Intro: How many can say to themselves that they are tired. You are overwhelmed and worn down physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Today Church I want to talk to you about being “Worn Down but not Wore Out”. We are living in one of the most glorious times in the history of the Church; we are seeing the fulfillment of prophecy as well as an ever changing World around us with the increase of technological advances and knowledge. We stand at the threshold of the latter rain out pouring of the power of the Holy Spirit as well as the second coming of Christ. It is these events that have caused Satan to wage a more advanced war on the Church and its Saints and the people of this World. Satan is holding back as many as he can from finishing the race, by wearing them down in their bodies, mind, and spirit.
I. This adversary of the Most Holy God has been warring against God and His people since the beginning.
A. In Genesis 3 we are introduced to that old devil, but before he was the father of lies he was a prince of praise.
1. There are two books in the Bible that give us detailed insight into who Satan was before his fall as well as a detailed synopsis of his fall.
2. Ezekiel 28:13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone [was] thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets (tambourine) and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. (14) Thou [art] the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee [so]: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. (15) Thou [wast] perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. (16) By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. (17) Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
3. Isaiah 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! [how] art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! (13) For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:(14) I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. (15) Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
4. From the text we see that Satan, who is formally called Lucifer which means “the shining one” was once an angel, he was created perfect and beautiful, covered in precious jewels. From the text we see that he had what many believe to be built in musical instruments used to sing the Glories and Praises of God almighty, which would put him in the category of a music director; which would explain his use of music today.
5. It is within these verses that Satan was called the “anointed cherub that covereth” from this we see that he had the high position as a covering cherub of the Throne of God, and was anointed. As far as scripture indicates he was the only cherub to be described as “anointed” which it serves to note that scripture never indicates that he lost that “anointing” which would explain his power.
6. But this anointed cherub that covered the throne of God and sang His praises would soon find himself captivated by his own beauty and power, and sought to over throw God and set himself up as god.
B. Which brings us to the fall of Satan; this of course is a much-debated subject in theology to the exact time when he fell. A debate of time that I will not bring to this pulpit, but rather leave it to the lecture halls and group studies, but rather I will only cover his fall as recorded in scripture.
1. With his pride growing, Satan would tell histories first 5 lies as well as the first fairy tale, which was his “I will” statements, these lies were so convincing that not only did he believe them, but was able to convince a third of the angels as recorded in Rev.12:4.
2. As that old serpent began to assembly his army for a hostile takeover of heaven, God had his army ready to fight. This war in heaven is covered in the book of (which reads in) Revelation 12:7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, (8) And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. (9) And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
3. Satan’s fall from heaven would be as lightening hitting the earth. It was quick and sudden. God doesn’t play when it comes to rebellion; it’s either Gods way or the highway.
C. Satan’s lies would not only convince a third of the angels. But also the apple of God’s eyes which was man.
1. We all know the story in Genesis 3; Satan comes to Eve in the form of a serpent which is a type of deviousness, and convinces her to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. She eats and in turns entices her husband Adam to partake; he does thus resulting in sin and rebellion.
2. This very act is when they lost their perfect bodies and now sin, sickness, disease, pain, death, and worst of all separation from God, which would become the inheritance of man for breaking the first commandment giving by God to man which was not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Man is now cursed with sin and is separated from God.
3. The inheritance of man was now turned over to Satan thus the title “prince of this world” is given, and a once perfect planet is now corrupt just as man; with Satan as their master. Every generation since would be born into a life of slavery to sin.
II. Now this evil one that tried to over throw God comes with many titles.
A. In scripture he is given the title of “accuser of the brethren” Rev. 12:10, “adversary” 1 Peter 5:8, “angel of the bottomless pit” Rev. 9:11, “Beelzebub” Matt. 12:24, “Belial” 2 Corinthians. 6:15, “the devil” Matt. 4:1, “the enemy” Matt. 13:39, “evil spirit” 1 Sam. 16:14, “father of lies” John 8:44, “great red dragon” Rev. 12:3, “murderer” John 8:44, “old serpent” Rev. 12:9, “power of darkness” Col. 1:13, “prince of this world” John 12:31, “power of the air” Eph.2:2, “ruler of darkness of this world” Eph 6:12, “tempter” Matt. 4:3, “the god of this world” 2Cor. 4:4, “angel of light”2 Corinthians 11:14,“son of the morning” Isaiah 14:12 which might be why so many of us have a days starting off so bad because the son of the morning starts on us as soon as we wake up!
1. All his names give us a glimpse into his true goals and intentions for mankind. He hates us and wants nothing more than to steal, kill, and destroy us any way he can.
2. Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places].
3. We are told in 1 Peter 5:8 ¶ Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
4. Which brings us to his methods of attack on the believers which are the…
III. The attack of the body!
A. Sickness is a product of a fallen human condition, but sickness and disease are also linked to demonic forces.
1. In Job 2:7, Job was afflicted by Satan with sore boils from the top of his head to the sole of his feet.
2. Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 was buffeted with infirmities from a messenger of Satan.
3. In Luke 13:11-16 we find a woman who is bowed together for 18 years due to a direct assault from Satan.
4. Through out the Gospels we are given other cases of infirmities and oppressions from epilepsy to paralysis.
B. From Biblical times to present day Satan has not ceased from using this mode of attack upon the believers.
1. These days we are seeing an overwhelming increase of sickness in the Church. Cancer, diabetes, and other debilitating sicknesses are afflicting our brothers and sisters.
2. I believe that Satan has stepped up his production of sickness, taking that which is already there due to the fallen nature and evolving it in to more serious complications.
3. Weakening the body of the believers as well as their faith.
4. Never in history have we seen such an outbreak of sickness and diseases such as cancer and this new SARS virus. Every time we turn on the news we here of new cases of sicknesses and more advanced cancers.
5. Satan is fighting and is playing dirty.
C. I want to encourage those of you that are worn down due to sickness, and feel as if you can’t go another mile in this race.
1. Satan wants nothing more than for you to give up, to throw in the towel, and succumb to that infirmity.
2. To loose your faith, ministry, and your prize.
3. You didn’t get this far to give up now, throughout scripture we are told to pray without ceasing to pray the prayer of faith and believe.
4. Now is not the time to say “I give up” but rather it is now time to proclaim that “NO WEAPON THAT IS FORMED AGAINST YOU SHALL PROSPER” you are more than a conquer in Christ Jesus by whose stripes you were healed by.
5. Let it be known to those that are sick in body that Jesus Christ the Great Physician is still taking new patients and all it will cost you is your faith in Him. One drop of Jesus’ blood is stronger and more powerful than any sickness our body or Satan can throw at God.
6. Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
7. If your healing doesn’t come here on earth it will in glory, but don’t give the devil place, but resist him.
IV. From the attack of the body we go to the attack of the mind.
A. 2 Corinthians 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (4) (For the weapons of our warfare [are] not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds ;) (5) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
1. The attack of the mind will lead us down a path of mental and emotional frustration and instabilities.
2. It is here in the mind where the true battle lies. It is here where we make our decisions and choices for our lives, rather they be good or bad.
3. Satan will invade our thoughts with the intent to wear us down.
4. The head is considered to be the center of life for the body. The head supplies the life and functions for the body.
5. If the head doesn’t work properly neither will the body.
6. In Bible times an enemy wasn’t considered defeated until his head was severed from the body. It was to show the severing of power and life, and then would victory be proclaimed.
7. When David cut Goliath’s head off it symbolized the destruction of the Philistine army.
8. When Satan takes the mind, the victory that Christ gives us is forfeited.
B. His tactics are blunt and powerful weakening the young and the old.
1. Never in history I have I seen an overwhelming display of mental and emotional unrest.
2. There are young children on medication for what was once considered adult problems.
3. We have unstable teenagers that display aggression and hostility.
4. Adults that become confused and break down.
5. It doesn’t matter what the social class or race children to adults everywhere are being overwhelmed mentally and emotionally, leading to substance, sexual, and bodily abuse.
C. Satan is ripping the Church apart from within the Believers using two modes of attack which are depression and anxiety, which will fuel other mental and emotionally attacks. These forms of attack have become silent killers within the body of Christ.
a) Depression here in America will affect over 20 million people a year. 1 in 6 adults will have depression in there life time.
1. It is from depression that 1 in 13 teenagers will take there own life.
2. An average of 1 person every 18 minutes will kill themselves, as well as every 2 hours and 12 minutes a young person will have taken there life. It was an average of 13% of young people in the total population in the year 2000 that had killed themselves this is an epidemic.
3. Depression has crippled many ministers and laity. As well as destroyed many marriages and lives among ministers and laity.
4. Depression will kill the vision of the Church and cause it to grow cold and fall apart.
5. It is from depression that many will never realize there full potential in Christ. Many ministers and lay people will never fulfill there calling and many prayers will be given up on.
6. Depression will silence faith and weaken the mind.
b) Then there is the other attack anxiety.
1. Anxiety will affect 1 in 8 Americans between the ages of 18 and 54; this totals over 19 million people.
2. Anxiety disorders will cost the US over $46.6 billion dollars annually.
3. Anxiety will cripple a believer and wrestle with their faith. It will cause them to sway there judgment and seek to take control of their situations, and push God out.
4. Anxiety will cause us to be angry and frustrated, causing us to do things rashly; which most likely becomes a wreck less act, which we will later regret.
c) It is from these two attacks that many will also wrestle with fear, condemnation, doubt, and low self esteem and other mental and emotional disorders.
1. Satan will combine all these attacks together to weaken the believer.
2. To make goals unreachable and dreams unobtainable.
3. He will remind us of our past and our failures. Telling us that God doesn’t love us anymore, and is displeased with us. Satan will tell us that is why we are having so many problems.
4. Satan will cause us to give up and fall short. Causing us to question God, to question the pastor, and to question our selves.
5. He will fill our mind with garbage, to the point where we feel that we are about to snap and break down.
6. It is these elements that drive many to suicide, sexual perversion, and chemical and substance abuse within the body of Christ.
7. It is why we see unwed mothers and single parents.
8. Why the Church has a hard time keeping new converts and young people.
D. The war of the mind is a constant battle, but doesn’t have to be a consistent war, for it says in 1 Peter 1:13 ¶ Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
1. We are to protect our minds and the minds of those in the church by putting on the Helmet of Salvation and teaching others to do the same, instead of neglecting them. Giving them the necessary tools to aid in this battle.
2. We are to let the Lord protect our minds in the midst of the battle for it says in Psalms 140:7 O GOD the Lord, the strength of my salvation, thou hast covered my head in the day of battle.
3. And to let the …Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
4. In the midst of the battle of the mind, be still and know that He is God.
5. Let me give you an example to what that verse is saying. When a child comes to its parents hurt and crying uncontrollably. The parent will begin to speak soothing words to the child to calm it down and then ask the child what’s wrong.
6. God is like the parent in this analogy, when we are overwhelmed in our mind with troubles, before we react we need to come before God and be still, and let Gods soothing Word comfort us, and then tell him what is wrong.
7. Then you tell that old devil when he starts messing with our mind … greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
8. That God shall supply all your needs according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus.
9. Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
10. Romans 8:1 ¶ [There is] therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
11. 2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
12. Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. (6) In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
13. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man [be] in Christ, [he is] a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.
14. Don’t give up and don’t give in for weeping may endureth for the night but joy cometh in the morning.
15. Don’t put up with him, but put him out.
V. If we let him get us physically and mentally than he has us spiritually.
A. All these attacks combined are to weaken us spiritually.
1. Causing our prayer life to become more mechanical and stagnant and less involved. This weakening will stripe us from the joy of communicating our needs to God for ourselves and others. What was once a fervent prayer life becomes monotonous and cumbersome dialogue.
2. Satan will steal our joy in praising and worshiping God, instead of worship and praise we become ungrateful and demanding. Cursing and back lashing God for not meeting our needs.
3. Satan will then stripe us from our desire to read the Word of God. What used to be chapters and Books a day become a few chapters and verses a week, until we don’t even pick the Bible up for long periods of time. Causing us to grow weaker, starving ourselves from a proper Spiritual diet.
4. All of these elements combined are to separate us from God and the fellowship of other believers. Weakening our faith and causing us to stubble and fall and leave the flock.
5. Satan is ruthless and relentless from keeping us from finishing this race and will wear us down until we are worn out.
6. He will curse and accuse us before God.
B. There are many that have come to this point, where their relationship with Christ is at a far distance.
1. Many have had such severe wars within that they are broken. They sought for help in the altars, praying and asking God to let the Man of God know of there pain and call them out or just for any one to see there hurt.
2. Week after week the Devil wars with them until they become hard and bitter. They let themselves become a floor mat for the devil to wipe his feet on. Eventually allowing them self to get involved in activities they once found offensive.
3. Many young people have come to this point and are involving themselves in sexual perversion and other worldly enticements to fill a void, because they felt that God and the Church had let them down and cared nothing for them.
4. Even adults have come to this point and share the same feelings, looking for comfort in all the wrong places, replacing God with pills, alcohol, drugs, and perversion.
5. Satan as a lion is on the prowl looking for weak and staggering sheep. He is looking for those that are struggling with loss, sickness, or any other heart ache.
6. He wants nothing more but to devour these sheep, luring them away from the flock and the Shepherd. He is walking these aisles looking for those that are weak. To take you away from the Good Shepherd, our Lord Jesus Christ.
7. If there is any one here that feels they are weak and are coming to a breaking point or are border lining, JUST HOLD ON HELP IS ON THE WAY REINFORCEMENTS ARE BEING DISPATCHED!
C. The devil has had you on trial and has accused you enough. Now it is time for our advocate Jesus Christ the righteous to stand up and speak His case.
1. Luke 10:19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
2. John 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
3. You don’t have to take Satan’s abuse any more, I know your tired but just dig a little deeper within and tell the devil your not going to take it any more. (Examples of Hero’s Movies, like Rocky)
4. Tell the devil you’re free and that you have the victory.
5. You are not giving up or giving in for you are a fighter. Let that last bit of strength within you be drawn out and knock the devil off his feet, and place him back under yours.
6. You are healed, you are saved, God does hear your cry, you are valuable to God He hasn’t forgot about you.
7. Stand on the Word and hold onto your faith in Christ. The battle is not yours, but it belongs to the Lord.
8. Let me tell conclude my opening verse with last 2 verses of Daniel chapter 7. It says in Daniel 7:26 But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy [it] unto the end. (27) And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom [is] an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.
Conclusion: It says in Isaiah 14:16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, [and] consider thee, [saying, Is] this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; What that verse is saying is when that man of sin is revealed we will have to squint our eyes to see him for is nothing in comparison to God or to Christ or to the Holy Spirit. Jesus said in John 12:31 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. (32) And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all [men] unto me. On the day of Christ’s resurrection Satan was dethroned as the prince of these world and King Jesus took his seat at the right hand of the Father with Satan as his foot stole. Satan may have bruised Christ’s heel, but Satan’s head is now being continually bruised as a foot
