the mountain of confidence, the mountain of rejoicing, the
mountain of blessing God and resting in Christ and feeling
joy in His presence and the blessings of His Word. And sometimes they're
just so down and so broken. Saying with old John Newton of
old, "'Tis a point I long to know, oft it gives me anxious
thought. Do I love the Lord or no? Am
I His or am I not?" Huh? There are people who go through
that. They know they're sinners, they
know Christ is their only Redeemer, and they're trusting Him. They're
resting in Him. They believe Him. And they can
say with spurgeon, if I go to hell, I'll go to hell resting
in Christ. And that's not possible. But
they just do not have that assurance. They do not have that confidence
at all times. Sometimes they do, but sometimes
they don't. Sometimes they don't. But there's
a third class of people always present in a gathering this large,
and we don't know who they are, and sometimes they don't. But there are people who have
assurance, who don't have faith. They have assurance and they
have confidence. And they can say, I know I'm
saved. I was there and it happened. I'm as sure for heaven as if
I was already there. And they have confidence of salvation.
It's that group in Matthew 7 who said, Lord, we preached in your
name and cast out devils and did many wonderful works. We
got confidence. But they didn't know the Lord.
Why? He said, I never knew you. Yeah,
they have confidence, they have assurance, it's built on a false
foundation. But they do not have a genuine
saving interest in Christ Jesus. And further, it's proven when
they depart from the gospel. I've known in these 38 or 39
years of preaching the gospel, several preachers, some of whom
stood in this pulpit. and spoke with the utmost confidence
and authority and assurance of the gospel of Christ, and they
don't even go hear it now. See what I'm talking about? Well,
they had the assurance, but they didn't have the Redeemer. They
had the confidence, but they didn't have the Christ. And that's
possible. John said this, John said, They
went out from us. They left us, he said. But they
were not really of us. For had they been of us, they'd
have stayed with us. A man who knows Christ can't
leave him. Our Lord said, I'll never forsake
them and they'll never depart from me. There's nothing better
than Christ. Like the disciples said, to whom
shall we go? We have everything in Him. There's
nothing that we desire that we haven't already found. So there
are people who have a love for Christ, and they know it. And
there are people who have a love for Christ, and sometimes they
don't know it. And there are people who claim
to have it, who don't have it. And then there's a fourth class
of people that are always represented. They are those who make no profession
of faith in Christ at all. I hear people pray and say, Lord,
if there's anybody here that doesn't know Christ, save them.
You can be sure when you gather a group of people this large
that some folks don't know Christ now, who don't know the Redeemer. who lay no claim to Christ, who
lay no claim to a hope of eternal life. And perhaps this is the
problem. Perhaps they've never really
seriously faced this matter of sin. Perhaps they've never really
faced the depth of sin, the darkness of sin, the depravity of sin,
the damnation of sin. They've never really faced that.
It's never gotten a grip on them. There was a time when Isaiah
did. There was a time when Job did. There was a time when the
Apostle Peter really faced his sins. He said, Lord, depart from
me. I'm a sinner. Shocked him. And
perhaps there are people here this morning who've never seriously
faced the matter of sin or the matter of death. The matter of death. We've had
to face that here the last few weeks. and some understanding of the
judgment of God, and like Barnard said one time, not only what's
outshone him, but who's outshone him. Don't you fear God? The thief
on the cross looked at him and said, don't you fear God? Don't
you fear God? Maybe you've never really faced
it. Well, I asked, is there a message that a man could preach? that
would have something for all these people, this people here
and that people there. Is there a message, is there
one message, Bob, that could be preached this morning that
would meet a need of all these people? I think so. I think I
have it. And I've entitled it, What Can
a Sinner Do? A sinner who knows God, what
can he do? A sinner who Believes God but
doesn't know he knows God, what can he do? A man who has a false
refuge, what can he do? A man who has no refuge, what
can he do? This question has been asked
over and over again. Did you know this question has
been asked many, many times in the Scripture? Let me just quote
something, John 6, 28. Lord, what shall we do that we
might work the works of God? That's what they're asking. They
looked at Christ and they said, well, what shall we do? What
shall we do that we might work the works of God?
Tell us. A rich young man came one day,
and I don't know what was behind this. I don't know his attitude.
You don't either. Christ did. But he said, good
master, what shall I do? What can I do to inherit eternal
life? comment this morning when the
Apostle Peter stood at Pentecost and told those people that crucified
the Lord of glory, that this Jesus of Nazareth was verily
the Christ of whom David spoke. And God had exalted him and made
him Lord and Christ, whom you with wicked hands crucified.
They said, what are we going to do? What can we do? And then one day a Philippian
jailer, after seeing the power of God, the deliverance of God,
the authority of God, fell on his knees and looked up at the
Apostle Paul and said, what can I do? What can I do to this end? Well, I'll tell you, every time
I look back over these scriptures and every time this question
was asked, Every time it was asked by these different people,
the answer was never nothing. No, sir. No, sir. It was always something. They
were given something to do. When these people asked our Lord,
what shall we do that we might work the works of God? He said,
believe. This is the work of God that
you believe. That's what you do, you believe
God. When that rich young ruler came to Christ, our Lord knew
his heart, he knew his problems, he knew his thoughts from afar
off. And he said, what shall I do
to inherit eternal life? Our Lord knew his problem, said
sell what you have and give it to the poor and you follow me.
He told him something to do and he wouldn't do it. He wouldn't do it. The people
on Pentecost, they cried, men and brethren, what shall we do?
Peter said, repent and believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and confess Him. And you'll be saved. And when
the Philippian jailer trembling said, what shall I do? What must
I do to be saved? Paul said, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. And I intend to answer that question
this morning. What can a sinner do. Now listen
to me. What can a sinner do? But let
me first say this. There are a lot of people who
hear these tapes, a lot of people over the country and over the
world sometimes who hear these tapes. And I want to satisfy
the defender of doctrine. I know they're always there. Somebody called me one time after
I preached a television message and said, you used to preach
the gospel, why'd you stop? There's always somebody out there
ready to pounce on anything you say. What can a sinner do? And
I say to the defender of doctrine, and I say to the free willer,
I haven't departed from preaching the sovereign grace of God. This
is the sovereign grace of God. I say this to you, no man can
obligate God by what he does. Whatever I tell you to do this
morning does not obligate God. Now you write that down. God
will be merciful to whom he will be merciful. Is that not true?
We know that's so. He'll be gracious to whom he
will be gracious. Grace is unmerited favor. Unmerited. So when I'm saying,
what can a sinner do, I'm not saying that a sinner can do anything
to obligate a holy God. He's the packer. We're the clay.
He'll make a lump of vessel out of the same lump and honor another
to dishonor. Secondly, no man in the flesh
can please a holy God. When we've done all that we're
commanded to do, we're still unprofitable, sir. Most unprofitable. In the flesh no man can please
God, even my righteousness is a filthy rag. Any goodness, any
glory is only found in Christ, not in this flesh. I know that,
you know that. And I say this, no man by natural
wisdom, no man by natural understanding can find God. No man by natural
wisdom can enter into the mysteries of redemption. This business
of salvation is by revelation. The natural man receives it,
not the things of God. They're foolish to discern. Neither
can he know them. They're spirits to discern. Eye
hath not seen, ear hath not heard, neither hath it even entered
the heart of natural man what God's prepared for them that
love him. But he has revealed them unto us by his Spirit. So
what can a sinner do? In the light of this, what can
a sinner do? Four things. Four things. I can do, and by God's grace,
I'm going to do. And I am doing. And you can do.
And you better do. Four things. Now get them. Here
they are. Write them down if you want to.
But here are decidedly and definitely four things that a sinner better
do. Number one. He can take his place
before God as a sinner. Now, my friends, that's where
you start this whole business. A man doesn't start toward heaven
when he starts believing the Bible, he starts toward heaven
when he starts believing he's a sinner. A man doesn't start
toward eternal life when he starts believing on Christ, he starts
toward eternal life when he sees his need of Christ. What can a sinner do? He can
take his place before God as a sinner. The publican did. Listen
to him in the temple. Look, be merciful to me, the
sinner. That's where he started. He came
out justified. The Canaanite woman did. She
stood there and she said, Lord, have mercy on me. He didn't even
answer her. Just looked at her. And she kept
crying, Lord, have mercy on me. I'm not sent but to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. Lord, have mercy on me. It's
not right to give the children's bread to dogs like you. That's
true, Lord. That's what I am. But have mercy
on me. You're my master. And dogs eat
the crumbs that fall from the master's table. Can you get that? The thief on the cross did. He
said, we're getting what we deserve. Justly. The harlot, I love that
story when our Lord, it's the modern religious division. This
is where all of religion is divided. Christ in the middle, and self-righteous
religion over here, and sinners saved by grace over here. Here's
our Lord, lying there on the floor, propped up on pillars,
with his feet sticking out behind him, and here sits religion in
its official titles, and offices, and names, and protocol, and
righteousness, and separation, and high seats, and high-sounding
praises. And there they are, the Pharisees,
and lawyers, and scribes, and here comes a sinner, a common,
ordinary sinner. And you know, back then women
had no station in life. That's the reason our Lord used
the women as illustrations so much. They were nothing. They
were like cattle. They were just possessions. And
here comes just a possession, just somebody like cattle, just
an ordinary guilty sinner, just a harlot by trade. And she comes
in there and falls on her face in her contrition and repentance
and grief and guilt over her sin. and just cries at the feet
of Christ and bathes his feet in tears and dries them with
her hair over her head and kisses them. And here's such religion,
looking down his nose at her. That's the religious division
out there. Where was the mercy of God that
day? At his feet. At his feet. And I'm saying that's
That's the place for us to come. Turn to Psalm 107. I can do that. Bless God I can do that. Quit
lying, trying, and buying and start owning your sinner. Psalm
107, listen to this. Psalm 107, verse 4. They wandered
in the wilderness in a lonely way. They found no city to dwell
in. hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they
cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them
out of their distresses." And he repeats that four times in
that one psalm. They cried unto the Lord in their
trouble. Are you in trouble? God loves sinners. He doesn't
profess love for anybody but sinners, and that in Christ. But God commended his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners. Christ is the friend
of sinners. I preached on that last week.
They called him the friend of sinners. That's the charge they
brought against him. He was the friend of sinners.
He received sinners. He died for sinners. Christ died for the ungodly.
He came into the world to save sinners. I don't know why we keep trying
to profess that we're something we're not when that confessing
we're something we're not is keeping us from being what we
could be. I'm telling you. Your sins won't
keep you from Christ. Your righteousness will. Why can't we? Our heads are thick
as a two-by-four. Did you know that? There's not
anybody here. Now if I ask for testimonies,
people start popping up and talking about what they've done for God,
what they've given to God, how they've served God, how faithful
they believe God, how honest they are, how good their mama
was, how good their daddy was. Ain't nobody standing there saying,
I'm a guilty, ill-deserving sinner. You reckon there's any mercy
for me? And the very thing we boast of is what's keeping us
from Christ. I've said that for 38 years,
over and over. Your sins won't keep you from
Christ. God loves sinners. Christ is
a friend of sinners. Christ died for sinners. Christ
came to save sinners. Your righteousness will keep
you from Christ. You'll come naked or you won't
come. You'll come empty or you won't come. You'll come guilty
or don't come. I'm good as anybody down at your
church. I know that. You're mean as everybody down
here, too. You're lost as everybody down here, too. That's right. You're a sinner like everybody. Everybody whom our Lord did anything
for while He was on this earth, they needed Him. They needed
Him. Can you do number one? I can. I'm a sinner. Don't qualify it
now. Don't qualify it. That's where
we get in trouble. Don't qualify it. I'm not as bad a sinner. Uh-oh.
Alright, second it. It's something everybody can
do. He can seek the Lord. The Word
of God commands you to seek the Lord. And the Word of God condemns
those who don't seek the Lord. Nowhere in the Bible does it
say a man can't seek the Lord. I beg your pardon. It says he
won't. It says they don't. But it doesn't
say they can't. Does it? Oh, no. It says there's none that seek
the Lord. That's right. That's the condemnation on this
human race. He said, you will not come to
me that you might have life. He turned and said, come to me,
and you won't do it. You could if you would. You could
if you would. But Eunuch was seeking the Lord,
wasn't he? I'm going to preach on that tonight.
He was seeking the Lord. He didn't know much, but he was
seeking the Lord. And God sent him a preacher. Cornelius was
seeking the Lord. He was a man sitting down there
in his home, a devout man seeking the Lord. And God sent him a
preacher. The woman with the issue of blood, was she seeking
the Lord? Bet your bottom dollar she was.
She got down on her hands and knees and cried to him. She said,
if I can just touch the border of his garment. And here she
came. I don't have to go into all the
theology of that. I know she was God's child. I
know she was the daughter of Abraham. I know God chose her.
She chose God because God chose her. But nevertheless, she didn't
know God had chosen her when she was seeking the Lord. She sought Him because she needed
Him. She sought Him because she'd wasted everything she had on
folks who couldn't help her. She sought Him because she couldn't
find any help anywhere else. And when you get shut up to Christ,
you're seeking Him. Isn't that right? Some of you
have. Zacchaeus was seeking the Lord. Little fella, he ran ahead
in front of that crowd and cried, Can you imagine that dignified
tax collector climbing a sycamore tree? Why in the world would
a man go through such indignities as climb a tree? He wanted to
see Christ. Seeking the Lord. Seeking. He said, seek me and find me
when you search for me with all your heart. I'm going to give
you a little tidbit here now. I got this right in the middle
of this message because I think it belongs right in the middle.
It's the high point. Seek the Lord. That's what I'm
dealing with right here. Part to seek the Lord. Seek the
Lord. I didn't say seek an experience.
You can find one of those. They're easy to find. We're emotional
creatures. I didn't say seek assurance or
seek hope, but I'm saying this. No religious experience rises
above its source. If your source of hope and your
source of mercy and your source of religious profession is feeling,
then you'll never rise above that feeling. If it's Christ, the heights are
infinite. Isn't that right, John? That's
right. In other words, feeling, feeling,
religious feeling, I feel good, I feel bad, I feel high, I feel
low, I feel hot, I feel cold, I feel, feel, I feel so good,
I feel love, I feel, well, feeling has to do with myself and my work. Faith has to do
with Christ. Ain't that right? Feeling is
occupied with self and senses. Faith is occupied with God and
his unchanging Word. Feeling looks inward and is discouraged. And any time
you look inward and you're not discouraged, you hadn't looked
very carefully. Feeling looks inward. inwardly
and is discouraged, faith looks to Christ and is encouraged at
all times. I can't look to Him and not be
encouraged, and I can't look to me and not be discouraged
if I look honestly. Feeling looks within, within,
always within. Faith always looks without. We
walk not by feeling or sight, we walk by faith. And last, feeling
has to do with my fluctuating condition. So many things influence feeling. So many people influence feeling.
Faith has nothing to do with my condition, my environment,
or my associations. Faith has to do with the unchanging
God and an accepted sacrifice and a mediator who changes not. Is that not right? So don't seek an experience. Don't seek a revival. Don't seek
a feeling. Don't seek a change of habits.
Seek the Lord. Is that clear what I'm saying? The Lord. You can change your
habits and not know Christ because they'll change again. You can
change your denomination and keep changing it. You can change
your theology. But if you seek Christ and you
have Christ, you have all these things in the bud, in the seed,
in the beginning, and someday in the full bloom, as you're
able to mature in Him. You see, this religious world
wants the full bloom, like that. They want you to walk down there,
shake the preacher's hand, and whoopee, you've gone from dark
to light, you've gone from sadness to happiness, you've gone from
unholiness to holiness, you've gone from this to that, and you've
got the full bloom. God doesn't recognize that sort
of thing, because that bloom is going to wither just as fast
as it bloomed. God recognized babes in Christ,
born again, young men in Christ, and elders in the two There's
a growth in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
There's a steady growth, a progressive growth. There's a growth in the
knowledge of him, whereas this bloom comes in God's time, and
it's an everlasting bloom. It never fades, you know. It
started as a seed, and it grows on the Word. That's right. Beware of speedy recovery. Am
I not telling the truth, John? You've been around a while. Am I not telling the truth? You
watch these shooting stars. You watch this speedy recovery.
You watch this whoop-de-doo. You watch this folks that are
cold as a horseshoe and then they're like a shooting star.
Be careful. Be careful. That's not the way
God's children grow. Yours don't either. It takes
trial and anguish and discipline and chastening and instructions
and experiences as God gives them. And his children will be
around when the war is over. They will. They'll be around
because they seek him. Or that I may know him, Paul
said in the fire of his resurrection. I may win Christ and be found
in him. All right, thirdly, what can
a sinner do? He can take his place as a sinner,
he can seek the Lord, and I'll tell you what he can do, he can
ask for mercy. He can ask for mercy and salvation.
Have you ever done it? You say, I'm not a Christian,
I'm not saved. Have you ever asked God to save
you? I mean, really, have you ever, on your knees, on your
face, have you ever cried like the publican, Lord, be merciful
to me? Come think of it, I never have
preached it. Why not? You have not because you asked
not. Ask and it shall be given you. Seek and ye shall find.
Now, we'll respond to what some preacher, the publican, ask him,
Lord be merciful to me, the sinner. The thief on the cross, ask him,
Lord. I know this is an awful thing. Tremendous thing to ask. I'm nothing. You're everything.
You're coming into your kingdom. You're not going to stay dead.
I'm getting what I deserve. I ought to go to hell, but Lord,
what do you think of me? Pretty big order, isn't it? Like
Sir Walter Raleigh, one time Queen Elizabeth. He was one of
the pets of the court. And he was always asking her
to do special things. One day she said to him, Riley,
when will you quit asking for things? He said, when your majesty
quits giving. And that thrilled her to death.
When she quits giving. My God is able to do all things. And that thief dared to ask the
Lord to remember him. Why don't you do that? You know
what Christ said to him? But I'm going to ask you. The
centurion did. If a man desires something badly
enough, he'll ask for it. You have not because you ask
not. Old Jacob got a hold of the Lord. He got a hold of the
Lord, and he dared to say, I'm not going to let you go until
you bless me. And God changed his name. He
said, you're no longer Jacob, you're Israel, prince of God.
You boys and girls, you've got rooms there at your house, by
yourself, you talk to your parents, ask questions of them, but it's
a matter of salvation. Lord, teach me, I'm a child,
but I want to know Christ, I want to know the gospel, I want to
know the way of life. Save me, redeem me, reveal thy
word to me. He'll do it. He'll do it. Ask and you shall receive. You
can do that, can't you? Can a sinner do that? Would you
forbid a sinner the right to ask for mercy? God help me from
ever being that kind of theologian. Lord, be merciful to me. Lord, remember me. Brother Mann, pray for me. I
will. But you pray for yourself. Isn't that right, Cecil? That's not too hard, is it? I
do, I will, I want to, rather than pray for me. But bless God,
you better ask God yourself. I'm not the mediator. Oh, and
fourthly, what can a lost man do? What can a sinner do? What
can a believing sinner do? He can walk in the light God's
given him, and God will give him more. Now you watch this
point right here. You watch this. He can walk in
the light God's given him. I read this a few weeks ago.
Our Lord came to a blind man who had been blind all his life,
and he spat on the ground, and he made clay, and he put it on
his eyes. And he said, now you go wash
in the pool of Siloam. And he went. He did what the
Lord told him to do. And he came to see. He walked
in the light he had, and he got real light. He did what Christ... There was a man with a withered
hand. A withered hand. Just from a child, there wasn't
anything there, just a withered, useless stump. And our Lord, probably in his
robe, and our Lord said to him, stretch forth your hand. Now,
I can hear us talking here. I can't. With the command comes
the ability. You stretch out your hand. And
he didn't, but he did. He couldn't, but he did. He couldn't, but he did. You say,
I can't do this. You can. He commands you to.
You stretch out your hand. And Luke 17, there were ten lepers. Now you watch this. Ten lepers
came to him, and he said to them, go show yourself to the priest.
That's what a leper in the Old Testament always had to do when
he was cleansed, was go show himself to the priest and get
approval while they're accepted. These ten men stood there with
leprosy all over them, and the Lord said, you go show yourself
to the priest. And they started. And on the
way, they were healed. Well, you're saying, preacher,
well, what have you been taught? What have you been told? What
have you heard preached? Are you acting on the Word of
God? Are you walking in the light
you have? Are you faithful to what God's already told you?
Well, no. Well, how do you expect to get
more light? Why would He even give you more?
You're not acting on that that He's given you. You're not walking
in the light he gave you. Do what he said, and you'll get
more. Is that right? That's the truth.
So, I say this, I point to the cross, and I say, that cross
is my cross. I'm crucified with Christ. I
point to his death, and I say, that death's my death. Justice
is satisfied. I point to the grave, and I say,
that was my grave. There I lay the victim of every
requirement of law and justice. I point to the resurrected Christ
and I say, that's my resurrection, I'm risen with him. I point to
the man at God's right hand and I say, he's my only mediator.
I do believe, I now believe that Jesus died for me. And with his
blood, his precious blood, I shall from sin be free. And I confess
that before men. That's what he commanded me to
do. And on that basis, I expect more
life. walking in the light. Is that
not true? You give some thought to those
things that I've said this morning. What can a sinner do? He can
take his place as a sinner, a genuine sinner. He can seek the Lord. He can seek the Lord. Yes, he
can. He can walk in the light God's
given him. And I'll tell you this, He can go home from this
service and fall on his face before God and ask God to have
mercy. My God, don't tell me that my
God's ever turned away a sincere, seeking sinner asking for mercy. It's not recorded. Somebody wrote
this one time, if I to the Lord go and He doesn't receive me
and He doesn't give me mercy, Oh, he said, that were to die,
a sinner has never died. Isn't that right? Seeking mercy. Try it.
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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