God's Healing Balm

THE BALM OF GILEAD

JEREMIAH 8:22

I. IS THERE NO BALM IN GILEAD

A. Appears to be a question concerning someone who needs medical attention

B. God’s references to Israel as a person

C. The reference is a physical allusion to the spiritual condition of Israel

D. In order to understand this we must understand how God views sin

-a deadly disease that is passed down from generation to generation

E. The disease of sin was destroying the spiritual life of Israel as an incurable wound or disease would destroy the life of a physical body

F. God’s question to Israel

-balm was a healing salve or ointment used to treat wounds and diseases

-Gilead was a place in Israel where healing balm was produced in great abundance

-many physicians set up there practice there because it was such a great source of balm

II. THE BALM OF GILEAD

A. God’s question was intended to convict the heart of Israel because just as there was plenty of balm and physicians in Gilead. Everything that was needed for the spiritual healing of the nation was available to them

B. God had given them the balm of His Word, love grace, mercy and forgiveness.

C. God had sent both prophets and priests as physicians to Israel

D. The answer to this question then is, “Yes there is a balm in Gilead. Yes, there are physicians in the land." The problem was that Israel had failed to use what God made available

III. THE DISEASE OF SIN

A. The disease of sin was not limited to Israel or the time of Jeremiah but sin is a condition that plagues the entire human race and is running rampant today.

B. We see the effects of sin in many forms. War, famine, disease, crime, violence, hatred, immorality, broken homes and marriages, children left to themselves, etc.

C. Sin is destroying the human race like cancer destroys the body. There is not a person alive who is not feeling the effects of sin in some way.

D. The bad news is that with all our technology, medical science, military might, laws and politicians man has not been able to cure the disease of sin

-James 1:15 ...when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

E. The good news is that there is a balm in Gilead

IV. THERE IS A BALM IN GILEAD

A. Just as there was a cure for Israel’s spiritual condition, there is a cure for sin today

B. There is one who “Taketh away the sin of the world.” There is one who came as the supreme revelation of God‘s Word, love, grace, mercy and forgiveness

C. Jesus came to this earth as the healing balm for man’s sinful condition

-Mal 4:2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings;...

-Luke 4:18-19 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, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

-Luke 5:31-32 And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

-John 11:25-26 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

D. Jesus left his ministry in the hands of the church

-John 14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

-Jesus’ work was that of applying the healing balm of God to people’s lives

E. There is a healing balm in the world today

-the church carries the God‘s Word, love, mercy, grace, the presence of Christ and the Holy Spirit

V. CONCLUSION

A. We must apply the healing balm as we travel through life

-we are all ministers and physicians to a sin cursed world

B. When we find the broken, wounded, hurting, bleeding people it is our responsibility to apply the healing balm of God’s grace and love

C. If we do not, then we have failed in the worst way

-illustration from the book, “New Wine”

-Job 13:4 ...ye are all physicians of no value.

D. James 5:14-15 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.