How to Be Made Whole - Part 15: Don't Mute the Fruit

REVIEW
 
If one thing has been made crystal clear over the past several months, it’s that God certainly wants us to be made whole. No, there is not one part of our lives that God does not want healed and prosperous.
 
We see this threaded throughout God’s Word and have specifically been looking at it in First Thessalonians 5:23 where the apostle Paul shows us God’s will to “sanctify us completely” and that our “whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless.” 
 
So our Heavenly Father most definitely wants every part of us completely and wholly healed just like any good parent wants this for their children. Yes, there are no loving parents out there that don’t want the best for their children and that, if their kids were suffering with some illness or infirmity, wouldn’t take that thing from them if they could.
 
Well, our Father God is no different. He loves us more than any of us love our own children. So if we want our kids to be made whole in every area of their life, then you can be sure that God wants that for His children.
 
But the important thing to understand is that just because God desires this for His kids, doesn’t mean it’s automatically going to happen, or that He is going to make it happen. That part is apparent. No, love always gives free will, so God is never going to force wholeness on anyone. Just like you can’t make your kids make the right decisions for their well-being, God won’t do that with us either.
 
Now He will certainly show us how to be made whole. Yes, He will provide us with all the instructions necessary and has even paid the price for that quality of life – doing that by sending us His Word and healing us of all our infirmities. But making us drink from that well of salvation is not the way God does things. He will let us remain broken, busted, and disgusted if we so desire to continue down that road.
 
But again, the Lord is so good to give us His Word that is chalk full of examples as to how one is made whole and can receive the Father’s heart to see them blessed.
 
So each week, we have been looking at the various examples of how individuals were made whole in the Gospels, and last week, we looked at the last healing Jesus ever performed during His earthly ministry where, when He was being arrested in the Garden, the high priest’s servant, Malchus, had his ear cut off and Jesus put it back on for him.
 
We learned a bunch of good nuggets last week including how the name of Jesus has enough power to make the Lord’s enemies draw back, how receiving a betrayal like Judas’ kiss is not all that uncommon, and how the Lord tried to prepare His disciples for the temptation to come by asking them to get prayed up.
 
But when it came to Jesus’ last healing, we asked two very important questions: Therefore, this healing of Malchus’ ear teaches us two very important lessons:
 
1.WHO WILL JESUS HEAL?
2.WHAT WILL JESUS HEAL?
And essentially, we learned that if Jesus would heal this man who had come to arrest Jesus, then He’ll apparently heal His enemies. And if He will heal His enemies, how much more will He heal His friends?
 
On top of that, if Jesus would heal Malchus’ ear – a part of his body that wasn’t absolutely necessary – then wouldn’t He heal anything that might be wrong with us, whether it’s imperative or not?
 
So if you missed that teaching, do yourself a favor and go back and watch it, listen to it, etc. And while I’m on it, there are several ways you can do this:

1. On social media – Every week, we post the video of our Sunday AM message on our Facebook page @ 7 PM every Tuesday evening, and we also post the video of our Thursday AM Healing School every Thursday evening @ 7 PM.
2. On our website – At www.highpointmacon.com, we post the audio of these services. These are usually added on Thursdays, but they stay on the site perpetually for you to go back and either stream or download.
3. On USB, CD, or DVD – Some might not realize this, but we have a sign-up sheet in the foyer where you can request a copy of any service. These are available for gifts of any amount.

 
So there is no excuse for any of us to be able to say, “I never had a chance to hear the truth” – not at this church, at least. Yes, all of these things are available essentially for free and they’re convenient. So let’s take advantage of the technology we’ve been blessed with and continue in His Word. Amen?
 
THE BLIND & MUTE MAN
 
So today, I would like us to look at another account of healing in Jesus’ ministry – one that teaches us a lot about how things work in the kingdom of God when it comes to us being made whole. This morning, we are going to look at the example of the healing of the blind & mute man, a relatively obscure healing that we are told about in the Gospels.
 
So as we begin looking at this story, let me begin by talking about while physical & emotional healing are a big part of being made whole, there are other things that plague some people’s lives that are NOT physical nor are they psychological. Yes, there are some things that keep us from the healing & wholeness God wills for us that are spiritual in nature. 
 
In fact, if you study the life & ministry of Jesus, you see Him doing more than just healing people; you see Him spending a lot of time dealing with the kingdom of darkness, casting out demons. And this is something that I believe we have lost sight of in the church today.
 
You see, we have the tendency in the church today of looking at everything that is broken in one’s life as being either physical or psychological. Yes, every condition whether it be cancer, virus, diseases or depression, panic attacks, or seizures are given a name and labeled by the world as being purely physical or neurological conditions. But when one considers the truth we see in the Scriptures, there is obviously a big part the demonic plays in all of this – particularly when you see Jesus dealing with demons just about as much as He was healing people.
 
In fact, a lot of times we see Jesus healing someone of what seemed to be a physical condition by exorcising a demon from that person. Now that does not mean that every physical problem is demonic, nor does it mean that every physical issue is natural either. Sometimes a specific physical or psychological condition might be demonic, but other times, the very same symptoms might be simply natural. The key is having spiritual discernment to know when something is demonic or not.
 
But my point is that there are a lot more things that are demonic in nature than we have recognized, and we cannot expect the world to acknowledge that because how will they be able to recognize spiritual things?
 
But the fact is if there are more things that are demonic than we realize, then this is also a big factor with us being healed because we need to be freed from any and all demonic control or influence in order to truly be made whole.  
 
Now this healing takes place in just one verse of one Gospel – Matthew 12:22. This verse reads – “Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw.”
 
Notice that this verse begins with there being one brought to Jesus who was “demon-possessed.”
 
You know, there has been a lot of debate over the years over how much a born again, Spirit-filled believer can be affected by the kingdom of darkness. Folks will say, “A Christian cannot be demon-possessed.” But I think the issue is in the terminology here – demon-possessed –  it is important not to get hung up on semantics. The gist of the Greek word used for demonic “possession” is simply to be “demonized” – or, “to be under the control and dominion of an evil spirit.”
 
Now whether these demons are in someone or on someone is not the point of emphasis. The point is that there are people out there who are under the control of, or being influenced by, demons, and anyone who has been a Christian for any period of time can attest to the fact that there are other people in the church who have absolutely been under the control & dominion of demons at certain points. No, that doesn’t mean that their heads are spinning around and they’re spitting up pea soup; it just means that they have yielded themselves to the demonic and are under the sway of sin.
 
And sometimes this demonic presence manifests itself in certain physical & mental conditions – of that we can be sure because of all of the situations in the Bible of people being plagued with conditions and the demonic realm is specifically noted as the cause of these physical symptoms.
 
So I say all of this to say that there are certainly demonic issues that people have that have kept them from being made whole. And we need to learn how to deal with these spiritual issues in order to be completely sanctified & wholly preserved.   
 
So let’s look at this story now and learn some ways in which we can live free from the demonic and be made whole of not just the physical or mental things, but also the spiritual things.
 
Now in this case, notice that this man was “blind and mute.” So this guy had double trouble – not only could he not see, he couldn’t speak either.  
 
But I want you to notice that these physical infirmities were a direct result of a demon’s control and dominion over this person. This shows us that things like blindness, deafness, speech impediments, etc. are the fruit of the kingdom of darkness and are NOT the fruit of the kingdom of God. No, when people got healed of things like this, Jesus told them that the kingdom of God had come near to them. In other words, when God’s kingdom is in control, we see people being delivered and set free from these infirmities; but when the devil and demons are in control, we see people bound by these infirmities.
 
No, don’t let anyone fool you – none of these physical infirmities are a product of the kingdom of God being in control or having dominion; they are what happens when the devil is in control and has dominion. 
 
One thing worthy of noting here is that we see in some of the physical healings that Jesus performed, the person’s physical affliction was a result of the person being “demonized.” We see this in the healing of the woman with the spirit of infirmity in Luke chapter 13 and also in the healing of the mute man in Matthew chapter 9.
 
In fact, we see in the ministry of Jesus that He dealt with demonic issues a lot—and, like in this instance, sometimes those demonic issues were the source of the physical infirmities. I bring this to our attention because if this is what we see a lot of in the four Gospels, then we can conclude that a lot of what we see afflicting people today is also likely demonic in nature.
 
I believe that this is one of the reasons that we do not see the results in praying for the physically sick and mentally ill like we should: it is because we judge everything according to our own understanding and experiences. In other words, we put everything in our own little box—thinking that every time someone is diagnosed with some kind of illness that they need to be physically healed or thinking that every time someone has emotional issues that they need to be emotionally healed. This is not always the case when you look in the Word of God …
 
The fact is, sometimes these things are demonic in nature, so we need to be spiritually in tune enough to be able to sense what the root of the infirmity is. This is an important part of getting the results we desire. On the flipside of this, we don’t need to go into the other ditch of looking for the devil and demons in every negative situation either.
 
Sometimes people do this in themselves, thinking that every impure thought and feeling is “the devil.” Friends, you cannot crucify demons and you cannot cast out the flesh; you must crucify the flesh and cast our demons. Likewise, I believe sometimes we are trying to heal the demonic problem when we should be casting it out.
 
Notice then that this verse says, “and He healed Him …”
 
Now it is worth noting here that even though this blind and mute man was in this situation because he was demonized, this verse still says that Jesus healed him—showing us that sometimes when someone is healed, it was a direct result of a demon losing control over them.
 
Along these lines, and in a similar account of healing, we are told – “And when the demon was cast out, the mute spoke” (Matthew 9:33).
 
I want you to notice that the demonic possession here and in other places (see Mark 9:17) was specifically tied together with being deaf, mute and dumb. Have you ever wondered why these demonic possessions resulted in these things? Do you figure it might be because the devil doesn’t want us to speak because he fears our words? Do you suppose it might be because the enemy does not want us to hear and see because he knows how powerful our ear and eye gates are?
 
Let’s focus in on the power of our words since that is the state of this healing we are looking at:
 
If you study the Book of Proverbs, you will find exactly why the enemy would want to “mute” us: Proverbs 15:4 says, “A wholesome (or, healthy) tongue is a tree of life…” What does this mean? Well, the tree of life did what? It gave eternal, everlasting life, right? So, how does one become satisfied with long life (see Psalm 91:16)? It is through a whole and healthy tongue!
 
We see this in First Peter 3:10-12 when he was quoting the 34th Psalm – how long life and good days all along the way is partly a product of refraining from injurious speech.
 
Proverbs 16:24 says, “Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones.” In other words, pleasant words have a similar effect on us as good honey does: they positively affect us both emotionally and physically.
 
Proverbs 18:20 says, “A man’s stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth; from the produce of his lips he shall be filled.” This teaches us that our words have the capability of producing satisfaction and fulfillment within us.
 
Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Notice that this verse specifically says that those who love it (love what? Well, this could refer to the power that is in the tongue or the life that our tongue has the power to produce [Compare Psalm 34- love life]).
 
You see, some have gotten what I call “spiritually superstitious” regarding their words. But it is not just the frivolous words we slip up and speak that holds the power; it is the words that we really mean and that come out of our hearts (i.e. love) that hold the power to life and death. It is those words that we “love” that we will eat the fruit of.
 
And, of course, we have the Scriptures in James chapter three that also teach us the importance of our words: he says in verses 3-4- “Indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires.”
 
Church, these verses teach us the absolute power that is in the tongue! The subject matter is “turning” things—like the body of a horse or a ship. Likewise, we can “turn” our lives and our physical bodies through our words! Amen.     
 
Now back to Matthew chapter 12 …
 
After Jesus healed this blind and mute man, we are told how the people responded to this miracle. Verse 23 says, “And all the multitudes were amazed and said, ‘Could this be the Son of David?’”
 
By asking this question of could Jesus be the Son of David, they are questioning whether He was their Messiah. And because of the religious leaders’ jealousy, we see next how they responded …    
 
Verse 24 begins with – “Now when the Pharisees heard it …” Heard what? When they heard the multitudes wonder whether Jesus was the promised Messiah. So when they heard people leaning towards this, they rebutted those statements with something else.
 
You know, this is what jealous people with their own selfish agendas will do—they will attempt to tear others down with their words. And that same spirit that was working in the Pharisees here still does this today. Most of the time, when you hear people tearing down someone else with their words, spreading gossip and slandering them, what they are doing is trying to exalt themselves. In other words, what slander’s intention usually is, is not to tear the other one down, but to lift itself up—because in that person’s insecurity, they need others to come down, so that they don’t look as bad.
 
So what exactly did the Pharisees start saying? Verse 24 goes on to say, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.”
 
This name “Beelzebub” started with the Philistines in describing the god of Ekron. It originally meant “lord of the flies” by the Philistines and later came to mean “lord of the manure” by the Hebrews. So this describes Satan as the ruler of the pesky demon spirits (i.e. “lord of the flies”) and the ruler over environments where rottenness, stench, and waste prevails.
 
Then in verse 25, we are told that Jesus something – “(Jesus) said to them …”
 
It is important to note here that Jesus did not refute the Pharisees accusations to the multitudes, but rather to the Pharisees themselves. This is another good wisdom nugget – don’t try to defend yourself to others, but rather, in humility and love, go to the ones who are deceived and attempt to reason with them.
 
Now in verses 25-28, the obvious point that Jesus was making was that it was completely irrational for them to accuse Him of using the “ruler of demons” to cast out demons because that would be Satan pitting his kingdom against itself.
 
Well, how many of God’s people say basically the same thing about Him today? They say that God is putting a sickness & disease on one of His children to teach them something, to perfect them or to discipline them.
 
Well, since God has clearly revealed Himself in the Word as our healer and Jesus went about healing everyone who came to Him in faith, would it make sense for Him to be healing in one moment and then to put sickness on someone in another? Not at all! No, this would be as Jesus described it, a kingdom or house divided against itself.
 
Another example is when Jesus stilled the storm. How many people equate all of these natural disasters to being “acts of God?” Well, Jesus stilled the storm—proving to us that not all storms or acts of nature are of God because Jesus would have been acting against His Father there and they would have been a divided kingdom.      
 
Now Jesus’ statement that “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand” has another meaning to us: Of course, Jesus was specifically referring to how God’s kingdom and Satan’s kingdom cannot succeed when operating against themselves, but I believe that this has another very important truth contained in it…
 
If we, ourselves, are not set and solid on what we believe, we will have a hard time standing as well. This is why James said that a double minded man is unstable in all of his ways –because when part of you is saying one thing but another part of you is thinking another, you are not established and able to stand, and are therefore unstable. And this is a reason why you see so many of God’s people ruled over by the kingdom of darkness. It’s because they are trying to resist the devil on one hand, but are submitting to him on the other. No, we must, as James 4:7 says, submit ourselves to God and then resist the devil and he will flee from us. But if we are not truly submitting to God in our lives, then how will we be able to stand against the wiles of the devil?
 
Let me give you an example – Say, I am trying to resist sickness & disease in my body, but I am submitting to slander & gossip coming out of my mouth. How can I expect the sickness & disease to leave when I’m okay with the slander & gossip staying? Now this does not mean that we cannot be healed if we have any sin in our life. Don’t hear what I’m not saying. But we don’t need to confuse ourselves by trying to stand against some of the devil’s devices and then accepting other ones. 
 
So if you are a house divided against itself – trying to serve God with one foot in the kingdom of God but with another foot in sin – then your house cannot stand. And what does the Bible say your house is? It says that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, amen? So what do you reckon is going to happen to our body if we have conflicting behavior in our lives? It will be an uphill battle, I can promise you that. And you most definitely won’t be able to stand against the devil. And did you know that this is what the word “resist” – that’s used for resisting the devil – literally means? It means to stand against. In fact, it’s actually the word where we get the word antihistamine from, which is a medicine that is used to stand against the histamines our bodies produce which cause the things like runny noses, itching, swelling, etc. 
 
Well, if we want to be able to stand, we’ve got to have our house working together, not against itself. Amen?
 
But notice how Jesus then says in Matthew 12:28 – “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.”
 
Did you just see that? Jesus just told us how He had the power to cast out demons. It was not because He was the Son of God, but it was because of the Spirit of God.
 
Jesus confirms this in verse 31 when He talks about blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Jesus said there that people accusing Him of casting out demons by Beelzebub was blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. What this shows us is that Jesus equated His ability to cast out demons to the Holy Spirit working through Him. Therefore, if the Holy Spirit was the agent by which Jesus cast out devils, then He did not do it simply because He was the Son of God. Amen! 
 
So guess what this teaches us? That the Holy Spirit is the power by which we cast out demons! And if I need to chase off some demons, how do I do it? By yielding to, being led by, and flowing in the power of the Holy Ghost!
 
You see, the more full I get of the Holy Spirit, the less the kingdom of darkness will be allowed to reside. And at the same time, the anointing will destroy the yoke that the kingdom of darkness has erected in my life. Yes, like a house of cards, the Holy Spirit, with just the slightest move of His finger, can destroy everything that the devil has spent years building in one’s life.   
 
And notice how Jesus says in this verse “surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.” Again, when demons are expelled and driven out, this is a manifestation of the kingdom of God. You could say it this way – The kingdom of God is ruling when demons are no longer controlling and ruling a person or place.
 
Then in verse 29, we have the parable Jesus gives us of the binding of the strong man. Jesus said, “Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.”  
 
You know, we always hear this verse taught like the strong man is an evil, ruling spirit and we are the ones who must bind him in order to effectively exorcise the demonic influence from someone’s life.
 
Well, I’d like to offer a different perspective on this verse: When Jesus said, “how can one enter,” what if Jesus was referring to the one who is entering the house as the demon who had entered the person in the previous verses? On top of that, this “plundering” of someone’s house sounds more like what the thief would do, not the giver of life, right?
 
So let’s read this from a different perspective: How can an evil spirit enter into a person’s life and plunder it unless it first binds the strong man? Wow! Now that opens up a new perspective, doesn’t it?
 
You see, the “strong man” here is that strong spirit of a man, the new recreated part of us on the inside that it full of power, authority and glory. So the devil cannot just come in and plunder our goods. He must first have that strong man – the part of us that has all authority – bound.
 
Well, how does He do that? By tempting us to compromise and make wrong choices! If he can get our house divided against itself, our strong man is bound, and he can then plunder our lives.    
 
Church, we have been given much more authority than we realize! We can rule over sin, sickness, and brokenness by the power of the Holy Spirit and the power that is in our tongues. So with those “It is writtens”, using God’s Word, we have the power to destroy the kingdom of darkness and resist the devil.
 
This is how we can run off the works of the devil and become healed & whole like this blind & mute man did on that day. By seeing what we need to see and saying what we need to say. Amen!