Looking Towards Pentecost Part 2

Brothers, we continue to walk towards the day of Pentecost, now only 22 days away, if you've been keeping up with the count of that. Our focus takes on an additional element to God's plan of salvation.

And I say an additional element because, you know, the Holy Days aren't like something you pull off a shelf like a book, and you finish that volume, and you stick it back on the shelf, and you move on. No, the Holy Days are cumulative. They're cumulative in the sense that they build on one another.

And so we lay a foundation, Passover, days of 11 bread, and then Pentecost comes along, and it's not completely independent. It lays on top of that foundation that has already been laid.

On that day of Pentecost, 31 A.D., the first Pentecost of the New Testament Church, as God's Holy Spirit was poured out, it was delivered upon a small group of believers, 120 believers that had gathered together in unity and in one accord. And through that Spirit, those believers received an added element that would aid in their ability to come out of this world and take on the nature of God and Christ. Now, there's various aspects to the Holy Spirit that we could look at as we come up to Pentecost. There's the fruit of the Spirit. There's the gifts that God would extend the abilities, the spiritual abilities, through that Spirit. So there's so many elements of the Holy Spirit that we could examine as we go up to Pentecost. But today, brethren, I'd like to focus on the aspect of spiritual healing that God's Holy Spirit provides.

Spiritual healing. You know, when a person's called out of this world, they come under the sacrifice of Jesus Christ through baptism. They've had their sins forgiven. They've begun to walk in newness of life. There's a real change that takes place, a dramatic change in the life of that person.

But just because they come out of this world and they've changed their behavior, it doesn't necessarily mean that there are no longer effects. You know, effects of the life that had been lived. It doesn't mean that all the lingering effects, all the repercussions, are suddenly washed away as well. Our sin may have been forgiven, but oftentimes there are effects that remain. And because we're talking about sin at its core, oftentimes those effects are damage.

And it's damage that we often carry with us for some time. And so I want us to consider that baptism and the forgiveness of our sins and the cleansing of that guilt isn't necessarily just open and shut book in terms of our ability to completely forget what it is that we once walked through. If a person was a drug addict or an alcoholic before God called them, even putting that physical substance away, there are sometimes lingering psychological effects, emotional effects. We could say spiritual effects of the things that they carry with them for some time. Those who have been through an extreme circumstance like war. You know, someone who was trained and sent out into the battlefield and put in a position where they had to kill other human beings or be killed themselves. Oftentimes when they walk away from the battlefield, still carry something with them that can linger, frankly, for the rest of their life. There's damage that is done. And it's not just physical of what can be done emotionally and spiritually as well.

There's a disorder which is called PTSD. It's post-traumatic stress disorder.

And plain and simple, it's damage. Damage that has been done emotionally, psychologically, and even spiritually in the life of that person. Over the years, I've known people in the Church of God who were still dealing with the emotional effects of their past. Even though they had come out of the way of those things and put certain maybe behavior behind them, they were still dealing with the impact and the effects of those things many years later. But what they came to understand was with God's help, those things could be overcome. For all of us, even with sin forgiven and the guilt washed away, there are often times where we struggle with physical, spiritual, emotional damage in our life that still remains as a consequence of sin. Because you see, sin has impacted us all. And it doesn't impact us just from the standpoint of, I committed a sin, therefore I have fallout that comes on me. No, it also impacts us by the fact that we live in this world where other people act in certain ways, where the impact then falls upon us in various ways as well. And so sometimes the emotional damage isn't even caused by our own actions. Sometimes it's the sin of others. It could be something in the sense of abuse, something that someone has endured, inflicted upon them from someone else that causes damage.

So I would say in one way or another, all of us have been damaged by the effects of sin.

Not one person who is untouched by the effects of sin and the damage which can come from it. You know, over the years in the church, I've heard it referred to as a spiritual hospital.

That's what this church is. It's been referred to as a hospital, as in, it's full of sick people and this is where we all come to get well. And I would say there is a truth to that statement because God didn't call spiritually healthy people out of this world. He called spiritually damaged people out of this world and cleaned up our sins, gave us forgiveness, washed certain things away, but all of us continue to heal and to grow with God's help.

And so repentance and baptism are the first steps, right? Pentecost, excuse me, Passover. Come under the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and repent of your sins. Days of unleavened bread, we walk in newness of life, we put away the leaven, put away the sin from our life, and we walked according to the course of the new man as opposed to the old. But now we're looking towards Pentecost in the symbolism of that and we recognize now that there's the receiving of God's Holy Spirit, which is the next step in that process. And so for today, brethren, the title is Looking Towards Pentecost Part 2, subtitled The Spiritual Bomb of Gilead.

The Spiritual Bomb of Gilead. And for today's message, I'd like to draw a comparison between the literal physical bomb of Gilead, as is mentioned in the Bible, and the spiritual bomb, which is the Holy Spirit of God. The Spiritual Bomb of Gilead. Most of you are probably familiar with the African-American spiritual hymn, There Was a Bomb in Gilead. It seems like, if I recall, it was in one of our previous hymnals going back prior to the United Church of God. And growing up, I heard it sung oftentimes for special music at church. The lyrics of the introduction go like this. It says, There is a bomb in Gilead to make the wounded whole. There is a bomb in Gilead to heal the sin sick soul. Sometimes I feel discouraged and think my works in vain, but then the Holy Spirit revives my soul again. There's a bomb in Gilead. And as a child, when I would hear that song sung for special music, I didn't quite get it because I didn't see the words and I thought they were saying bomb, as in B-O-M-B, and I thought, how does a bomb make a wounded person whole?

But the point, it's bomb. B-A-L-M. Brethren, what is the bomb of Gilead? What does the Bible say?

Well, to begin with, a bomb is essentially an aromatic medicinal ointment. It's something that's often derived from plants and it has various types of therapeutic properties to it, depending on what you've mixed up in this bomb. Oftentimes it's blended with spices as well. But it's something that's rubbed into the body. It's absorbed through the skin.

And oftentimes it's used to treat ailments such as dry-cracked skin, rashes and irritations, infections, cuts and inflammations, whatever it might be. But again, its purpose is medicinal.

And it's used in that sense to bring about a healing and a reduction of pain.

When we're out in the winter, in the cold harsh elements of the Pacific Northwest, if you're spending a lot of time out there, your lips are going to get chapped.

They're going to dry out and they're going to start to crack.

And what we reach for is a lip balm. When we put that balm on our lips and it soothes the burning, it helps to promote healing. Recently my hands started to dry out. If you can imagine why.

You know, every time I go out somewhere, before I get out of the car, I hit a squirt of hand sanitizer and rub it in for the protection of other people. When I get back into the vehicle, I hit the hand sanitizer again for my own protection. You do that enough times, your hands start to dry out from the alcohol that you're soaking into them. I've been doing other projects around the house, painting, other things, working with my hands. And so last week I'm looking and my hands, they're starting to get rough, they're starting to crack and dry out, and I had to go find a balm. Again, just to kind of work into my hands, work into the skin to soften them and to help to promote healing.

And so that's what a balm does. In ancient times, the balm of Gilead was a medicinal balm that was produced in the region of Gilead. All right? Gilead laid east of the Jordan River, north of the Dead Sea. So you can maybe pinpoint that on the map east of the Jordan, north of the Dead Sea. And it was contained within the portion of land that God gave to Manasseh as the tribes of Israel, then were coming into the Promised Land. The balm of Gilead was produced in that region by a process that you had this collection that first starts, where you go out and you collect the sticky rosin off of the trees, off the shrubs that produced it.

Typically, it's you look it up and there's different names for and conjecture over what the tree was that this resin was produced from, but many of the sources agree that it was a balsam tree or a shrub. But whatever it was, they were very low growing and you went out and you collected that sticky resin off of there. Oftentimes, you would maybe have a stick with leather strips on the end and that would be whipped through and drug through that shrubbery and it would pull off and then you would clean the rosin off of those leather strips.

Other times, there were types of rakes or various other implements that would collect that, but that resin when it was collected would be mixed with various spices and compounds and it would produce an ointment that was known throughout the eastern world for its healing properties. In fact, the balm of Gilead was widely traded and sought after not only through Palestine but out into Egypt and out across the major trade routes of the eastern world in that time.

Now, there's only three places in the Bible where the balm of Gilead is mentioned and the first is in connection with a story that we would know very well. But let's just take a quick peek. Your first reference to the balm of Gilead is found in Genesis chapter 37 and verse 23. Genesis 37, we'll read verse 23 through 25.

And I want to notice the reference here. This passage is in context to Jacob's sons basically capturing Joseph, putting him into the pit, and selling him into slavery heading towards Egypt. Genesis chapter 37 verse 23, it says, So it came to pass when Joseph had come to his brothers that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, that tunic of many colors that was on him. And then they took him, they cast him into a pit, and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.

And they sat down to eat their meal, then they lifted up their eyes and looked, and there was a company of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead with their camels bearing spices, balm, and myrrh on their way to carry them down to Egypt. So you had this caravan that was coming, they're bringing their goods and their wares up to up this major trading route to trade in Egypt, and it says they were coming from Gilead and they carried with them this balm. Egypt was actually a heavy consumer of various balms. They used them not only medicinally, but they used them in terms of how they would take it and preserve with it.

And so what you would have actually is the embalming process that often took place in Egypt. And as they would take people and maybe even mummify them and wrap them in various spices and herbs and embalm them. And you actually have the record in scripture of Jacob and even Joseph being embalmed in Egypt. So we know this story, we won't go any further with it, the brothers sell Joseph into slavery in Egypt by these traders coming from Gilead. And so the point I'm wanting to make by this is that this balm was widely traded in a valuable commodity in the ancient world.

And again, it was known for its healing properties, for its pain-reducing properties. It was a medicine of the ancient world, the balm of Gilead. And if you had some kind of skin ailment and infection, lacerations, oftentimes that is what they would apply, this balm. And it was world renown for the healing and the soothing qualities that it brought. Now the other two references we find in the Bible to the balm of Gilead are found in the book of Jeremiah. Let's turn to Jeremiah, chapter 8. Jeremiah 8. Here Jeremiah was a prophet of God. He was called for a very special purpose.

God had called Jeremiah at a young age, sent him to his people to deliver a powerful message of repentance. Because, you see, Judah had turned aside from God. They turned to the idolatrous practices of the nations around them, turned to the adulterous type behavior that rejected the God of their fathers. And the fact was, now Jeremiah was sent to preach a message that wasn't received very well. It wasn't a popular message, but it was one of repentance. Return to God.

Be reconciled to him once again. So let's pick this up in Jeremiah, chapter 8, and verse 13. Jeremiah, chapter 8, and verse 13. Let's pull the context in. Here God gives Jeremiah this message that Jeremiah then brings to Israel. And verse 13 says, I will surely consume them, says the Lord. No grapes shall be on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade, and the things I have given them shall pass away from them. God had brought them into a land, settled them, and had given them the blessing of being able to inhabit it as an inheritance. And God said, what I have given them is going to pass away because of their rebellion of me.

The nation of Judah had turned again its focus away from God, and they refused to repent. They refused to return to a true and a pure worship of God. And we know the story. God eventually is going to allow the Babylonians to come in and cart the people of Judah off into captivity.

Verse 14 says, Why do we sit still? Assemble yourselves, and let us enter the fortified cities. Let us be silent there, for the Lord our God has put us to silence, has given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against the Lord.

It says, We look for peace, but no good came. And for a time of death, but there was trouble.

Excuse me, a time of health, and there was trouble. It says, The snorting of his horses was heard from dam. The whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones. For they have come, and they have devoured the land, and all that is in it, the city and those who dwell in it. For behold, I will send serpents among you, vipers, which cannot be charmed, and they shall bite you, says the Lord. It says, I would comfort myself in sorrow. My heart is faint in me. This is Jeremiah. He's having to deliver this message, but he's understanding the dire impact of it as well, as he sees the people unwilling to change. And, you know, he himself, he says, his heart is fainting over this. He says, Listen, the voice, the cry of the daughter of my people from a far country, is not the Lord in Zion, is not her king in her. Why have they provoked me to anger, says God, with their carved images, with their foreign idols? He says, the harvest has passed, the summer has ended, and we are not saved. For the hurt of my daughter, the daughter of my people, Jeremiah says, I am hurt. I am mourning. Astonishment has taken hold of me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no recovery for the health of the daughter of my people? So again, again, Jeremiah is distressed.

And you can sense it in his words. You can imagine it, frankly, as we live in a country that is in a dire condition, and we look around. Indeed, the whole world is. And we're distressed, because we understand the message is, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And God says, I'm not going to put on you the diseases of the Egyptians if you serve me and you fear me.

That was his message to Israel. It's his message to the world today as well.

But Jeremiah is distressed over the condition of his people, and they're hurting because of their sins against God. And yet, they still refuse to repent. They refuse to return back to God.

And so the point is here, there is a balm in Gilead, physical location, literal spot, literal healing balm, that is world known. There is a balm in Gilead, and there are physicians there who can apply it. But you see, the problem is Israel's and Judah's sickness is not merely physical.

You're not going to go down to the corner drug store and find something to smear on and heal this condition. It's not physical. Their condition is spiritual in nature.

And that's what this is about. Jeremiah's like, isn't there a balm in Gilead? Isn't there a physician? And yet, my people are still sick. He's lamenting the fact that there is true healing available for their sins. Not in a physical balm, but there is a true spiritual healing that was available for their sins, and they refused to seek after it. They refused to go to the literal true physician, you know, capital P, right? God. The true physician who can provide the true spiritual healing they so desperately needed. He's like, is there no balm in Gilead? Is not the cure before them? And yet, they turn aside. I want to read to you a quote from the Zondervin's NIV Bible Commentary of the Old Testament. It's notes on Jeremiah chapter 8, verse 21 and 22. Again, this comes from Zondervin's commentary. And it says, quote, in spite of his denunciations, Jeremiah does not hesitate to identify himself with his people.

Their hurt hurts him. Hurts him so deeply that he's filled with mourning and dismay.

In a final metaphor, Jeremiah asks why, since there is a balm in Gilead and physicians to apply it, why the nation's malady has not been healed? The balm referred to is a resin or a gum of the storax tree, which is used medicinally. The prophet is distressed because he knows that though there is a remedy for the people, they have not availed themselves to it. Gilead is a mountainous region of Palestine east of the Jordan north of Moab, so the remedy is not far away. But Judas' sickness is not healed. And the plaintiff question is there no balm in Gilead has become proverbial. Again, brethren, Judas' problem was spiritual. It wasn't physical. And the cure to their problem, the balm was close at hand, the physician was close at hand, and yet they would not turn to God. They would not repent. They would not put him first in their life.

Final place where the balm of Gilead is mentioned is in Jeremiah chapter 36.

Excuse me, Jeremiah chapter 46. Let's go there. Jeremiah chapter 46 in verse 11.

Jeremiah 46, 11. The context here is a prophecy of God's judgment, this time against Egypt.

God says, I stand against you, Egypt as well. Jeremiah chapter 46 in verse 11. He says to Egypt through Jeremiah, go up to Gilead and take balm. O virgin, the daughter of Egypt. He says, in vain you will use many medicines. You shall not be cured.

If you think you're going to go get that balm and slather it on, and your woes will be over, and your disease will be cured, you're wrong. Because again, this is not a physical condition.

Their wickedness was spiritual. Brother, no matter how much balm, and here's the lesson we need to pull from this. No matter how much balm or medicine you apply, nothing will heal you from your sins if you're not right with God. You're not going to go to the corner drug store and pick up the remedy and soak it into your body, lather it on, and consider yourself healed. We're talking about spiritual matters here. No matter how much balm or medicine you apply, nothing will heal you from your sins if you're not right with God. And the conclusion of the matter in all this that Jeremiah is walking through is that the physical balm of Gilead does not heal the spiritual wounds of sin, but the spiritual balm of Gilead does. The spiritual balm of Gilead does.

In the Bible there's types, there's anti-types, there's things that are there that are a type of something that is fulfilled later, as in Pharaoh is a type of Satan. The Passover Lamb of Exodus 12 is a type of Jesus Christ. Here the balm of Gilead is a type of something quite significant that God does for us on a spiritual level. And so what is the spiritual balm of Gilead?

What is it? Where can it be found?

Those questions, brethren, bring us back to the day of Pentecost and the Holy Spirit of God.

And I want to remind us once again what a balm is. All right, before we move forward with this, just have it in your mind. Be reminded what a balm is. It is medicinal ointment that is rubbed into the skin to bring about healing and the relief of pain. Okay, that's what a physical balm is. Let's consider what a spiritual balm then would be. For us as God's people today, the spiritual balm of Gilead is not far off from us either. You know, just as Jeremiah was prophesying to Judah, and the point was, there is balm, but the true healing balm is not far off. For you and I, brethren, the true spiritual balm of Gilead is not far off from us as well.

We must be willing to yield ourselves up to it and allow its healing properties to work in our lives. Let's go to 2 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 21. 2 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 21. Let's discover this spiritual balm for ourselves. 2 Corinthians 1 and verse 21. Hear the Apostle Paul writing, and he says, Now he who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who has also sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. This is actually a very important passage, brethren. It's important sometimes as we read that we just don't read so fast we run right over something and don't pick up the significance. Let's take some time here.

2 Corinthians 1, 21 and 22. I have in my Bible, I've underlined the word anointed in verse 21.

That word anointed in verse 21 from the Greek, it's the Greek word chiro. It's spelled C-H-I-R-O, chiro. And it means to smear or rub with an oil. To smear or rub with an oil, to anoint.

And so what this is telling us is that it is God the Father who has anointed us with the Holy Spirit.

You know, in that sense, He has figuratively smeared us with that healing oil.

Smeared it onto us, rubbed it in, that oil that is symbolic of His Holy Spirit.

You look in the Bible and when oil and oil of anointing is used, again, it's symbolic of the Spirit of God. As a minister, when I anoint someone who is sick and they're seeking physical healing, and I include spiritual healing in that, when you anoint the sick, you anoint with oil. That's the instruction in the Scripture. And it's not like the oil itself has healing properties, but it's olive oil and it's symbolic of the Holy Spirit of God. The power by which God does acts of healing, by which He does those things in intervention in our lives. So that oil, when I anoint someone, I smear that, I rub that, usually I have it on two fingers, and I rub it on their forehead, I smear it on their forehead, and it is called an anointing. And so this is what God is doing with us and has done by the pouring out of His Holy Spirit. And I hope you get the significance of this, brethren. We have an anointing from God. It is a smearing, it is a rubbing in of the spiritual ointment into our lives. Now, I'm not going to turn there, but I do want to give you a couple of references that we put alongside this. Acts chapter 2, verse 32 and 33, it tells us that the Holy Spirit comes from God the Father and it's poured out through Jesus Christ. You can go look that up later if you like. Acts 2, verse 32 and 33. Also, Jesus Christ in John chapter 15 verse 26 confirms the fact that the Holy Spirit, He sends it, Jesus Christ, sends it to us from the Father. So it's of God through Jesus Christ, the spiritual outpouring, this anointing, but the Spirit, it proceeds from the Father and He is the originator of our anointing, as Paul said in 2 Corinthians. And the reason I bring this up to us is that there's many in the Christian world that claim that Jesus Christ alone is the balm of Gilead. The balm of Gilead is Jesus Christ, and they claim that their healing from sin comes from Him alone. And I'm not looking to necessarily minimize the concept of healing through Christ because that's an essential component to this, brethren, but that's only part of the answer. The spiritual balm of Gilead is that healing ointment.

It's that oil of anointing that proceeds from the Father to the believer that has come under the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And so it's a package, all right? There's the Father, there's the Son, and there is the oil of anointing which God pours out now in this reconciled relationship. But it's a package. Apart from the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we can't have spiritual forgiveness from sins. And the Bible says, by His stripes we are healed. We're talking Jesus Christ and the suffering that He went through on our behalf. By the same token, we can't have that healing apart from God the Father either. Nor can we have that apart from the Holy Spirit, the power, the essence, the presence of God that's poured out on us from the Father. Remember, brethren, again, these holy days and what they represent are cumulative. They build one upon another. We receive the forgiveness for our sins through the Passover, but it's not until the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in us, as symbolized by Pentecost, that we receive the complete benefit of spiritual healing.

Our sins become washed away when we come under the blood of Jesus Christ. But healing is often over a process of time, over a period of time, and for us to be spiritually healed from the damage of sin, it requires the Holy Spirit of God working in our life. During the days of 11 bread, I gave a sermonette about the peace of God, and I said, the peace of God that surpasses all understanding is only possible through a reconciled relationship with God. And that is true with the balm of Gilead, the spiritual anointing, and the healing that it brings as well. It's only possible through a reconciled relationship with God through Jesus Christ. And so today, I would propose to you that the true spiritual balm of Gilead is God's Holy Spirit that has been anointed on those who are reconciled to Him through Jesus Christ. I'll say that again. This true spiritual balm of Gilead is God's Holy Spirit that has been anointed on those who are reconciled to Him through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It's that anointing, it's that smearing, that rubbing in, that the Father does through Christ that brings our healing. Notice 1 John chapter 2 in this regard.

1 John chapter 2. Here we find the anointing described for us again, and this time there's actually a different Greek word which is used for the anointing. 1 John chapter 2 and verse 20. The context here is actually using God's Holy Spirit and the discernment it provides to identify the spirit of Antichrist. That's the overall context, but I just want to zero in on a point. 1 John chapter 2 and verse 20 says, but you have an anointing from the Holy One and you know all things.

That knowing all things, again, it's discernment and understanding that God would give through His Holy Spirit to know what it is you're facing. Is this the Spirit of God? Is this the Spirit of Antichrist? God's Spirit leads us to truth. But the main point I want to zero in on is that we have this anointing as it says from God and it's an anointing of His Holy Spirit.

The original King James puts it this way. It says you have an unction of the Holy One.

An unction. An unction is kind of an interesting translation, but the term anointing or unction in the Greek is chrisma. This time that word is chrismakrisma. And again, it refers to a smearing or a rubbing in. You know, it's just like you would take a balm and you would put it on your dried chapped hands that you needed to have heal and you would smear it and you would rub it in and it would soak in through the skin and it would bring about that healing. It's saying you and I have this anointing, this rubbing in of the Holy Spirit which proceeds from God. And its purpose is for our spiritual healing as well. Notice jumping down verse 27, it says again, but the anointing, the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you and you do not need that anyone teach you, but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is not a lie, and just as it is taught you will abide in Him. Again, it's speaking of discernment, it's speaking of the leading to truth, the teaching that we receive from God's Spirit. Perhaps I'll speak on that sometime. God's Spirit is a teacher rather than that we must learn to rely on as well.

But the point is, it says the anointing abides in you. It's been applied, it's been rubbed in, it's been soaked in, and God's Spirit abides in you, and it's been absorbed in in that spiritual sense, all right? Producing results, producing effects in your life. Proverbs chapter 18 verse 14 says, the Spirit of man will sustain him in sickness. You know, somebody is sick with a dire condition, and sometimes we look at those people and we say they have a fighting spirit. You know, it's amazing they pulled through that. They have such a fighting spirit. Proverbs 18 14 again says, the Spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness. But it says, but who can bear a broken spirit? You see, a broken spirit is a different thing. It tends to suck the life out of a person. And a person's spirit, brethren, can become wounded. It can become broken by the things they've experienced in this life.

Many of us, and many among us, have experienced things in this life that are damaging and breaking to our spirit. Painful things. Things like betrayal, rejection, you know, deep in personal loss, abuse, whatever it might be. There are things that happen in this life as a result of sin. Somebody's sin.

Certainly Satan's influence that creates damage. But if we yield to God, he can help to bring us along in the spiritual healing that we need through the indwelling presence of his Holy Spirit as it works in our lives. Again, this is the anointing. This is the healing balm of Gilead.

There's a reason why the scripture calls Jesus Christ called the Holy Spirit the Comforter.

He says, I'll go to the Father and he will send you another Comforter, which meant Christ was their Comforter as he walked and talked and ate and slept with the disciples. But you see, he was leaving and their spiritual guidance was going to come from not him there directly with them but by the Holy Spirit. He says God's going to send you another Comforter and the Spirit of God in us. It comforts us, in part through the healing that is provided by the power of God and by the presence of God and Christ in us. Psalm 147 and verse 3. Psalm 147 verse 3, it tells us that God heals the brokenhearted. You know, is brokenhearted a physical condition? You know, my heart broke into two pieces and I need a doctor to somehow stitch it back together. I don't think that's what this is saying. It says God heals the brokenhearted and he binds up their wounds.

The Hebrew for that word, wounds, is sorrows. So God heals the brokenhearted, he binds up their sorrows. And this is describing a spiritual process that takes place. It goes beyond merely a physical healing. You're not going to go down the street to the drugstore to get a balm for that condition, but God who knows the heart and lives in the mind and the heart of his people knows how to intervene and bring that healing in a most perfect way. But again, we have to play a part in the process. By the Holy Spirit of God, we can be healed spiritually. By the Holy Spirit of God, we are the temple of God, which means God's presence literally dwells in us by the power of the Spirit. Jesus Christ himself literally dwells in us. We're the chosen vessel for his presence. And as we have that indwelling mind within us, and as the Spirit of God and Christ interact with us, and we yield ourselves to that Spirit, a change begins to take place.

And it's a process that we must yield ourselves up to. Pray for that.

Ask God to help you to understand. This is something I'm not sure I can fully explain, but the Bible says the Spirit essentially gives utterance on our behalf, groanings beyond what we even know how to express ourselves. But as we pray to God, pour yourself out to him.

By his Spirit, he'll see your heart. He will know what it is that you're suffering and the yieldedness of your heart to him. Pray for his help. Pray for his healing. If there indeed is damage, you're seeking to overcome healing that you're seeking emotionally, spiritually.

Again, we're that temple of God, and God's presence is here.

Over the years, I've had relatively good physical health. That's a blessing. I've been generally strong. It's allowed me to do a lot of things, and I'm grateful. In recent times, I would say probably more so the last five years, I've come to recognize that the healing that I need to pray for from God isn't primarily physical healing. You know, I may on occasion get aches and pains, but the fact is physical healing isn't primarily what I need at this point in my life. What I need from God is spiritual healing, emotional healing. I've never really thought a lot about it before, but at times when something pops up in the mind, you know, the mind goes somewhere that is contrary to the way of God, or a circumstance takes place, and your knee-jerk reaction is the old man comes out, right? You know, in a way that's contrary to the Spirit of God, I've come to, in recent times, realize I need healing from those things. My mind, my spirit.

I've counseled with people who have dealt with certain types of addictions that they have set aside, and they said, I still struggle with this issue, and I've said, look, pray to God, pray to God, ask Him, and in one case, I've anointed someone for spiritual healing, for mental healing, beyond simply the physical issue that takes place that is part of the blessing of God's Spirit and the healing that He provides.

In your prayers, ask God to help you fulfill the instructions of Romans 12 and verse 2. Let's turn there and read it. Romans chapter 12 and verse 2, very important principle of what must be taking place in our life.

Romans chapter 12 and verse 2, Paul says, do not be conformed to this world. He says, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. It's a transformation. If memory serves in the Greek, the word is metamorphu. It's where we get the English word metamorphosis. It's, you know, the caterpillar goes into the cocoon and comes out a butterfly, a transformation. A metamorphosis has taken place. Paul says, be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So we're talking a spiritual transformation that must take place, a transformation that cannot happen apart from God's Holy Spirit.

Removing the physical sin is step one. Having the mind in the Spirit not to walk right back to it and to recover from the damage that it did is the next step in the process, and it's a blessing from God. I would submit to you that in order to have our minds transformed from conformity to this world to the stature of the fullness of Jesus Christ requires a spiritual healing process that comes only from the rubbing in of the spiritual balm of Gilead.

Brethren, our minds, our hearts, have been chapped, they've been bruised, they've been cracked, they've been in many ways battered by the world God has called us out of, and frankly, the world that is still around us seeking to bombard us, we must apply that balm on a regular basis. God dwells in us, so I'm not saying we apply it, but yield yourself to God.

Seek for Him to give you His Spirit beyond measure. Yield up to the spiritual rubbing in of the balm of Gilead. God's Spirit is a healing spirit, and is what we can find recorded all throughout the Bible. The Bible sometimes refers to it as rivers of living water. Other times it's referred to as oil.

The rivers of living water is an interesting process because I want to just take a glance at what the Bible shows will be the effects of this living water in terms of healing on the world in the future yet to come. Again, we talk type and fulfillment, and Christ said, you know, out of your heart will flow rivers of living water, and God indeed dwells in us, and we yield to that Spirit. But the Bible also shows living water that will literally flow out and bring healing again as a type of what it is that God does in our hearts. Ezekiel 47 and verse 1.

Ezekiel 47 and verse 1.

Ezekiel 47 and verse 1.

I want to notice the effects that the rivers of living water will have on a world that's going to be in desperate need of healing following the return of Jesus Christ.

Ezekiel 47 verse 1 says, then he brought me back to the door of the temple. This is Ezekiel in vision. He says, and there was water flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, the front of the temple faced east, and water was flowing from under the right side of the temple south of the altar. This is describing the living waters that will flow out from the temple in Jerusalem in the world tomorrow, and today are symbolic of God's Holy Spirit and the power of it.

Let's jump down to verse 8 and 9. Ezekiel 47 verse 8 says, then he said to me, this water flows towards the eastern region, goes down into the valley, and enters the sea, and when it reaches the sea, its waters are healed. That's the healing that takes place. Verse 9, and it shall be that every living thing that moves wherever the rivers go will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish because these waters go there, and they will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river goes. I would submit to you that wherever God's Spirit goes, brethren, in our lives, there's life. There's vitality that springs forth. There is healing that takes place.

You know, by the catastrophic effects of the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord, much of this earth is going to be decimated when Jesus Christ returns, and this is describing a process that will take place as a result of the living waters flowing out from God across the face of the earth. The flowing out from His temple, from the place where His presence resides. You and I are the temple of God. His Spirit dwells in us, and if we yield to Him, that Spirit will be welling up in us, as Christ said, and flow out as rivers of living water.

Brethren, whatever part of our nature that we're once dead to the ways of God, when they come in contact with that spiritual living water, they begin to live. And because it is God's Spirit working there through that rubbing in, through that anointing, we know truly what the source or who the source is. A spiritual renewal and a healing takes place wherever the power of God's Holy Spirit goes. It is the spiritual balm of Gilead. So the question for us today as well becomes, how do we receive it? Where does one go for the spiritual balm of Gilead? Again, it's not down at the corner drugstore. How can it be acquired? We've talked about it already, but there is one scripture that nails it down succinctly. Acts 2, verse 38 and 39. This is a Pentecost scripture, right? We're looking towards Pentecost in this sermon. Acts 2, verse 38 and 39, here on the first day of Pentecost, breaking into the context. And Peter said to them, they've asked, men and brethren, what shall we do? These people of Jerusalem, these Jews who realize that, you know what, we killed the Messiah, the one that God had sent for the forgiveness of our sins.

Men and brethren, what shall we do? Verse 38, Peter said to them, repent, let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. He says, for the promise is to you and your children and to all who are far off as many as the Lord our God will call. And so again, brethren, the lesson for us is that the true balm of Gilead, that spiritual balm which only comes and proceeds from the Father, cannot be bought.

Repent, be baptized for the remission of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. You know, just like Egypt, we cannot go down to a physical location and buy a physical balm expecting to be made well from our sickness, which is spiritual.

Physical balm doesn't heal the spiritual ailments. The spiritual balm of Gilead can only be obtained through cultivating a personal relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ.

You know, through Jeremiah, he said to Judah, return to me. I'll be your physician. I'll apply that balm, you know, in type. And for us as well, the only way that balm can be applied and can be abundant in our life is through cultivating a personal relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ. In addition to that, the supply of that precious oil of anointing can only be maintained by remaining steadfast in that relationship with them. If we start to quench the Spirit, if we draw back, if we turn away from God, if we allow that supply to dwindle, then, brethren, we won the risk of losing out on the purpose for which God has provided that anointing in the first place. I want to conclude today in Matthew chapter 25. Matthew 25, I just ask you to, as we read this, keep in your mind the things we've covered, the oil of anointing, the spiritual oil of God, the source by which it can be found, the way in which it cannot just be bought and applied. That doesn't equal the true spiritual anointing of God. Consider these things as we look at this portion of the Olivet prophecy, Matthew chapter 25. Begin in verse 1.

Matthew 25 verse 1, it says, then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. It says, now five of them were wise and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. Brethren, we've been called to be the light of the world.

We've been called, and by God's Spirit been allowed to be, the vessels of His presence dwelling in our life, vessels of His Spirit, right? Virgins with lights and vessels full of oil. That's what God has called us to be. My question for us is, are we like the wise virgins doing our part to keep that lamp burning brightly in our vessel full of precious oil? Or are we going to be like the foolish virgins in danger of our light going out? Because we have not been zealous to draw close to God and continually replenish that spiritual oil of anointing. That's a question we all have to ask ourselves. Verse 5, it says, But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. They all did. And at midnight a cry was heard, Behold, the bridegroom is coming, go out to meet Him. Then all those virgins arose, they trimmed their lamps, and the foolish said to the wise, Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out. But the wise answered, saying, No, lest there should not be enough for us and you, but go rather to those who sell and buy for yourselves.

And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with Him to the wedding, and the door was shut. Brethren, if you're in need of the spiritual balm of Gilead, then going to buy that physical balm is not going to get you into the door of the kingdom of God.

That's what this is saying. These virgins who had that spiritual oil in their vessels through a relationship with God that was maintained, that was strong, they had that oil, they had that reservoir. But those who didn't couldn't just go down the street and buy that physical olive oil and think somehow that would get them in the door to the kingdom of God. It does not work that way.

The physical balm of Gilead would not heal what illed Judah, and frankly, lamp oil would not get these unwise virgins into the kingdom of God. Verse 11 says, Verse 11 says, Verse 13, Christ, the lesson here says, You know, watch yourself, watch your spiritual condition, draw close to God.

Brethren, the spiritual oil of anointing from God is for our healing, and it is for our eternal life. Don't neglect it. Don't turn away from it. Don't take it for granted. Seek after it.

It is the spirit by which God heals the brokenhearted, and he binds up their sorrows.

It is the spirit by which God and Christ dwell in us, forming the very nature in us. That is what that anointing, that oil, is. It is the spirit that allows our lamps to remain burning brightly with a fresh supply of oil until the bridegroom comes. Never turn aside from that relationship. Never yield yourself up to God. Never turn from doing such. Seek that precious oil of anointment that only he provides. Brethren, there is a balm in Gilead, and it is not far off from us. Let us not seek to go after it down the road at the corner drug store somewhere, but let us seek after it on our knees before our creator God. Seek after that true anointing, that true blessed oil of healing. In doing so, you will receive from the Father the rubbing in of that spiritual balm, that balm which does indeed make the wounded whole.