Is There A Balm?

Jeremiah 8:18-9:1 Is there a Balm?

1. Jeremiah is concerned is there a balm in Gilead? So The Prophet asks a series of questions: . A. 22Is there no balm in Gilead? . B. vs 22 Is there no physician there? . C. vs 22 Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people? (Whatever the people have done . they assume there is no cure People feel as though there is no cure for their particular sins)

2. What is this Balm? The Balm in Gilead is a tree that has nutritional medicinal (Pronounced Med-dis-in-al) . values

A. The tree grew in Gilead . B. Produced healing and eased pain according to physicians in biblical days . C. covered the smell of festering wounds . D. The balm was valued in book of Genesis 37: 25 The brothers of Joseph As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelite’s coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt. . E. The balm of Gilead had a pleasant smell so it could be used for perfume

3. Jeremiah asks is there a balm in Gilead? He is saying, is there a cure for the people? . A. Jeremiah desires Israel not to have to swallow the bitter judgment that is coming is there cure . B. The people speak from the hopelessness of their exile. we are not saved. We have been captured by the enemy. . 20"The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved."

4. The Disease is very serious and it will take a serious medicine to cure the sin

Jeremiah identifies the diseases of the people - The people acted shamefully and committed "abominations" and yet had no shame (8:12). - They deceived their neighbors, spoke lies instead of truth, and sinned without repenting (9:4-5). - They oppressed the weak and refused to know the Lord (9:6). - All of them had "turned to their own course, like a horse plunging headlong into battle" (8:6). - They had given their worship to false idols and had become less and less the image of God and the people . of God they were called to be. - Instead of following God, they had become adulterers and "a band of traitors" (9:2).

No balm of Gilead, no attendant physician, was going to be able to heal them from their sin. One might say, Sin, is a terminal disease

5. How can we deal with our sins? A. There is no quick fix for sin, understand it is a lifelong process of God’s grace that roots out sin and changes us B. To be healed of sin we have to give up Habits and practices that do not line up with Script C. God’s grace invites us to make changes that are necessary to be whole and healthy D. although sin is terminal remember there is a balm that never stops working at healing us, saving us, and lifting us up.

6. There is a Balm found on a hill faraway called the Old Rugged Cross

A. The Balm or the cure for our sin was hung on a tree!

Acts 5 30The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead--whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. 31God exalted him to his own right hand

as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.

B. The Balm or the cure for our sin came through grace that justified found in The Christ

Romans 3:23 There is no difference, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by his grace

through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement,I through faith in his blood.

C. The only Balm or cure for our sin came in a Name

Acts 4:9Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom was crucified 11He is " `the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.A'B

12Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

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