GILEAD'S BALM AND PHYSICIAN

JEREMIAH 8:2

A. "IS THERE NO BALM IN GILEAD? IS THERE NO PHYSICIAN THERE? WHY THEN IS NOT THE HEALTH OF THE DAUGHTER OF MY PEOPLE RECOVERED?"
  1. Gilead is a name given to a ridge of mountains which extended from Lebanon southward on the east coast of Palestine:
  2. This name is applied to that whole district:
  3. This same name has reference, also, to a compact made between Jacob and his uncle Laban: Gen. 31:48
  4. The country was noted for its fertility and for some herbs with healing properties:
B. WE HAVE RECENTLY CONSIDERED THE PLAGUE OF THE HEART: LET US NOW INQUIRE WITH THE PROPHET: "IS THERE NO BALM IN GILEAD? IS THERE NO PHYSICIAN THERE? WHY THEN IS NOT THE HEALTH OF THE DAUGHTER OF MY PEOPLE RECOVERED?"
  1. There is balm in Gilead:
    1. God's word is God's balm for the health of the daughter of Zion - Ps. 103:30
    2. It is called, "the word of salvation" - Eph. 1:13; Acts 13:26
    3. The precious blood of Jesus Christ is also the cleansing power, to make clean and white from the stain of sin - 1 Pet. 1:18, 19; 1 John 1:7
    4. There is no life outside the blood of the Son of God - John 6:53; Heb. 9:22, 23
  2. Yes, there is the great Physician in Gilead:
    1. Jesus Christ is that physician - Ex. 15:26; Matt. 9:12; Luke 4:23
    2. He encouraged John the Baptist with these memorable words, "The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised." Matt. 11:5
    3. His ministry of love is summed up in these words, "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him." Acts 10:38
  3. He is well qualified as a physician:
    1. He knows our frame - Ps. 103:14
    2. He is well acquainted with our infirmities - Matt. 8:17; Luke 5:15
    3. He is distinguished for great tenderness - Isa. 42:3; Matt. 12:20
    4. He is accessible at all times and in all places, "I am with you always, even unto the end of the world" - Matt. 28:20
    5. His cures are permanent - John 8:36
    6. His terms are of the most gracious kind "without money and without price" - Isa. 55:1
C. WHY, THEN, ARE NOT THE MALADIES OF MANKIND REMOVED?
  1. The world is full of open and putrefying sores: Isa. 1:5-7
    1. There are, so we are told, upwards of 55,000,000 ill and incapacitated at a given time.
    2. Diseases among men are on the increase; this, in spite of the constant research to stem the tide of sickness.
  2. But what concerns us still more is why are the people of God in a sickly condition? Rev. 3:14-17
    1. Why is there such a great lack of spiritual power among us? 1 Cor. 11:30
    2. Is there no balm in Gilead?
    3. Is the great Physician removed from his people?
  3. I can think of three specific reasons for these conditions among God's people:
    1. Unbelief seems to be the chief obstacle to the difficulties among God's people - Matt. 13:58; 17:20; Mark 6:6. This present age is noted for unbelief - Luke 18:8
    2. Spiritual blindness is still another reason for the condition the people of God find themselves in, "thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind" - Rev. 3:17
    3. Unwillingness to come to the Physician to be healed - John 5:40. Too many of the people love darkness more than the light and for that reason refuse to come to the light. But the hand of mercy is still held out to all who desire to be healed - Matt. 11:28, 29


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