                    [Times Square Church Pulpit Series]

                       Who Told You You Are Unworthy?

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By David Wilkerson
April 7, 1997
__________

          Who told you you are unworthy -- no good, useless,
          unusable to God? Who keeps reminding you you're weak,
          helpless, a total failure? Who told you you'll never
          measure up to God's standard?

          We all know where this voice comes from: It is the
          devil himself! He's the one who keeps you convinced God
          is angry with you. You hear his lies all day long --
          and they come straight from the pits of hell!

          Who tells choir members they're not worthy to sing
          praises in God's house? Who tells musicians they're not
          worthy to play instruments of worship? Who tells
          elders, ushers, Sunday school teachers, volunteers,
          people in ministry, people in their pews they are
          unworthy? Who reminds them of every sin and failure,
          accusing them: "You have unclean hands, an impure
          heart! You have no right to touch the holy things of
          God. You are a disgrace to the Lord!"

          That is the hounding voice of the devil -- the accuser
          of the brethren! He tells you, "God can't use you until
          you sit down and get this thing figured out. You can't
          even come into his house until you've made yourself
          worthy!"

          Many people are reading this message right now who have
          been convinced by the devil they are unworthy ever to
          be used of God. Does this describe you? Perhaps you
          feel unworthy even to be called a child of the Lord.
          When you look at your spiritual life, all you see is
          inconsistency. And the enemy keeps sending a constant
          barrage of lies at you -- reminding you of your
          failures, always harassing your spirit.

          Now you've begun to think, "I love the Lord with
          everything that's in me. But there are still failures
          in my life! I'm not a consistently faithful servant. I
          still have to battle great temptations, things that
          discourage me. I'm never going to measure up. I'll
          never be what God wants me to be -- and what I want to
          be!"

          Let me stop here and confess something to you: I have
          never once, in all my years of ministry, felt worthy of
          my high calling as a preacher! Throughout my service to
          the Lord, I have been barraged by accusations that I am
          unworthy to speak for God -- unworthy to preach, to
          teach others, to be a leader.

          Yet I don't know of any sincere Christian ever used by
          God who hasn't experienced this. William Bradford, the
          great Puritan minister, said, "I think sometimes I have
          the blackest heart in all of Europe." He kept hearing
          the accusation that he was completely unworthy. And
          every time he spoke or preached, something churned in
          his stomach -- an anxiety, a fear, a trepidation about
          standing before people. That great preacher felt an
          incredible sense of unworthiness!

          Of course, in our flesh we are unworthy. We can never
          be worthy on our own. But many believers allow Satan to
          rob them of precious life by believing his lies about
          how God sees them. They believe they can never be
          worthy in his sight.

          Whenever such downcast Christians hear strong preaching
          against sin and compromise, they immediately fall under
          condemnation. They think, "I'm still weak. I don't have
          total victory. I'm stuck in a continual warfare!"

          Then another thought comes flooding in: "You must sit
          down -- drop out of all service -- until you get things
          right. If you continue trying to do God's work and
          worship while you're in this struggle, you'll be
          judged!"

          Occasionally, pastors have to ask church workers to
          "sit down" for a season -- that is, to set aside their
          ministry duties -- in order to put certain aspects of
          their life in order. At Times Square Church, we do this
          when someone is blind to his sin and doesn't see it's
          wrong. And sometimes we have to do it when a person is
          living in open, flaunted sin, with no sign of
          repentance. That has to be dealt with.

          But I'm talking about something else entirely --
          something every Christian must deal with. The fact is,
          if every child of God listened to the accusations of
          the devil, all ministries would have to shut down
          completely! There would be no church -- because there
          would be no one to stand in the pulpit, no one to sit
          in the choir loft, no one to usher, no one to teach
          Sunday school -- and no one in the pews! We all would
          be lied out of the blessings of God -- and the Lord
          wouldn't get any of the praises he ought to have from
          us.

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                           I Have Three Questions
                            I Want to Ask You:

                      -------------------------------

            1. st Question: Was Satan able to keep you from
               opening up this letter? Did his usual accusations
               make you want to avoid reading my message?
               Evidently not, if you are reading it right now.

            2. nd Question: Has the devil been able to stop you
               halfway to church, fill your head with
               accusations, turn you around and send you home?
               Has he flooded you with thoughts like: "You can't
               go to church today -- you can't sing in the choir,
               teach Sunday school, serve communion, sit in the
               pew and worship -- because you still don't have
               things right! You still have inconsistencies,
               sinful desires in your life. Your heart isn't
               ready to hear the word preached!"

               Even if you didn't go to church that particular
               Sunday, I'm sure the devil wasn't able to keep you
               away for long.

            3. rd Question: After you arrived at church, greeted
               a few saints and prepared to enter the sanctuary,
               did the devil hinder you from going in? Did he
               fill your head with thoughts such as, "I'm not
               worthy to worship the Lord today. I still have too
               many battles, too many unsettled struggles. I
               can't raise my hands in worship while these things
               are going on inside me!"

          So, did you grab your coat, gather your family and head
          home then? Probably not. Most likely, Satan left you
          alone at that point. You simply took your seat and
          settled in to worship, not bothered by anything at all.

          But after a little while, the accuser began to move in.
          He waited until the opening song -- when you opened
          your mouth to praise the Lord -- and hit you with his
          strongest lies!

          You see, Satan knows he can't stop you from getting out
          of bed. He knows he can't keep you from going to
          church. And he knows he can't turn you back once you
          get there. So he reserves all his serpentine venom for
          the moment you're standing before others, singing,
          "Blessed be the name of the Lord! Magnify his name.
          Majesty!"

          Satan knows we delight in praising God. And he knows
          God has great delight in our worship. The Lord says of
          his people: "To the saints that are in the earth, and
          to the excellent, in whom is all my delight" (Psalm
          16:3). The Lord delights in our praises!

          And that is exactly what the devil is after in you. He
          knows he can't drive you into the arms of some pimp or
          prostitute. He can't entice you into entering some bar
          or nightclub. No -- he knows your great delight is in
          worshiping God. And he wants more than anything to
          destroy that worship!

          That's why he sends his fiercest principalities and
          powers to accuse you in God's own house. I believe
          lying spirits are on assignment against every devoted
          believer who attends a church where the gospel is
          preached without compromise.

          The lying spirits try everything to sabotage your
          worship. Their accusations never let up: "You have no
          right to praise a holy God. You still don't have total
          victory, even after all these years. Your joy is phony.
          You're putting it on -- it's all an act! Look at you,
          singing and praising God, acting so pious. You
          unworthy, sinful phony! Sit down and keep quiet. If
          people only knew what you're really like -- the jokes
          you listen to on your job, the mean things you say to
          your spouse, the way you yell at your children. You
          have Jesus on your lips, but Judas in your heart!"

          You are shaken by this hissing voice. Then the sermon
          begins -- and with everything the preacher says, along
          comes the hissing sound again:

          "Ha! He's talking about you again, exposing you. You
          can't be faithful to God even for a week. Whenever you
          get a victory, it lasts for a few days -- but then
          you're back to your old ways again. You'll never
          change. You're a hindrance to this body of believers.
          You're going to destroy the anointing here!"

          You are condemned by these lies! The devil has
          succeeded in making you believe God is mad at you --
          that you have grieved the Holy Spirit. And that is
          exactly what Satan wants to happen!

          I recently read the story of a man I know, a tent
          evangelist. This minister was falsely accused of tax
          evasion. He was totally innocent -- in fact, he
          eventually was exonerated. But before that happened, he
          spent three years in prison.

          Talk about feeling unworthy: This man was humiliated.
          He had been a well-regarded preacher, a prophet, a soul
          winner -- but now everyone saw him as a crook. He was
          mocked and ridiculed even by his fellow prisoners. As
          he walked through the prison yard, he thought, "I must
          have done something terrible -- something I don't know
          about -- that angered the Lord so much to do this to
          me. He's made a spectacle of me before the whole world.
          I don't understand!"

          He felt so unworthy, so downcast, he contemplated
          suicide. Then, at his lowest point -- feeling totally
          useless, abandoned by God -- the Holy Ghost came to him
          in his jail cell. The Spirit reminded him of this
          scripture: "For the Son of man is not come to destroy
          men's lives, but to save them...." (Luke 9:56). The
          Lord whispered to this weary man, "My son, I didn't
          send you here to destroy you. I brought you here to
          save you."

          Suddenly, the Spirit fell upon the minister and
          prompted him to pray for the sick. He began praying
          every day for his fellow prisoners -- and they began
          asking him for prayer. Soon even the prison officials
          called on him to pray for their family members. He
          quickly became a model prisoner -- one of the most
          admired prisoners in the history of that prison system.

          Then another amazing thing happened. This minister had
          dropped out of school at a young age, never learning to
          read. All he knew how to read was certain portions of
          the Bible. Now, as he studied the scriptures in his
          cell, the words began to open up to him -- and he
          learned to read. He began to study God's word, and the
          Spirit opened up the Bible to him in miraculous ways.

          This man emerged from prison a hero. He had a touch of
          God on his life he'd never experienced before. Today he
          preaches to multitudes all over the world. And to think
          -- Satan tried to destroy this wonderful servant by
          telling him he was unworthy!

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                          If We Are to Resist the
                          Devil's Lies, We Have to
                           Accept That God Is Not
                            Out to Destroy Us!

                      -------------------------------

          We must begin with this truth! God isn't out to destroy
          us by allowing temptations in our life. No -- he loved
          us even when we were still in sin, alienated from him.
          He is not against us, but for us. He wants only to do
          good to us!

          I know what I'm talking about. Years ago, I had to
          battle Satan's lies over my own calling to ministry. It
          happened during the early days of the Teen Challenge
          ministry in New York. Our work with drug addicts and
          alcoholics kept me very busy, and I had to travel
          frequently to raise funds just to keep the ministry
          going.

          During that time Sister Kathryn Kuhlman asked me to
          preach at a crusade in Los Angeles. Just before I left
          for the west coast, I had a terrible argument with my
          wife, Gwen. I left her in tears as I drove away to the
          airport.

          On the flight to Los Angeles, I had an unsettled
          spirit. I had said some hurtful things to Gwen. And on
          top of that, I have always hated to fly. So by the time
          I arrived in California, I was weary and worn, cast
          down and feeling guilty.

          That night, as I stood up to preach to four thousand
          people, Satan's voice literally screamed in my head:
          "You're the biggest phony in America! How can you stand
          here acting so holy? How can you preach to this crowd,
          when you blew up at your wife and left her crying?
          You're not an overcomer -- you are a compromiser.
          You're a fake!"

          I froze in the pulpit. The accusing voice was so loud
          in my head, I couldn't shake it. It was all I could
          hear. In fact, I almost uttered the word myself:
          "Phony!"

          I just stood there dumbfounded. I couldn't preach. I
          turned and looked at Sister Kuhlman, who looked
          confused. I prayed silently, "God, help me. What's
          going on?"

          Finally, I closed my Bible -- and I walked away from
          the podium. As I went backstage, the voice continued
          its lies: "You're unworthy to speak! You have no right
          to preach the gospel until you get your life
          straightened out."

          Sister Kuhlman asked me, "David, what's wrong?" I
          answered, "I'm sorry -- I can't preach. I'm a phony! I
          don't know if I'll ever be worthy to preach again."

          On the plane going back to New York, I felt even more
          beaten down and unworthy. All I could think of were the
          areas in my life where I still struggled -- such as my
          temper, my covetousness. I knew the Lord had been
          dealing with me about these things -- and yet I never
          seemed to get victory over them. I thought I would
          never measure up. Before the plane ride was over, I
          believed I was totally unworthy of ministry.

          Satan had succeeded in making me feel unworthy in God's
          eyes. I had believed his accusations -- lies that had
          come straight from the pits of hell. But thank God --
          after I went home and made things right with Gwen, and
          spent time in prayer, the Lord began to whisper into my
          soul assurances of his love for me.

          As I went back to the streets to minister, God restored
          my confidence in his mercy and love. I began to trust
          the power of Jesus' blood to cleanse me -- and I
          recognized all of the devil's lies and accusations
          against me. Every time they came at me, I pushed them
          all aside!

          So -- have you been listening to Satan's lies about
          your walk with Jesus? Have you been thinking you're
          unworthy -- that you can't worship God until you make
          everything perfect? I've got good news for you: You
          already know Satan is a liar -- but I can prove to you
          that Jesus has made you worthy! He has made you clean
          -- fit to stand before him and serve him in
          faithfulness.

          How are you made worthy, you ask? You have been made
          worthy by Christ's sacrifice on the cross! And that
          gives you every right to worship and serve the Lord.

          "That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all
          pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and
          increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with
          all might, according to his glorious power, unto all
          patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; giving
          thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be
          partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
          who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and
          hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: in
          whom we have redemption through his blood, even the
          forgiveness of sins" (Colossians 1:10-14).

          The Greek rendering of this passage is: "The father has
          made us fit, worthy, qualified in character -- good
          enough to be partakers in the inheritance of the saints
          of light."

          What Jesus did on the cross qualifies you for eternal
          inheritance! And if God has qualified you for eternal
          life, then he has made you fit in character as well.
          You could "sit down" from ministry for a month, a year,
          a whole lifetime -- trying to make yourself fit for
          him, to work on your character, to become good enough
          to be used of God. But you can never qualify yourself!

          Even if you were able to win victories over every wrong
          thing you've done, every wrong thought you've had, you
          still wouldn't be qualified in God's sight. It is
          impossible. Why? God won't accept anyone's
          righteousness -- except that of his own son, Jesus
          Christ!

          You can't obtain the righteousness of Christ by working
          for it. The only way to obtain it is by believing in it
          and trusting God for it. It comes to you by faith. You
          see, not only are you saved by faith -- but you are
          also sanctified by faith, justified by faith, healed by
          faith, kept by faith. It all happens by faith in what
          Jesus has done!

                      -------------------------------

                          You Can Stand Before All
                           of Heaven and Earth in
                         Full Assurance of Faith!

                      -------------------------------

          Now you can say, "I haven't yet attained -- my flesh
          still resists the Spirit -- but I am redeemed by my
          savior's blood. I'm going to sing and shout praises to
          my God!"

          I ask you -- does this sound like what you pray each
          morning? Probably not. Most likely, you start your day
          by finding ways to continue striving. You bite the
          bullet, promising God you'll never go back to your old
          ways again.

          When you win an occasional victory, you feel good about
          it. You tell yourself, "I did it! I knew if I could
          just put my mind and heart to this matter, I would get
          the victory." And now the tendency is to feel so proud
          about what we've done, we go around judging others who
          aren't victorious.

          Over the years I've learned that some of the most
          vicious, judgmental Christians are those who have won
          self-proclaimed victories that actually were only
          partial victories. Those people thought they'd overcome
          -- but the truth was, they only suppressed their sinful
          habits. Those habits were buried deep down -- and later
          they burst out even stronger.

          When I was younger, whenever I needed a victory over
          something I would convince myself, "I'm going to do
          this if it kills me" -- and it almost would kill me! A
          month would go by, and I would think, "Those covetous
          thoughts are gone now. I'm free!" But it always proved
          to be only a partial victory.

          That's when discouragement would set in. I would cry,
          "Oh, God, I've begged you to deliver me, but you
          haven't. This thing is still in me!" And I would blame
          God.

          The fact was, I was so busy striving in my flesh to be
          righteous that I lost my understanding of true
          righteousness. And that is, the only righteousness the
          father accepts is that of his son, Jesus Christ! Only
          one man stands righteous before God -- and that is
          Jesus. And when we stand before the father, he accepts
          us only through Christ -- through his righteousness and
          victory.

          So, what must you do, you ask? First, don't listen to
          the devil's lies. And second, get up on your spiritual
          feet -- and start giving praise to the Lord! Say, "By
          my faith in the blood of Jesus, I receive the
          righteousness of Christ. He has made me fit, qualified,
          to worship and serve my Lord!"

          "In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the
          forgiveness of sins" (verse 14). Redemption means
          simply, "set free." We have been set free by Jesus'
          precious blood. And we have the right to stand against
          every accusation and say, "I'm not buying that, devil!
          You've accused me for the last time. My Bible says I'm
          redeemed because I believe in what Jesus did for me at
          the cross. I confess my sins to him, and I am redeemed
          -- bought, free!"

          So then Satan comes to you and whispers, "What about
          that sin you indulged in just yesterday? You are
          guilty!"

          You can answer, "No -- I've already asked forgiveness
          for that. And I've asked God to put a hatred in me to
          keep me from doing it again. It's all under the blood!"

          "But you are still tempted!"

          "True. But my Jesus has made a way of escape for me.
          His word says I will be able to bear the temptation. He
          will deliver me, because he promised he would."

          "But God still has something against you! There are
          still unsettled matters in your life."

          When the accuser brings up an "unsettled issue" -- some
          war that still rages within you -- you can answer with
          this passage:

          "And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in
          your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
          in the body of his flesh through death, to present you
          holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight"
          (verses 21-22).

          You can say, "Even when I was alienated in my mind by
          awful, evil works...even when I was in the pits of
          lust...even when I was one of God's worst enemies, the
          Bible says he loved me. He sought me out and reconciled
          me to himself.

          "Now, he has translated me from the kingdom of darkness
          into his kingdom of light. He has made me to be at
          peace with him. So, how much more does he love me now
          that I'm reconciled, even when I struggle? He loves
          me!"

          There is one thing that consistently robs us of our joy
          and peace with God: It is our endless striving to
          please him in our flesh! We are forever trying to
          please the Lord in our human power -- but it will never
          be enough. Any victories will be short-lived, and the
          next time we're tempted, we'll fall even farther.

          The Bible calls our striving efforts "trying to
          establish our own righteousness": "For they being
          ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to
          establish their own righteousness, have not submitted
          themselves unto the righteousness of God" (Romans
          10:3). It is our flesh at work!

                      -------------------------------

                            Let Me Expose Three
                           of the Devil's Lies!

                      -------------------------------

          God wants you to be able to rise above every lie of the
          devil -- to be set free from the pit he has locked you
          in. Here are three of Satan's wiles you must be on
          guard against:

             * Satan keeps bringing up your sins in order to get
               your eyes off your savior.

          The devil wants you to be so focused on your disease
          that you forget the power of the physician. He wants
          you to forget that God is your deliverer -- that he is
          on your side to save you, not destroy you!

          Here is how you must answer this lie: "No, devil, I am
          not free from the presence of sin. It will always be
          present in my flesh. But I am free from the damning
          power of sin!"

          Satan can molest you, taunt you, accuse you -- but he
          cannot damn you. He can throw all kinds of accusations
          at you -- but he cannot touch your soul!

          The law can't condemn you, because Christ fulfilled the
          law. Divine justice can't condemn you, because Christ
          sanctified all of God's justice. No sin can condemn
          you, because every sin is under his blood. And your
          conscience can't condemn you, because Christ is greater
          than your conscience. So, you have been forgiven
          completely -- leaving nothing to condemn you!

             * You may think, "I was overcome by a lust --
               overpowered against my will. It just came on me,
               and I fell again!"

          You were overtaken by the sin you've begged God to
          deliver you from. Now let me ask you: Did you cry out
          against it?

          The Old Testament law stated that any woman who was
          "caught in the field" and overpowered (raped) by a man
          would be guiltless if she cried out for help (see
          Deuteronomy 22:23-27). But if she didn't cry out --
          that is, if she didn't object or resist -- she would be
          stoned.

          This is a picture of what the enemy does to us: He
          comes against us as we labor in the Lord's fields and
          overpowers us with temptation. Yet, in that moment, we
          are to cry out to the Lord for help. The next time you
          are in such a place, make your cry a prayer: "Lord, I
          hate this. I don't want it. Help me!" Your cry will
          keep you guiltless!

          Does the devil keep condemning you because you were
          overpowered, taken advantage of? You must stand up in
          the spirit and cry, "Lord, you know my heart. I hate
          this sin. It was not something I wanted. I am crying
          out to you right now -- and I will keep crying out to
          you!"

             * We must repent of our discouragement over our
               sins.

          When we become discouraged, it is proof of two things:
          our ignorance of the mercy and grace of God, and our
          unbelief in his love for us. Both of these are sin!

          If you discouraged over your sin, it means you do not
          trust in God's love for you during your times of
          failure. You are living in willful ignorance of your
          father's full acceptance of you. And you must repent!

          If you only understood how great your father's mercy is
          toward you, you would know he loves you even when you
          fail. Then you could say, "Oh, God, forgive me! I've
          been so discouraged because of my sin. I haven't
          believed in your mercy and forgiveness!"

          No, I'm not worthy to write this message. And you are
          not worthy to raise your hands in praise to God. Nobody
          is worthy -- not in our own human strength and power.
          But Jesus has told us, "I have made you worthy." And
          now we can stand and say in his name, "I am worthy --
          by the blood of the lamb!"

          ---
          Used with permission granted by World Challenge, P. O.
          Box 260, Lindale, TX 75771, USA.

          This material is solely for personal use and is not to
          be posted publicly on other web pages. The Lorain
          County Free-Net Chapel holds exclusive rights from
          World Challenge, Inc. to publicly post these messages
          on its web page. You are free to download, copy, print
          and distribute this material, so long as you do not
          post it on a different Internet site. You may, however,
          link this site to reference these messages.

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