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Henry Mahan

Seven Words from Calvary

Luke 23:34
Henry Mahan • April, 23 1978 • Audio
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Message 0319b
Henry Mahan Tape Ministry
6088 Zebulon Highway
Pikeville, KY 41501

Sermon Transcript

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The Holy Spirit of God took special care that each of
the words which our Lord spoke from the cross of Calvary should
be recorded and preserved. I think most of you are familiar
with the fact that there are seven statements which our Lord
made from the cross. The first, which we read a moment
ago, when they nailed him to the cross, our Lord looked upon
the people who cried for his blood, who demanded his death,
who nailed him to the tree, and he said, Father, forgive them,
for they know not what they do. Later on, one of the thieves
which were crucified with him, said to the Lord, Remember me
when thou comest into thy kingdom. The other thief cursed him and
railed upon him. In fact, it is said that both
of them did for a time. But then one of them said, Do
you not fear God, seeing that you are in the same condemnation?
But this man hath done nothing amiss. We receive what we deserve. And then he said, Lord, remember
me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Christ uttered the
second statement when he said to that thief, Today shalt thou
be with me in paradise. Farther on he looked down and
he saw Mary, the woman who gave him birth. standing there weeping,
gazing up with a broken heart upon the suffering form of this
one who had been her son. And he looked over and saw John,
the beloved apostle, and he said, Woman, behold thy son, and son,
behold thy mother. And then the fourth and central
word of the seven, this is the center, and in the position where
it should be, was when our Lord lifted his eyes to heaven and
cried with a loud voice, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? This was the central point of
his suffering, of his grief, of his soul agony. My God, why
hast thou forsaken me? And then another statement which
he uttered from the cross, he said, I thirst. And when this
is recorded, it is added that the scriptures might be fulfilled. I thirst. That's the shortest
of all the seven statements, but it contains a wealth of blessing
and a wealth of information about our Lord. And then the sixth
statement, he cried with a loud voice, It is finished. It is
finished. And then the last statement of
our Lord, the last word of all before he died was, Father, into
thy hands I commend my spirit. These are the seven statements
or the seven words from Calvary. There's been a mountain of words
written and a mountain of words spoken about these seven statements
from Calvary. And I'll be quick to say that
I cannot add anything to what has been said. But there are
many things that I believe the Holy Spirit would have us to
look at and to enter into. And the only fear I have, and
it's a genuine fear, it's a sincere fear, the only fear I have, of
speaking on this subject is the fear of reducing these tremendous
themes to doctrine. That's the only fear. When I
look at this statement, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? The
fear I have is bringing that powerful statement down to cold,
calculated theology. These are the words of our Lord.
These are the cries of our Christ from the battlefield of Calvary
where he won our redemption. These are the words of our Master
when he was engaged in battle with the very powers of hell,
and of sin, and of death, and when he was enduring the indescribable
wrath of God against sin. The hymn writer put it this way,
The enormous load of human guilt was on my Savior laid. With woes
as with a garment, He for sinners was arrayed. And in those awful
pangs of death, He wept, He prayed for me. He loved and embraced
my guilty soul while He was nailed to that cursed tree. Oh, love
amazing! Love beyond the reach of human
tongues. Love which shall be eternally
the theme of my grateful song. And ever since by faith I saw
that stream, thy flowing womb's supply, redeeming love has been
my theme, and it will be until I die. These words of our Lord
from the cross tell me three things. Many, many things, but
three things that we'll have time for in this message. First
of all, the attributes of our Lord himself are revealed in
those words from the cross. The attributes of Christ. The
person and work of Christ. Secondly, the chief doctrines
upon which our faith is built are revealed in those seven words.
And then, in closing, I will try to point out to you the chief
Christian duties of the believer are revealed in those words.
The chief attributes of our Lord are revealed in those seven words
from Calvary, the chief doctrines upon which our faith is resting,
and the chief duties of the believer. Let's see if we can look at those.
In those seven statements or words from the cross, we have
our Lord's attributes and offices revealed. Look at the first one,
Christ the Mediator. Christ the Mediator. The first
words he said from the cross reveal his office as Mediator. What did he say? Father, forgive
them. Here's the Mediator between the
Father and the sinner. Father, forgive them. They know
not what they do. There must be a mediator between
the guilty and God. There must be a mediator between
the sinner and the sovereign. Throughout the Bible, we meet
with the office of mediator, which is typical of our Lord.
Now turn to 2. In Exodus 20, Exodus chapter
20, Verse 18 and 19. Now, listen to me. As Brother
Scott Richardson said here a few weeks ago, God will not speak
to nor be spoken to by a sinner except through a mediator. God
will not do business with you and your guilt. He does business
with your representative, with your high priest, with your mediator,
with Christ the Lord. In Exodus 20, When God had given
the law to Israel, verse 18, all the people saw the thunderings
and lightnings and noise of the trumpet and the mountains smoking.
When the people saw it, they removed and stood afar off. And
they should, and they should, and they must. And they said
to Moses, Speak thou with us, and we'll hear. But let not God
speak with us, lest we die. Not only do we not want to see
the presence and the glory of Elohim, but we don't want to
hear His voice. Number 16. When the people had sinned against
the Lord, and God was sending the plague among them, destroying
the people, we find a mediator representing Christ, typical
of our Lord, running out between God and the sinner. And waving
the burning incense, Joshua the high priest, that incense is
the prayers of our Lord. That's what that incense is,
that's what it represents, the incense burning in the tabernacle
is the prayers of Christ. And here in Numbers 16, 47, And
Aaron took as Moses commanded and ran into the midst of the
congregation, and behold, a plague was begun among the people, And
he put on incense and made an atonement for the people, and
he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was
staked." That's a mediator. Here's God, here are the guilty.
And Moses at Sinai, when the law was given, the people saw
their sins and guilt, and they moved away from God. And Moses
stood between them. He represented Christ. And when
the people had sinned to such a great extent that God was destroying
them, Moses said, Make an atonement to Aaron the priest, and burn
incense. And Aaron ran right in the midst
of the plague, right in front of it, and sent up that incense
to heaven. Christ. Christ. The immediate Father, forgive
them. And there is no mercy apart from
the Mediator work of Christ. There's one God and one mediator
between God and me, the man Christ Jesus. All right, the second
statement. Lord, remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom. And Christ our Lord turned to
him and said, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. There
is Christ the King, the King. This thief said, Lord, King,
Master, you're not going to stay dead, you're coming into a kingdom.
And our Lord Jesus Christ said, Today thou shalt be with me in
paradise. Here is the King, the King of
glory, opening the door which no one but he can open. Here
is the King of glory, opening the door which no man can shut
once he's opened. He has all power over all flesh
that he should give eternal life to whom he will. Here's the King.
Christ the King. Christ the Sovereign. Christ
having salvation in his hands, being merciful to whom he will,
being gracious to whom he will. A dying thief pleads for mercy. Where? Before the throne of the
King. And he's heard. Out to the gracious
King approach. whose scepter pardon gives. Perhaps he will hear my plea,
and then the sinner lives. I can but perish. If I go, I
am resolved to try. For if I stay away, I know I
will forever die. Today, shalt thou be with me."
That's the King. All right. Thirdly, even in the
agonies of death, No one can imagine the suffering that our
Lord endured, not just in body, but the suffering of soul. It
said he made his soul an offering for sin. I can't describe those
sufferings. I've heard preachers try to describe
the sufferings of Christ on the cross of Calvary, and they just
seem to fall so far short of what ought to be said. And I'm
not even going to attempt it. But even in the agonies of death,
even under the penalty of sin, even enduring the wrath of God,
our Lord Jesus Christ looks down and He sees Mary. This is the
woman who brought Him into the world. This is the woman who
gave Him food. This is the woman who took care
of His needs as a child, and He demonstrates The third attribute,
and that is His deep love for His own. Our Lord loves His sheep. He loves them. He demonstrates
His deep love and affection for the objects of His grace. Having
loved His own, He loved them even to the end. He looked down
at her in her agony and heartbreak, and then over here at John. And
you think where he was. It wasn't some person sitting
down making out a will and fulfilling the responsibilities of his home
and so forth. Here was Christ. in the climax
of God's eternal purpose. Here was Christ in the zenith
of God's eternal plan. Here was Christ redeeming people
of all ages. Here was Christ bearing the wrath
of the Father, bearing the burden of sin on His soul. Here is Christ
suffering agonies untold, yet He loves His own. He loves His
own. Such love is too great, too great
for thought, its length and breadth in vain a salt. No tongue can
tell its depth or height. The love of Christ is infinite. Infinite. He loves his own. Somebody said, with all the thundering
and lightning and rustling of the winds and the dashing of
the waves and the noises of the universe and the splitting of
lightning and all of the noises throughout the world, God can
hear the slightest whisper and God can see the smallest tear
of His own. having love to his own. He says
nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, not even
the agonies of the cross. Individually, woman, fulfilling all that Moses wrote
about, the angels sitting about, the billions of angels looking
upon this scene, the world gathered before him, persecuting, spitting
upon him, hurling obscenities at him, and the wrath of God
falling upon him, and the darkness, and the rinning of the rocks,
and the rinning of the veil, and the sun refusing to shine,
and all of this, the very climax of everything in the universe.
Woman, thy son. Son, thy mother. You think about
that. That's the thing that overwhelmed
me when I read this. Christ's intense, eternal, infinite
love for the least one. And it wasn't, now you get this,
he didn't call her mother. It wasn't because he was her
son. It was because he was her Lord. And he cared for her. And he
cares the same way for you. Jesus Christ does not love Mary
any more than he loves Phyllis Payne. Or Beverly. Or Sandy. Not one bit more. Don't
you ever get your theology so confused that you think he does.
He does that for you, Bob. He loves you that same way that
he loved her. And he didn't love, not because
it was his mother. Our God has no mother. You understand
what I'm saying? He loved each one of his children
that way, his people. All right, the fourth thing now,
the fourth thing he said, the fourth thing he said, My God,
why hast thou forsaken me? Now I feel that when I get on
this statement, I can't say it like it ought to be said, I can't
read it like it ought to be read, I can't comprehend it like it
ought to be understood. Preach this, I do, explain it,
I cannot. Believe this, I do, understand
it, I do not. Christ the substitute actually
separated from the Father. Now I can, to a certain extent,
to a certain degree, I can fathom, I can understand his active obedience
before the law. To a certain extent, I can understand
Christ became a man and he was subject to the law of the home
and the moral law and the civil law and the ceremonial law and
all the laws. The law of Moses, he was subject to those and he
fulfilled them perfectly. I can sort of understand that
to a degree. But here Jesus Christ, who is
both God and man, who is the God-man, who is as much God as
the Father, who is as much man as I am, here's Jesus Christ
before the justice and wrath of God, the substitute and scapegoat
And you needn't claim to understand this, but you must believe it.
He was actually forsaken of his father. That's what Scripture
says. He actually, in becoming sin for us. And I don't understand
this. I believe it. The Scripture says,
God declares their sins will I remember no more. How can God
forget anything? God knows all things. I can understand
me forgetting. I'm a human being. I can forget.
Somebody says, well, you told me you was going to be... I just
forgot. I'm sorry. I forgot. But not
God. Not God. God can't forget. God
can't learn anything. He can't forget anything. But
he says, I'll remember their sins no more. All right. I can
understand why a man can be separated, how God can turn his back on
a man. I can understand that. I can't
understand how God can turn His back on Himself. But it's so. The secret things belong to God
that reveal things unto us. And what we have to do here,
this is the essence of hell. You want to know what hell is?
I hear these preachers always talking about the fire of hell.
Well, let me tell you something. The
essence of hell, you know what it is? It's being separated from
God. That's hell. I don't care where
it is. Hell is being separated from God. And that's the reason
I don't object to the old apostles' creed which says, and he descended
into hell. No, our Lord did not in the flesh
or either in the soul actually go into the lake of fire. Our
Lord descended into the grave, if the word hell there is grave,
but our Lord actually bore my hell because hell is to be separated
from God. Christ actually bore my hell. Is not this hell my God? Why
hast thou forsaken me? To be without God is hell. And
eternal hell is to be eternally without God. But our Lord, when
he said that, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He was Christ,
our actual, literal, effectual substitute. I'll never be separated
from God because Christ was. I'll never go to hell because
Christ did. All right, the fifth statement.
Hanging there on that cross, our Lord said, I thirst. I thirst. This is the cry of a man. A man. How truly Christ was man, Christ
the man, Christ the mediator, Christ the king, Christ the lover,
Christ the substitute. Here you have Christ the man.
He was bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. Our Lord made the
oceans and the waters above the earth. It is his hand that opens
the heavens and sends the rain. The sea is his and all the fountains
and springs that he has dug. If he were thirsty, he said,
would I ask you? No, God wouldn't. But man would. Huh? God wouldn't. He wouldn't have to ask you for
water. But as a man, he would. A man of sorrows would have to
ask for a drink. A man acquainted with grief would
have to ask for water. So in all things it behooved
him to be made like his brethren. He was actually made of a woman. He was actually made flesh and
dwelt among us. He took upon himself the likeness
and the limits of human flesh. And this is what he's saying.
This is his attribute of humanity. He said, I thirst. And he did. And then we have Christ the Redeemer.
It's finished! What were the first words, the
first recorded words of the child Jesus Christ? You know what they
were? The first recorded words of Jesus Christ when he was a
child. Well, his mother and father had
been to Jerusalem, taken him to keep the feast day. On their
way home, they discovered he wasn't with them, and they went
back to hunt him, and they finally found him after some time talking
among the doctors and lawyers in the temple. And when they
found him, they said, Son, don't you know we've been concerned
about you? What did he say? Wished you not that I must be
about my father's business. I must be about my father's business."
What is my father's business? Redemption. I came to do the
will of him that sent me, the work of him that sent me. I must
be about my father's business. That was his first word. What was his last word? It's
finished. The business is finished. Huh? That's what he said. of the ceremonial
law. I didn't come to destroy the
law, but fulfill it. It's finished. The satisfaction
of God's holy law and the justice of God. Finished. The redemption
of His church. I came to seek and to save the
lost. They're saved. They're saved. The price is paid. The work is complete. He paid
it all, all the debt I owed. He did with one, with one sacrifice
perfect forever, them that are sanctified. And then the last
statement from the cross. Now listen to me. Christ the Accepted One. Now this is important, very important. He said, Father, into thy hands
I commend my spirit. Open up ye gates, ye everlasting
doors, the King of Glory shall come in. I'm coming back where
I was from whence I came, into your presence. My Father, into
your presence. Now then, listen to me. It's
one thing to kill that lamb and to roast its carcass and to lift
the veil and to go under it and to take the blood and put it
on the mercy seat. It's another thing to come out
of there. You with me? It's one thing. Israel stood
outside and waited on the high priest to come out on the Day
of Atonement. Because when he came out, what
was it saying? What did it signify? His offering
was accepted. My friends, it's one thing to
offer an offering. It's one thing to bring a sacrifice. It's one thing to offer a prayer.
It's one thing to present a petition. It's a whole lot more important
to you and to me to find out if it's accepted. That's right. The disciples made much of the
resurrection. They preached the resurrection,
for if Christ be not raised, you and your sins. We're false
witnesses of God. We're of all men most miserable.
those that sleep in Christ to perish. Turn to Romans 8. Let
me show you something here. Romans chapter 8 verse 34. Oh
my soul, if Christ be not risen, if Christ be not welcome, if
Christ be not accepted, then neither are you accepted, neither
will you rise. He said because I live, you shall
live also. I don't worship a Christ on a
crucifix. If that's where He is, I'm in
bad shape. I'm a goner. I don't go to the
Holy Land and stand awed before a place called Calvary. That's not where my Lord is.
He's just as much right here on 13th Street as He is over
there on what they call Calvary. I worship a living Christ, a
reigning Christ, an eternal Christ, an omnipresent Christ. One who
is at God's right hand. That's where I want to get within
the veil. In His presence. Romans 8 verse
34. Listen. Who is He that condemneth?
It is Christ that died. Now watch this. Yea rather is
risen again. Read on. Who is even? at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession." He didn't stop with the fact that
Christ died. Who is he that condemns? Christ
died. Yeah, I know he died, Satan said,
I was there. I know he died, said the centurion,
I was there. I know he died, said Barabbas,
I was there. I know he died, said Pilate,
I was there. Yeah, but he's risen too. That's his epitaph. He's not
here! When the apostles came to that
tomb, when the women came to that tomb, that angel stood there
and that... He's not here! He's not here. Where is he? He's at God's right
hand. He's not here. Why? And I want
to say this to all the Holy Land visitors and all of the pilgrims
that go over there and all the people that get water from the
Jordan River and all the people that pick up rocks off Golgotha
and all the people that buy wood from the Mount of Olives. Why
are you seeking the living among the dead? Huh? It's a dead place over there
under the judgment of God. I wouldn't carry around in my
pocket the bullet that killed my son. I despise it. Huh? Then why are you worshiping
the things that killed your Lord? Why do you seek the living among
the dead? I can't figure those things out. All right, the second thing now.
Christ the accepted one. He's at God's right hand. These
are the main doctrines of our faith. The seven words from the
cross. What is the first one? The forgiveness
of sins. Here's where we have confidence
and assurance that sins may be freely and fully and totally
and completely forgiven. Because Christ said, Father,
forgive, blot out, erase, remove from them all their sin. Not
by works, but through the prayer of our Lord. Not by works, but
through the grace of our Lord. That's one of the foundational
doctrines. That's the reason we're here
this morning. Here's a bunch of sinners who have come to the
Lord. By what right? because our sins
are forgiven and we come not with fear but we come as sons
of God because our sins are forgiven and then secondly here's the
second doctrine he said today thou shalt be with me in paradise
eternal life heaven after death is to be with our Lord and to
be like our Lord. That's what it's all about. Paul
said, I have a desire to depart and be with Christ. Our Lord said, you believe in
God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to
prepare a place for you, and if I go again, if I go and prepare
a place for you, I'll come again and receive you unto myself.
that where I am, there you may be also. That's heaven, that's
eternal life, to be with Christ. And then thirdly, our Lord, woman,
thy son, son, thy mother. The representative Jesus Christ
sets forth here his identification with me and with you by addressing
Mary and recognizing there is a relationship between him and
that sinner. He was numbered with the transgressors.
He was made a woman that he does not call her mother. In fact,
one day someone came to him and said, your mother and your brethren
and your sisters are out here wanting to see you. And he said,
well, who is my mother? Who are my brethren, my sisters?
These who do the will of God. The same are my mother. But our
Lord here is recognizing a relationship. He's recognizing a relationship. Our Lord is identifying himself
with that person right there, that little hated Jewish woman. And then fourthly, the penalty
endured by our substitute reveals the justice and righteousness
of God which must be executed. There's no way, now listen to
this, there's no way that a holy God can put away sin except that
sin be paid for. There's no way that a holy God
can clear the guilty. The soul that sinneth, it must
surely die. Jesus Christ was not just a way
that God picked. to play upon the emotions of
men. Jesus Christ, as the substitute
for his people, dying under the weight of our sin, dying under
the wrath of God, was the only way that God Almighty, who is
a righteous and just God, could save sinners. The only way. They didn't look through heaven
or search through heaven to find a Savior. That's where the only
Savior lived. Turn back to Romans 8.32. It
says here in Romans 8.32, God spared not his own son. He couldn't not save sinners. He couldn't and show his mercy. He couldn't. He couldn't spare
his son and be just. He couldn't spare his son and
righteously redeem sinners. The perfect Christ who was identified
and numbered with the transgressors had to die, had to bear the weight
of our sin, and the guilt of our sin, and the consequences
of our sin. And then, watch this, here's
another foundational doctrine of our faith, and that's the
infallibility of the Scripture. Turn to John 19. I want you to
look at this in John 19. Turn quickly, John 19, verse
28. It says in John 19, verse 28, After this, Jesus, knowing that
all things were now accomplished, that the Scriptures might be
fulfilled, he said, I thirst. The Scriptures might be fulfilled. Now, we studied this in our Sunday
school lesson this morning. Oh, the importance, oh, the value,
oh, the power of this book, this God's Word, it shall all be fulfilled. I don't understand all that Ezekiel
and Daniel and all the rest of them wrote about the future,
but I believe it. It's going to be fulfilled. He died for our sins according
to the Scriptures. He was buried and rose again
according to the Scriptures. He ascended to the right hand
of God according to the Scriptures. that the Scriptures might be
fulfilled. And heaven and earth shall pass
away, but God said not one word, not one jot, not one tittle shall
pass from this word till it all is fulfilled. I don't claim to
understand it all, or even a little of it, but it's going to be fulfilled. And then he said it's finished.
What is that? Complete justification. Our work is finished. I don't
need to add one thing to what Christ did. Not one thing. Not my faith, not my works, not
my loyalty, not my perseverance. Christ finished my redemption. It's all in Him. I'm going to
preach on that tonight. Salvation of the person is not
a doctrine. And then the seventh foundational
doctrine. We're seated with Him. This one
of our ladies brought this out in the class this morning. Jesus,
our High Priest, is passed into the heavens. He's already there.
He's already occupied the territory. He's already received the inheritance
in my name. I was at Iwo Jima the morning
of the invasion. We took the Marines in on an
LST, and they landed. It was a mess. It was a lot of
people killed. It was a bad time for several
days. And I was up on the conning tire
of the ship. We were sending in supplies,
and I was standing up on the conning tire one day. I was looking
at that old mountain on the end of the island. The island wasn't
but five miles long, about two miles wide. There was a mountain
on the end, and I was looking through my binoculars. I was
watching everything that went on. I was watching the flame
throwers shoot the flames into the caves, and I was watching
the men getting blown apart in the tanks and everything. It
was just a terrible situation. But I had my glasses right on
the top of that mountain. When I saw that flag go up there
was four or five men who raised that flag I was watching them
with my binoculars looking right at them And I turned to the captain. I said that's at islands ours.
Now there goes the flag They've raised the flag They raised the
flag and i'm telling you this my lord has already Entered heaven's
glories and raised the flag for me. It's already occupied. It's
my territory My representative has already gone there. That's
right Father unto thine, he's passed into the heavens, he's
already there, on the right hand. It's ours. It's ours. You can rest easy now, because
it belongs to us. Every enemy. Oh, there's still
some of them in the caves. The enemy of death is still there,
and the enemy of this, that, and the other. But the last enemy,
one of these days, will be destroyed. He's going to clean off the island.
He's going to make a new heaven and a new earth. Because he's
already there. He's already secured it. It's
all secured. All right, thirdly, here are
the duties of the believers. Quickly, let me give you this
by way of application. He said, Father, forgive them.
That's my business, too. That's my business, too, to forgive
sinners, forgive those who sin against me. The second statement,
that thief said, Lord, I'm getting what I deserve. Remember me.
That's my business, too, to confess my sins to the king, not to you,
to the Lord, and to admit I'm getting what I deserve. Anything
God gives us is grace. Anything we receive as a result
of our sins, we deserve. Woman, thy son. No Christian
can be without compassion for his loved ones, his family. Our Lord was showing compassion
for his family. Who is my neighbor? Who are my
family? You're my family. You're my family. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? David, you know when he did most
of his weeping, when he felt like God had deserted him. The
Christian cannot bear to be separated from his Lord. That's the reason
I wonder about people who can go and go and go without fellowship
and without prayer and without the Word and without worship
and without attending the house of God. How do you stand it?
How do you stand it? How does a Christian stand to
be separated from his God? I know God doesn't dwell in buildings
and all, but there's some things that bring me Bring God nearer
to me. Draw nigh to God and he'll draw
nigh to you. And then our Lord said, I thirst that the Scripture
might be fulfilled. It's our business to do what
the Scripture says, to preach the Word. Our Lord, when he was
on the cross, was very careful to fulfill the Word. And oh,
that preachers and teachers and these people that stand up and
say they represent God, let's preserve the infallibility of
the Scripture. Let's insist upon it. It's finished. Our Lord finished what God gave
Him to do. That's what Paul said before
he died. He said, I finished my course. I finished. I finished. And then seventhly,
he said, into thy hands I commend my spirit. Into thy hands. That's resignation and trust. I commit it to Christ. Everything
my soul against that day is committed to Christ. It's His. It's His. I give it. I give it to Him.
Our Father, we're grateful for the Word and the words of our
Lord, the promises of His Word. Now bless it to our prophet.
We pray for Christ's sake. Amen.
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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