Sin Poison in the Blood and Poison to the Soul — E.A. Johnston

Years ago, I heard a itinerant evangelist preach a message I will never forget. He was an old Baptist preacher, but he had the fire of a John the Baptist. I forget the old boy's name, but I will never forget his message.

Sin as Poison in the Blood

It was called Poison in the Blood. And this evangelist preached from Genesis to the book of Revelation, drawing illustration after illustration and scripture on line with scripture to prove that man is born with a poison in his blood, and that is the sin nature.

He led the sermon off with a story of a friend of his who lay in the hospital dying with blood poisoning. He talked about how helpless his friend was with that poison in his blood. The doctors couldn't help him, and it was killing him.

Then he went on to say that all of mankind, every man, every woman, every boy, every girl has this poison in their blood, and it's killing them, and that poison is sin. They need a remedy to save them from this curse of a poison in their blood, and that Jesus Christ was the only remedy for sin, but he must be applied.

For him to do any good to a soul sick person with this poison in their blood. That old boy preached the old gospel, and I loved every minute of it, but that was well over 20 years ago when I heard that message, but I still remember it vividly.

It was preached with conviction and in the power of the Holy Spirit. It's a shame, but we don't have many preachers like that anymore. Men who are honest with folks and tell them they are under a curse, dead in trespasses and sin, and on their way to a terrible place of misery called hell, a terrible place of punishment unless they can forsake all for the pearl of great price and apply the remedy for sin in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Sinfulness of Sin and the Certainty of Death

My message this afternoon is entitled Sin, Poison in the Blood and Poison to the Soul, and I'm going to address this issue of sin as a poison. Listen, friends, we must understand the blackness of sin.

The sinfulness of sin is not preached much in this country anymore. I want to read you our text as found in Ezekiel chapter 18 and verse 4. I'll read it to you now. Behold, all souls are mine as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine, the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

That verse speaks of sin as a poison in the blood, that man without a remedy for sin shall surely die in his sins and be cast into hell and its torments. In Romans, we hear similar warnings regarding this poison in the blood and the consequences of it.

Wherefore, as by one man, sin entered into the world and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned again, Romans declares. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord, and the universality of man being infected with this poison of sin is seen in Genesis 6, 5, which states,.

And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And we see, friends, in the book of Job, how infected man is with this blood poisoning called sin, how much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water.

And that's true of all mankind. Listen, friend, you are not a sinner because you sin. Rather, you sin because you are a big sinner. And the Bible portrays all of mankind as sheep who have gone astray, each one to his own way in sin.

Sin is going our way when we know it isn't God's way. And that verse from Genesis, which speaks of mankind lying in the grip of sin, where even his thoughts are evil continually, must be admitted that we are living in such a day, friends, such a day like that, especially in America today, as seen as king in America today.

Sin and the Ruin of Nations

Friends, everything is supply and demand. And this nation of people is enslaved to its sensuality and it demands satisfaction outlets for it. So Hollywood and Madison Avenue keep the ammunition coming in the form of media outlets to satisfy and gratify the sin of this sin soaked nation.

Listen, friends, America sits on the brink of destruction because of sin. She has out sinned Sodom. She has out sinned Gomorrah. She has out sinned the crowd in Noah's day. She has filled up the cup of her iniquity and is enjoying every swallow of sin.

A man drinks iniquity like it's water, my Bible declares. And it's true, friends, a sad but true. But sin is a great danger to a nation, for it can be a nation's utter ruin. Listen to this verse from Jeremiah 1410.

Thus saith the Lord unto this people, thus have they loved to wander. They have not refrained their feet. Therefore, the Lord does not accept them. He will not remember their iniquity and visit their sins.

How many nations in history have been brought down to the dust because of sin? But where my focus will be this afternoon is not so much on sin as a poison in the blood, but on sin as a poison to the soul.

Sin as a Poison to the Church and the Soul

I believe the church in America today is soul sick. She is tainted by sin and desensitized to sin. Just turn on your television and you can't help but be slimed with sin. The images that pour out into our living rooms is nothing more than a cesspool of sin.

We are desensitized to sin in this country today by being exposed to it on a regular basis. There is little shame in society these days. Female celebrities can show up at premieres with see-through blouses and have their pictures taken and they are proud of their nakedness.

But there was a time in America years ago when that woman would have been arrested for public indecency. But now the entire nation is indecent. So nobody cares. Sin is a poison to the soul and a poison to the nation.

I want to address now, friends, how sin is a poison to the soul of a Christian. This is where our focus will be for the rest of our time today. Sin is a poison to the soul in the life of a Christian. I fear many today in our churches view sin as a light thing.

No big deal. I believe this is so because so many today maintain a low view of God that they can recklessly sin because they have a low view of sin as well. But sin is a poison to the soul. Sin has a hardening nature attached to it.

And the more you sin, the harder your heart becomes. In Hebrews, we have this warning, but exhort one another daily while it is called today, unless any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, sin will harden your heart towards God.

Friends, you know, it does. Sin unchecked can be your ruin. And also in Hebrews, we see that God tells us to lay aside the weights of sin, which so entangle us while we run our Christian race. Sin can trip us up, put us out of the race, sideline us from our duty.

We are told, wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about, what so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every way and the sin which doth so easily beset us. We each have a besetting sin, a troublesome sin, a sin that reappears from time to time in our lives.

We are told to set it aside before it sets us aside. Listen, friends, I want us to see today how destructive sin is as a poison to the soul. Listen to what sin does to us. Let me list 10 terrible things that sin accomplishes in our lives if we allow it in our lives.

The First Seven Effects of Sin

Number one, sin robs God of the glory he deserves. Number two, sin gives Satan an opportunity to accuse us before God. See Satan as an accuser of the brethren in the book of Job. Number three, sin prevents and hinders us from participating in kingdom work.

Number four, sin renders us useless, sidelined like an injured athlete for present service. Number five, sin breaks our fellowship with God. In Amos it declares, can two walk together unless they be agreed?

No, they cannot. Sin separated man from God and Eden and sin breaks that intimacy we have with God in our daily walk with God. Number six, sin hinders our prayers. Sin renders us powerless with God and man.

This is sad, friends, but true. Your prayer life will be the first thing to go when sin crouches at the door and you let it in. Number seven, sin deadens our spiritual senses so we fail to see God's guiding hand or hear the Holy Spirit's guiding counsel.

Sin is a poison to the soul. It deadens our spiritual life with God. How tragic it is to see a person on fire with God and watch that fire go out because of sin. I remember a story that Leonard Ravenhill told of a friend of his who was on fire for God.

This man had a passion for souls and always spoke about Jesus and spiritual things. Ravenhill said that you just had to be around this man and he made you more thirsty for Christ. Do you know people like that?

Well, this man began to collect stamps. Soon, all he wanted to talk about was stamps. He called up Ravenhill one day and said, won't you come over to my house and see my new stamp collection? I just spent $50 ,000 on a pristine collection of British colonials.

Ravenhill said that his friend no longer wanted to talk about Jesus. He just wanted to talk about stamps. A little thing like a stamp got between him and God. Oh, friends, the polluting nature of sin.

Sin, Idolatry, and a Closed Bible

Number eight, sin makes the Bible a closed book before us. When we sin, our Bible is a closed book. The word of God is life to us. The word of God is health to our bones. The word of God is a lamp to our feet to guide us and guard us.

But sin closes our Bibles quicker than anything else. We no longer have time for the study of God's word. Something else has taken that place of priority in our lives. And that thing between us and God is sin.

No matter how unoffensive it may seem to us, if it gets between us and God, friends, it is sin. Look at that man who let a harmless thing like stamps get between him and God. It used to be for me the game of golf.

I used to love playing golf, but golf became my idol. It displaced God in my life. I would rather play golf than pray. I would rather play golf than read my Bible. But finally, God in his mercy showed me what golf stood for in my life.

G .O .L .F. Golden Opportunities Lost Forever. Listen, friend, whatever has drawn you away from God is sin. Whatever stands between you and God is sin. Whatever has deadened your love life with Jesus is sin.

God must have priority in the life of a believer. Jesus must have preeminence in all things in our lives. Or we go astray. We harden our hearts. We begin to drift like an unmoored boat at sea. Soon the waves carry us out further than we wanted to go.

Sin's Destruction of Families

Sin will take you further than you want to go and leave you there longer than you want to stay. Stay away from sin, friend. Sin is a poison to the soul. Number nine, the sin is often a ruin to our families.

A sin unchecked, sin allowed. Sin can ruin your family, friends. A sin lowers the hedge of protection which God has up around you. A sin makes you vulnerable to more evil. A sin can absolutely ruin your family.

It can bring your home down upon you. You can lose it all. I remember a friend of mine, he had a young family and a godly wife. He was always eager to talk about Jesus and the things of God. He was a walking testimony for Christianity.

He was one of my heroes. But now he's one of my greatest warnings. One day he let open a door in his life at his workplace with his pretty young secretary. And soon he was head over heels in love with his secretary and head over heels in the sin of adultery.

It ended up breaking up his once lovely home. It divided his once happy family. Divorce, division and destruction ensued, all because of the polluting nature of the poisonous sin. If you love your family, friend, put away all sin.

Sin's Defilement of Spiritual Life and Final Judgment

Keep away from all sin, mortify all sin, turn and repent from all sin. Number 10, sin is a poison to the soul, will infect every area of our spiritual life. Everything sin touches, it defiles. Gone will be your vital prayer life of intercession for others.

Gone will be your close walk with Jesus. Gone will be our usefulness to our generation. Listen, friend, there's a common day where Jesus Christ will review our lives and he will let everything pass through the fire.

We see this in First Corinthians chapter three, which states for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try everyone's work of what sort it is.

If any man's work abide, which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. Listen, dear friend, there is a common day, the Bema Seat, when your life will be reviewed by the one who has eyes of fire.

Oh, what will you say to him on that day? Where were your idols be on that day? Will your life of service to the king be one of gold, silver and precious stones which reflect his glory? How tragic it will be for the one who has to bend down and scoop up the ashes of a wasted life and press them into his nail pierced hands.

Repentance and Jesus Christ as the Cure for Sin

Remember, friends, that not only is sin a poison in the blood and we need a remedy for sin in the person of Jesus Christ, but sin is a poison to the soul in the very life of a person, a poison in the soul, in the life of a church, a poison in the soul, in the life of a nation.

Ask the Lord of glory for the grace of repentance. If you need to turn from your sins, turn from your sins and turn to him, friend, ask him to cleanse you from all pollutants of the poison of sin. Jesus has saved us from the penalty of sin and the power of sin.

Go to him, friend, and stay in a vital love relationship with him. Let me pray. Lord Jesus, take all these things and apply them to our hearts. Great God, I pray this in the strong name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen.