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Henry Mahan

The Death of Man and the Death of Christ

Hebrews 9:27-28
Henry Mahan • January, 19 1977 • Audio
1,528 Articles 3,940 Sermons 760 Books
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Henry Mahan
Henry Mahan • January, 19 1977
1,528 articles 3,940 sermons 760 books
Message 0237b
Henry Mahan Tape Ministry
6088 Zebulon Highway
Pikeville, KY 41501

Sermon Transcript

Auto-generated transcript • May contain errors

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You'll turn with me to Hebrews
9. I read from the book of Job,
but I'd like to read another verse of Scripture from the book
of Hebrews, chapter 9, verse 27. Now, as it is appointed unto men once
to die, but after this the judgment So Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him shall
he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. Now death is a subject that most
people like to avoid. I read some time ago about a
celebrated author who wrote a book on the subject of death. He was
a popular author, a successful author. But he wrote a book on
the subject of death, that's what it dealt with, the death
of the body. And it did not sell. Though he
wrote it, though his name was recognized, yet men did not want
to read a book about this subject. They didn't care to. Well, to
show how foolish man is, another author who lived at that particular
time wrote a silly ghost story, not a word of it true. But a
silly story dealing with ghosts and other aspects of death from
that angle. And the publisher took the book
on death by the celebrated author and the silly ghost story and
stitched them together and made them two books in one. And they're
sold like hotcakes. Men do not want to talk about
death. They don't want to think about
death. They don't want to hear the preacher preach about death.
They don't want to even plan for death. The disciples themselves
tried to get the master to quit talking about his death. Did
you know that? I know you did know it. Have
you thought much about it? Every time he mentioned going
to the cross, they had something to say about it. Why, Peter said,
this can't be. Let's don't talk about it. Let's
don't talk about it. We don't want to hear you talk
about your death. Though it was the most important event in all
of history, they didn't want him to talk about it. Though
he came to this earth for that purpose, they didn't want him
to talk about it. Though his death would relieve him from
the aches and sorrows and pains and agony and shame and humiliation
of a life that was every moment of it a crucifixion they didn't
want him to talk about. And when Paul, the apostle, was
going to Jerusalem, or going to a certain city, and he knew
that, in fact, the Lord had warned him through some of the other
disciples that he would be imprisoned and possibly killed, they didn't
want him to go. They said, we don't want you
to go. If it's going to mean your death, if it's going to
mean that you leave this earth, we don't want you to go. Just
stay here with us. We'd rather keep you than have
you do the will of God, if it means your death. Now doctors
contribute to this. They will have a patient, and
if anybody in here has had experience with this, I have, They have
had patients, and they've told me that their patients had incurable
diseases and couldn't live. But they won't tell them. You're
going to be fine. You're going to get well. Yes,
sirree. Nothing wrong with you. That little rest and a little
medicine can't cure you. You're going to be okay. And
turn in the next breath and say to me, doesn't have a chance.
I've had relatives stop me at the door in hospital rooms and
say, he can't last through the day, don't tell him. Now our philosophy, and now you
think with me, if this philosophy is right, if you prefer to hold
to that type of reasoning, as I said last Sunday when I brought
the message, I've quit arguing with people. I've quit trying
to persuade people against their will. I just present, I'm seeking
to present what the Word of God says, and you can do with it
what you feel obliged to do with it, or led by God's Spirit. If
you prefer your philosophy, then it's perfectly all right, it's
fine. But our philosophy in this day
is live and let live. We operate on that. Live and
let live. Blast your way to the grave. We ought to alter that,
I think. Die and let die. Because that's
the truth. We're not going to live, but
we are going to die. It's not true we shall all live.
That's not true. But it is true we shall all die. Listen to the Word of God. It
is appointed unto men once to die. That's so. No question about
it. That's true. Just a matter of
time. There's no subject of greater
importance to you and to me than the subject of death. There's
no subject more important. We're going to die. Now, I feel
this. You say, well, what profit is
it to think about death? Why should a man think about
death? Well, the scripture says this. So teach me to number my
days that I may apply my heart to wisdom, that I might get straightened
out in my thinking, in my attitude, in my behavior. Numbering my
days will straighten out my thinking, will help anyway. That's what
it'll do. You say a person can't be happy
thinking about death, according to where you're going when you
die. A person can't be happy thinking
about death. A person can't be happy thinking
about seeing Christ. A person can't be happy thinking
about ending a life of misery and entering a life of glory.
A person can't be happy thinking about death when death means
to lay aside the weakness of the flesh and put on the strength
of immortality. A person cannot be happy thinking
about death when death means to see Christ in all his glory. A person can't be happy thinking
about death when death means no more pain, no more sorrow,
no more tears, no more sin, no more temptation, no more trial,
no more agony. A person cannot be happy thinking
about death when death means to meet those who've gone before
and see them never depart again. A person cannot be happy thinking
about death when death means to lay aside corruption and put
on incorruption? Mortality and put on immortality? You can't be happy thinking about
that? The Apostle Paul said, I have
a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.
And he is our example. The Word of God says that. I disagree with that. I believe
a man can be happy thinking about death. And he can be happy in
his present circumstances. Paul could. He said, I have learned
in whatsoever state I am to be content. But he still had a desire
to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Now, death, thinking about death,
I believe will do several things for us, give us the proper attitude
towards these things. Think if we as the scripture
says number our days, they may be 30 40 years, but what's 30
or 40 years? It may be that long before God
calls us home, but that's not very long And it will cause us to put worldly
things in their proper place. Now there's a place for food
and clothing and shelter and earthly relationship. There's
a place for those things, but a proper place. There's a proper
place for everything. And if we think about when we're
going to lay these things aside and when we're going to meet
God, when we're going to leave this earth, we'll put these things
in their proper places. He said, lay not up for yourselves
treasures on the earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt. Now
here's what Christ is saying. Think about the day when the
moth and the rust shall corrupt these things. And don't lay them
up here where they'll decay, but lay up for yourselves treasures
in heaven, where moth and rust doth not corrupt, and thieves
do not break through and steal. If you knew, say you had a little
savings, $10,000 or $20,000, and you knew that at some time or other, maybe
not today, but at some time, that this bank down here was
going to be robbed of everything. It had no protection, no FDIC,
but like in the old days, you know. Would you put all you have
in that bank? If you knew that some of these
days it was going to be wiped out, you didn't know when, but
it was going to be wiped out. Would you put everything in that
bank? You said, I wouldn't put anything in it. Well, you're
investing your time and your mind and your savings and your
possessions in this body, in this life, and it may be wiped
out tomorrow. It may be wiped out. It's going
to be cleaned. It's going to be wiped out. It's
going to be destroyed. Now, you know that and I know
that. It has no FDIC to protect it either. This body, this tent's
going to crumble. This body's going to fade away.
This life and all that we're investing in is not going to
be left one stone on another. We know that. When? I don't know,
but it's going to happen. Yet, you say a man would be a
fool to put everything he's got in a bank if he knew the bank
was unsafe. By the same token, is a man not
a fool to invest everything in this body and in this life when
he knows it's going to be destroyed too? And so if you think about this,
if you'll think about it, if you'll adopt the right attitude
toward it, you'll put in it what you can afford to lose. Now it
may be that I have to invest in that bank. Perhaps I have
friends and business associates if this is their business. And
it's necessary for the economy of our city, for that bank to
operate. And it was, back in the olden days, though the banks
were unsafe, and though they were unprotected and unsure,
it was necessary for the economy of those little towns that there
be a bank. And so the businessmen didn't put everything they had
in that bank, just what they could afford to lose. And the
same thing's true of this life. I know that it's necessary for
our economy, it's necessary for our families, it's necessary
for our community, for me to invest certain interest. This
past week I invested a whole lot of my time in something that
had nothing to do with this church, something that had nothing to
do with preaching the gospel. But it was vital to a certain
family and vital to a certain individual. And so I know there's
things, although I wouldn't give my whole life to that following
that particular pursuit, I wouldn't dare. But I invest in that just
exactly what I can afford to lose. You see what I'm saying? So that's what Christ is saying
here. Take no anxious thought for tomorrow,
what you shall eat, drink, and wear. There may not even be a
tomorrow. But seek ye first the kingdom
of God and his righteousness. And these other things are going
to automatically fall in place because he's going to see that
they will. He's going to make sure that they will. I think secondly, if we get the
right attitude toward death, if I condition myself, as the
psalmist said, teach me to number my days. Now I can, with simple
arithmetic, number my days. I'm 45 years old nearly. Subtract
that from 70 and you've got, what, 25 years? That's about
it. Maybe less than that. I came
to Ashland 24 years ago. 1947, that's 24 years ago, March, right
along this time. And it seems like only yesterday
that I got here, but when I've been here as long in the future
as I've been here in the past, and some of you remember when
I came. And it seems like yesterday,
doesn't it? I'm still a stranger to some folks around here. I'm
still a foreigner, you know. A carpetbagger or something.
But 24 years from now, you think about it now. Most of you'll
be, a lot of you'll be gone, man. So that's sensible, that's
just plain arithmetic, isn't it? So why do we invest everything
we've got in something that is a sure loser? I think secondly,
it'll help us to hold loosely to the things of this world.
It'll help us to hold loosely to the things of this world,
remembering that they're going to be taken away. They're going
to be taken away. family ties, family relationships. These things are going to slip
out of our fingers. Your strength, your health, your
children, your mothers and dads, your brothers and sisters. There's
something that I am real encouraged about here in this church. I've held funerals for a lot
of people. The people of this church React
to death better than any body any church or any group of people. I know anywhere and I think that
speaks well of you Your attitude toward it when you lose loved
ones. It's it's commendable my dear friend and It ought to be
you know after my son's death. We had quite a number of visitors
from out of town come to the service and one outstanding individual
from another part of this state wrote to me. He came to that
funeral service and he said, that service did more for me
than any service I've ever attended. And he said, it made me believe
that this is the way that old-time Christians used to bury their
dead. They buried them in triumph, they buried them in confidence,
they buried them in hope, they buried them with sorrow, but
also with rejoicing, looking for the day when we shall all
be with Christ. It meant something to him. We
conducted ourselves in such a way that this man, and I saw him
last week, and he says, I've never gotten over that service.
And that's the way you ought to react and conduct yourself
so that the people who watch us and who look at us and who
examine our faith at every turn will say, They believe in Christ. These people have been with the
Lord. And I admire you. I've had two funerals of dear
people from this church during the last two weeks. Two in the
last two weeks. And the conduct of our people
is just the best. And I thank God for it. But I
think it's their attitude toward death. It helps them to hold
loosely to these things. They've got to go. They've got
to go. And we regret their having to
go, and we sorrow, but not as those who have no hope. We turn
loose of these things for a little while. We're going to get them
back someday. We're going to get them back,
and we're willing to give them up for a little while that we
might have them forever. That's what Paul said to Philemon
about Onesiphorus, when the slave ran away, And Paul said, well,
he just left you for a little while that he might be with you
forever. And that's that we rejoice in
that. Now the third thing, I believe, if we think about death, if we
think about the end of the journey, if we think about the end of
life, it next of all will discourage sin. It will discourage sin. Now, I want to ask you this. How quickly would a man sign
a dishonest business transaction if he had to sign it on his coffin
lid? How quickly do you think he'd sign it? Give that a lot
of thought. Suppose you have an opportunity to make a great
deal of money by taking advantage of someone else. Suppose you
had an opportunity to participate in something that was completely
out of order. I wonder how quickly you'd sign
your name to it if you had to use your own coffin lid as a
desk. You'd think a long time about
it, wouldn't you? Well, thinking about death and
eternity and judgment will discourage sin. And then in the last place,
it'll make us ever more grateful to Jesus Christ for giving us
a hope in death. The death of Christ, as I think
about my own death, means more to me. The sacrifice of Christ,
as I think about my own death, makes it mean more to me. The
sacrifice of my Lord Jesus Christ, as I look at my own death in
the very near future, oh, it makes that cross more important.
It makes that blood more important. It makes that burial and resurrection
more important. All the time. I went out to Rose
Hill just a few days ago, and I had plenty of time. It was
a beautiful day towards the late afternoon, and I decided just
to walk all over the cemetery and read the tombstone. And it
amazed me at the people I knew and the people I personally had
buried out there. It was most amazing. It seemed
like to me every fourth or fifth or sixth grave that I came to
was a person that I knew here in this town. I'm not talking
about the ones buried a long time ago. I'm talking about the
ones buried lately. And many of them, I conducted
their services. Many of them were members of
churches where I preached and meetings that I've held. And
it was breathtaking to me. And then I thought it won't be
long before more is going to be added. Now, we're going to
think about this. Are we going to be mature Christians? Are we going to be mature individuals
and enjoy our present company and enjoy worshiping God, enjoy
fellowshipping together, enjoy the preaching of the gospel,
conduct ourselves as Christians ought to, and prepare for the
day when they plant us in the south and our souls go to be
with God? And this whole thing is wound
up. Now let's look at the death of man. It says here, it is appointed
unto men once to die. That's a fact around which I
cannot guess. It's a fact I've got to meet
head on and deal with it. And deal with it honestly and
deal with it truthfully. It is appointed unto me once
to die. Now then, why must I die? Where'd this fatal blow come
from? The angels do not die. God doesn't die. Why did God
make me so skillfully and so wonderfully only to endure for
a day and go back to the dust from whence I came? Well, first
of all, I die because I sin. Romans chapter 5, turn over there
with me. Romans 5, verse 12. We die because
we sin. Romans 5.12 says, wherefore,
as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin. So death passed upon all men,
for that all have sinned. Man committed suicide in the
Garden of Eden. Sin is the mother of death. Sin
was brought forth, death was brought forth by sin. So we die
because we sin. Now, we die at God's appointed
time. I read a moment ago from Job
14, the number of our months are with God. Our bounds are
set. We cannot pass. The time, the
place, the means of death are in his hands. Now, they couldn't
be in better hands. I know it would be better. I
think all of us will agree to this. It would be better if this
whole fellowship right here could just die right now. together
and go to be with the Lord. That would be better, wouldn't
it? It's tough giving them up one at a time because of the
separation. That's what makes it difficult.
Plagues and death around me fly, but till he please, I cannot
die. Not a single arrow can hit till
the God of glory sees fit. That's so. And I'm glad death's
in his hands. I'll be perfectly honest with
you. I would not let my life, my death, the day of my death,
be given over to my hands. I don't have the wisdom. I don't
have the understanding. I would, I would give, I would
mistakenly, mistakenly give all of you 80 or 90 years, and it
wouldn't be best. God knows what's best. He knows
when a man's journey has ended. He knows when a man's youthfulness
is over. He knows when a man's race is
run. He knows when a man's job is done. He knows when a man's
task is accomplished. He knows when a man's death can
do the most good for others and bring the most glory to himself.
Now, are we willing to leave it in his hands? Are we going
to murmur and grumble and complain? One person said, When Robbie
died at 21 years of age, a lady met me down at the funeral home.
It's strange how some people try to comfort you. It'd be better
if they stayed home. But one lady walked up and said,
well, it's a shame his life was cut short. Well, now, it's your
privilege to believe that sort of Tommy Rod if you want to.
But I do not believe a child of God's life is cut short. I
believe a child of God runs his race, finishes his His journey
accomplishes his past, and the Lord takes him home. His days
are set, the number of his months are with God. Do you think David
Brainerd's life was cut short? He died at 29, one of God's greatest
missionaries. Do you think Robert Murray McShane's
life was cut short? He died at 29, one of God's greatest
preachers. Do you think Charles Haddon Spurgeon,
do you think God made a mistake by taking that man home when
he was the same age as Woody Thompson is right now? That's
right. Charles Haddon Spurgeon died
when he was the same age as Woody back then. Now you think about
that. You think, oh, think of the years
of usefulness ahead of him. You're thinking like a man now,
you're not thinking like God. His day was done. His journey
was run. His task was finished. His God
knew that. But we want man's life to be
in our hands. We haven't got sense enough to
run our own lives, let alone everybody else's. Let's leave
it in the hands of the Lord. I don't know about tomorrow,
but I know who holds tomorrow, and I'm willing for him to hold
it. Let's not murmur and complain and grumble and find fault with
God's wisdom. He's either God or he's not God.
Now death brings total loss or total gain. Now this is the way
I think we should look at death. Death brings total loss or total
gain. For the unbeliever, death brings
total loss. Loss of everything that he has.
Loss of everything that he needs. Loss of everything that he loves. Loss of everything that he wants,
loss of everything that he can enjoy. That's what death means
to an unsaved, unbelieving, unregenerated person. Bring total loss. He
has nothing whatsoever. They tell him he's gone to his
reward. He has no reward. Total loss. He loses his family,
he loses his friends, he loses his life, he loses his happiness,
he loses his treasure, he loses the mercy of God which he's enjoyed
on this earth, and it rains on the just and the unjust. He totally
loses everything. Death has no good side to the
unbeliever. There's nothing good about it.
It's all dismal. It's all failure. It's all total
loss for an unbeliever. That's what death is. You cannot
stand over an unbeliever and bless what God curses. You cannot
do it. You cannot. It's the most hopeless,
helpless feeling in the world to stand over an unbeliever and
try to bless what God will not bless. But now for the believer,
what will death mean to you, Ava, or to me, or to you, Rodney?
What will it mean? I'll tell you what it'll mean
to us. Death is to lay aside my weakness and be clothed in
his strength. Death is to lay aside my ignorance. And I don't care what you men
and women know, you're still ignorant, and so am I. We only
know in part, but then we shall know as we have been known. You
can ask me a thousand questions about this Bible and about God
and about salvation, eternal life, which I cannot answer.
I cannot even deal with them. But brother, if I die tonight,
ask me tomorrow. And I'll tell you anything you
want to know. Because I'm going to know as I have been known.
Now I see through a glass dimly, hazy. I just, I can't see things
clearly like I'd like to. That's really unknown out yonder
to me. But if I leave here today, you ask me tomorrow what I see.
I'm going to see Him in all His glory. I'm going to see Him in
all His beauty. If I were to see Him now in His
glory, it'd slay me, because my flesh couldn't stand it. But
I'm going to have a body just like His. And I shall see Him
and know Him. I'm going to leave all my pain.
I'm going to leave all my fears. I'm going to leave all my sins.
I'm going to leave all my trials. And I'm going to be clothed with
eternal glory. What is death to me? It's total,
complete, absolute gain. I lose nothing. I gain everything
forever. Christ said, He that liveth and
believeth in me shall never die. He came to Mary and Martha after
their brother had passed away, and Martha said, Lord, if you'd
have been here, my brother wouldn't have died. He said, Martha, I'm
the resurrection and the life. I am the resurrection. I am present
resurrection, past, future. I am resurrection. He that liveth
and believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
I'm going to gain life, gain my Lord, gain my family, gain
my friends. Everything is going to be gained
for me. Let's look at this next thing
briefly. It is appointed unto men once to die. Watch this now. But after this, the judgment. Now that's what makes us afraid,
isn't it? Huh? Come on, let's be truthful
about it. Let's be honest about it. What
is there about death that we fear? What is there about death? If not, we say, well, we hate
to leave our families. Well, that's part of it. We hate
to step into the unknown. That's part of it. But I'll tell
you what's preying on everybody's mind. The judgment. The judgment. Revelation chapter
20. Revelation chapter 20, listen
to it. Revelation 20 says, verse 11,
I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose
face the earth and the heavens fled away. There was found no
place for them. I saw the dead, small and great,
stand before God, and the books were opened. And another book
was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged
out of those things which were written in the books according
to their works. There's the problem is. Isn't that it right there?
The Lord Jesus Christ wasn't afraid to die because he was
perfect. Death had no sting. Judgment had no fear. Totally
God-like. And I believe right now, if any
of you sitting out there, if you could look back into your
ancestry, back to Adam, and into your life, prior to this day
and find not one single stain as perfect as God. Why, he'd
say, I'd just as soon live with him as live down here. In fact,
I'd rather. Let's go. Somebody, is that train leaving
for heaven? Get me a ticket, I'm ready to
go. But we can't get to heaven without going through that judgment.
And we're going to be measured, we're going to be tried, we're
going to be examined. We're going to be observed according
to our works. And boy, they don't shape up
too well, do they? Huh? Come on. According to what's
written in the books. And you know, you and I know,
the fellow sitting next to you don't know what's written under
your name, but we do, don't we? We do. So it's impossible to
escape judgment. But now wait a minute. It's not
impossible to be found not guilty Are you interested in being found
not guilty? That's the thing. Now, all right, it says over
here in 1 Samuel 2, don't turn to it, let me quote it to you.
If a man sins against a man, the judge shall judge between
them. But when a man sins against God,
who's going to stand for him? Picture this as the judgment.
Here is the word, the book's open, and here we are out here
before God. This is God standing behind the
Lord Jesus, behind the great judgment bar. There we are. Who's
going to stand for us? Mother, would you stand for me? I'm sorry, son, I can't even
stand for myself. Dad, would you tell the Lord
what a good boy I was? I'm sorry, son, I can't lie to
God. Preacher, I was in church pretty
regularly, wasn't I? Would you speak to the Lord for
me? I'm sorry, fella, I'd like to, but I'm looking for some
help myself. I'm looking. See, I'm under arrest,
too. Well, what about, Lord, what
about my deeds? What about my religion? Who shall stand for it? I'll tell you, my friend, Read
the next verse in our text, Hebrews chapter 9, verse 28. So Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him. There's
your mediator, there's someone to stand for you, there's a perfect
representative, there's one to take your place before the judge.
Do you want him? That's the gospel. Christ our
Lord came into this world. and assumed human nature, the
likeness of sinful flesh, and he took our place and died on
the cross and obeyed the law. Now then, when God is pleased
to take me out of this life, when I die and I stand before
him at the judgment and every man shall give an account of
himself to God, Jesus Christ is going to stand in my place
and give an account, not of me, but of what he did and what he
gave and what he accomplished on the cross. Now down in Chattanooga,
Tennessee, in Rock City, some of you have been there. Don's
been there, and Ronnie, and Martha, and some of the rest of you.
If you remember, as you walk out towards this place called
Lover's Leaf, and you can see I ain't no lover because I didn't
leave. See there? So that proves it. You walk towards
Lover's Leaf, and you come through a tunnel of colors. There's blue,
and yellow, and red. And if you look, the whole landscape,
you can see five or six states from this spot. But as you look
through this blue glass, everything's blue. Everything out there's
blue. Then you step to the red, and everything's red. And then
you step to the yellow, and everything's yellow. Nothing. As you look
through that glass, everything's blue. Through the blue glass.
Everything's red. Nothing is any other color but
red. When God Almighty views me through
the blood of Christ, everything is red. Everything is pure. Everything is clean. You see
that? God cannot see my sins. God cannot see my guilt. God
cannot see my transgression. When he looks through the blood
of Christ, everything is clean. Everything is pure. So what I
want between God and me is Christ. When I stood there a few weeks
ago on top of that mountain, there was the scene out before
me. Here I was, there was the red glass between me and everything
I saw. And when I stand before God at
the judgment, God is going to look at me through Christ. And
everything is going to be pure. Get Christ between you and God.
That's what you want. As God gave the law at Mount
Sinai, the people were out there, the Lord here, they backed up
and they said, Moses, get between us and God and be our mediator. Now, that's what you want. Now,
you're all right. If you've got the church between you and God,
you're in trouble. If you've got the preacher between you
and God, you're in trouble. If you've got the law between
you and God, you're in trouble, because it won't hold back the
wrath of God. If you've got your deeds between
you and God, you're in trouble. But if Christ is between you
and God, you're all right. You have nothing to fear. You have nothing to fear. As
it is appointed unto men, once to die, and after that the judgment,
So Christ died to bear the sin of many, and unto them that look
for him he's going to appear the second time. Watch this last
line now. This is the important one. He's
going to appear the second time without sin unto salvation. Death is total loss for the unbeliever,
but for the believer, for the man who has Christ between him
and God, It's complete gain. It's all gain. It's all good. The sting of death's been removed.
So don't look on it with discouragement and hatred. Look on it with expectancy. You know what Dwight L. Moody
said the day he died? Somebody came in and they said,
Mr. Moody, you'll soon be leaving the land of the living and going
to the land of the dead. He said, my friend, I think you have that backward.
He said, I'm leaving the land of the dead, I'm going to the
land of the living. He said, this is not the day
of my death, this is my coronation day. I'm going to be crowned,
for I shall reign with Christ forever. Our Father, bless the
message. Give us wisdom. Strengthen these
frail, weak minds of ours. Lift up these discouraged spirits. Let us look upon this body as
a tent, a tabernacle, soon to be destroyed. Let us look upon
that building of God, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Grant, O Lord, that we shall
with Abraham look for a city whose builder and maker is God. Give us happy days, joy, fellowship,
but let us have a sober mind. Let us have a serious mind, one
that dwells upon things that are certain, things that are
sure, things that cannot fail. teach us to number our days that
we may apply our hearts to wisdom. Give us hours of praise and joy
and rejoicing. Give us hours of serious dedication
and consideration. Let our lives be so lived that
we may be a blessing to those about us and accomplish that
to which thou hast entrusted us. We pray in the name that
is above every name, the name of our Master, our Lord, our
Savior, the one who stands between us and thee, our Mediator, by
whom our prayers are heard, in whom is all our hope and confidence,
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, the blood of the
everlasting covenant, Jesus Christ our Lord. 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.

Broadcaster:
Henry T. Mahan / Zebulon Grace Church
Theology:
#Atonement #Soteriology #Justification
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Books by Henry Mahan

1co 01v01-02 Christ and Him Crucified.pdf PDF · 0.1 MB
1co 01v01-05 Christ, Our First Love.pdf PDF · 0.1 MB
1co 01v15 By the Grace of God, I Am What I Am.pdf PDF · 0.1 MB
1co 01v17 Christ Sent Me to Preach the Gospel.pdf PDF · 0.2 MB
1co 01v17-18 The Preaching of the Cross.pdf PDF · 0.1 MB
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