Poison in the Blood

Heavenly Father, I come unto you by the blood of thy dear son Jesus. I beseech you, Lord, look down upon us and move in the heart of someone here tonight. Come by your spirit and disturb folks.

Let someone see the badness of their heart. Take some sinner here by the hand and lead them to the very brink of eternity and flash hellfire upon their sin-sick soul. Drive them out of their carnal security.

Let them see Calvary and a blood-stained Christ who died for sin. O Father, my shaky, pitiful voice does not have the strength to alarm anyone. But if someone were to hear your voice as it comes in power, majesty, and authority, that's a different thing altogether.

Then they'll become a seeker of you. I pray, great God, for you to attend the preaching of your holy word this evening. I pray these things in the strong name of Jesus.

Amen. Listen, friends, it's time for straight talk and honest answers because I want to be true to your soul. Like we say in the South, I'm going to give you the oil straight from the can this evening because I want to preach to you an undiluted gospel that has power to save.

So you better sit up straight and pay attention, friend, and get the wax out of your ears to hear me because every single one of you entered this world with a corrupt nature because of a poison in your blood. I knew a fellow evangelist whose best friend lay in the hospital dying of blood poisoning. His friend's case was hopeless for the doctors could do nothing more as the poison in his blood had spread to his vitals and it was killing him.

But when you look at the scope of eternity, that man's case was not singular for all men come into this world with a poison in the blood. I will prove this evening, friends, from the infallible word of God that man has a poison in his blood because man enters this world with a ruined nature and a bent toward sin. In fact, in the book of Job, we have a honest appraisal of all mankind.

How much more abominable and filthy is man which drank at the iniquity like water. That means man can't get enough of sin. You're not satisfied looking at one nude picture of a woman on the internet.

You have to drool over a thousand. This is because of your natural condition, which has been passed on down to you from Adam. Your nature is under a curse.

In Genesis 3.17, we read, and unto Adam, he said, because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying thou shall not eat of it, but curse it is the ground for thy sake. In sorrow shall thou eat of it all the days of thy life. I got this poison in the blood from my father when I was born in the flesh.

For my father bequeathed to me what he was in the flesh in the likeness of Adam through the natural birth. When Adam fell, the whole world fell together with him. I have a fallen nature, and that poison in my blood had its fountain in Adam when he sinned.

We see, friends, that all mankind has this poison in their blood. It's verified time and time again throughout Scripture. I'm going to prove it to you tonight, friend.

God destroyed the old world with a flood because the wickedness of man. In Genesis 6, we read, and God said 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 he repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth. So after Adam sinned, poison in the blood was there right from the get-go with mankind in its past to all. We see another example of this poison in the blood in Genesis chapter 18.

And the Lord said, because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous, well, what was this cry that came up to God's ear? The cry of rape, for the men of Sodom were homosexuals. God burned up Sodom and Gomorrah because man had a poison in his blood. We read in Genesis chapter 19, then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven.

And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and all that which grew upon the ground. Oh friends, how that poison in the blood brought down the righteous indignation of a holy God. Listen to this vivid description of the scorched earth from these smoking cities.

And Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord, and he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace. All he saw was black billowing smoke from burnt corpses of burned out cities. If you think man's gotten better over time, friends, you better think again.

Over in the book of Romans in chapter 1, we have a laundry list of the description of fallen mankind being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents without understanding, covenant breakers without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful, who know in the judgment of God that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. They take pleasure in watching evil. Do you know there are people who like to watch orgies? That's what you do when you look at pornography.

You see, friends, that man today has a poison in his blood. And do you know what, friend? You've got this poison in your blood. You've got a nature and a bent toward sin.

All you have to do is look at the daily news out of the paper to see how madmen are cutting down folks in our cities with assault rifles through senseless murders. And you can plainly see man still has a poison in his blood. You not only need to admit this, friend, but you need to feel your need of a remedy.

If a man learns he has a killing disease and there is but one cure, he will spend all he has to get that cure. But before he will earnestly seek the remedy, he must admit and feel his need of the remedy. Then he will begin to seek it in earnest.

Listen to me. Because of this poison in the blood, every man is in his natural state and he's in a great danger of dying in his sins. Divine justice must be satisfied through God's righteous indignation against sin.

The very least sin I ever committed makes me stand guilty before holy God and puts me in great danger. For the Bible tells me, for the wages of sin is death. There's a danger to having this poison in the blood, friend, because having this poison in the blood will surely result in death.

The second death. Let me tell you about this second death that's spoken of in the book of Revelation in chapter 20. Let me describe an incredible scene to you, friend, of the last judgment where every mother's son will one day stand before a holy God.

And I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God.

And the books were opened and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. Let me pause here, friends, to say, can you imagine that incredible scene of the last judgment where the dead, small and great, stand there? There stand the rulers from every generation, kings and queens and presidents of all nations.

There stand the Caesars. There stand the pharaohs. There stand all the Hollywood celebrities.

There stands all the mass murderers like Hitler, Stalin, and Saddam Hussein. There stand the rich and famous and the powerful of every generation. They are each judged out of the books according to their works.

And we read, in the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them. And they were judged, every man, according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.

This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. This speaks of the danger, damnation, friends, in that terrible lake of fire where death and hell are cast in there.

This death will happen to all individuals who have that poison in their blood. They're under the condemnation of a holy God. In Matthew 25, 41, Jesus said, Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

Let me tell you a true story, friends. Listen to this horrific story. I used to live in a haunted house.

My family moved in there when I was just 13. Our first week in that house, we knew something was terribly wrong. We were sitting in the living room watching TV when we suddenly heard loud footsteps up above us.

They were heavy footsteps that made a sound like a plop, plop, plop. My father tried to laugh it off saying spooks, but we soon discovered there was nothing to laugh at. His dread filled our hearts on one occasion when those heavy footsteps began down the upstairs hall.

I quickly ran upstairs to see if there was an intruder, but there was no one there, at least no one I could see with my eyes. We soon realized we were living in a house haunted by demons, but as unnerving as those unseen footsteps were, something would occasionally occur in that house which would make your blood boil in horror. There was a closet beneath the stairway which was a storm closet, you know, the one you get into in a bad storm.

Well, in this closet every once in a while and without warning, there would be a loud pounding on that stairway closet. It would start pounding. It would keep on pounding until it stopped you in your tracks.

It was so startling and terrifying. I remember one day in August when I was home alone in our window AC unit, wasn't working. It had to be a hundred degrees in that hot house when all of a sudden that pounding began on that door.

Well, I rushed over to that door, yanked it open to see what was in there, and I'll never forget it. As soon as I opened that door, a blast of cool air came out on me and gave me chills. Even though it was a hundred degrees in that house, it was like I was standing in a freezer.

I quickly shut the door. Something bad must have happened in that house for all that evil to be there. I sure was glad when my family finally moved away.

But in Revelation 20, it talks about the second death where death and hell are cast into that lake of fire. That's where those demons from that haunted house will go. That's where every man and every woman with a poison in their blood will go.

They will experience that second death, which is eternal separation from God and terrible damnation in that burning hell. That's where everyone goes before that great white throne because of their natural condition with that poison in their blood. But listen to me, friend, you don't have to go there.

There's a remedy for sin in the person of Christ Jesus, but this remedy must be applied. But some folks don't think they need it. They think they're all right without it.

They think they're good enough for heaven because they're not bad enough for hell. They rely on their good works to save them. They rely on their good character to save them.

They rely on their self-righteousness and religion to save them. They rely on their baptism to save them. They rely on a church membership to save them.

But none of these things will remove the poison in the blood. Every man, woman, boy, and girl has this poison in their blood, and it's killing them. And that poison is sin.

They need the remedy for sin. The only thing that can save them from this curse of a poison in their blood, and the only remedy is Jesus Christ. But it must be applied.

We must have soul for sin and have a hunger and desire for Christ and his merits. Only the shed blood of Christ can wash sins away. I'm saved when Christ's life is laid down and applied to me.

We read in Revelation unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. I'm going to end this message, friend, with a simple gospel story which tells of Christ's reception of sinners. You can be the biggest sinner in this town tonight, friend, and God has enough grace to save you.

For every man who dies in a state of nature will be damned because of this poisonous sin that has him under the condemnation of God. And when they're held up at that last judgment against the strict and severe law of God, all men who stand there in their own merits will fail that test. For God's word plainly declares in Romans, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, we must stand in the merits of another.

And that person is Jesus. Jesus is the only remedy for sin. Jesus declares, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No man cometh unto the Father but by me. We cannot come to God but in and through Christ Jesus. Let me tell you about him, friend.

Let me tell you about him. God has come down in the flesh and made his appearance as a man, as one of us. And this is God's love toward us.

Herein is love. Not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Oh, friend, eternal love waits and attends on you.

Will you still reject Christ? Listen to what he has done. Jesus came into the world doing good. He healed the sick.

He gave sight to the blind. He fed the hungry. He gave rest to the weary.

He even raised the dead to life. Yet what happened? Men cried away with him and nailed him to a cross there on a faraway hill called Calvary. They crucified the Son of God.

He was crucified between two common criminals on that hill called Calvary. The only way you're going to get saved, friend, is if you look to Jesus. He's your only hope.

Look at that man on the cross, friend. Look at that blessed man on the cross. See him there, hanging there as he wrestles under the weight of sin.

Look at that bloodstained Savior from sin with his arms outstretched, beckoning you to come to him and believe on him. When all was against him, his love flows out to a world of guilty sinners. He says, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

Listen, friend, you can find your remedy in Christ for the poison in your blood. He's the only remedy and refuge for sin. The cross is the place where wicked men sought to get rid of him.

But by his death, it becomes the place where his saving power flows out to all who come in repentance, confessing they are sinners and on them as Savior and Lord. If you've not trusted this blessed Savior, friend, receive him now before it's too late. That lake of fire awaits all sinners outside his cleansing blood.

Come to Christ now for forgiveness of sin. Don't delay, friend. If God has been dealing with your soul through this message, you sell it now.

You come surrender to God. Jesus is your only hope. Don't come to Christ casually.

Heaven must be taken by violence. When Christ was born, all Jerusalem was troubled. When God works regeneration in your heart, there will be a commotion, for the devil won't give up his goods easily.

But if you come to Christ with a sincere heart, he will receive you. For Christ has a reception of sinners. He has enough grace to satisfy all comers.

Listen, listen, listen to God's invitation for where he invites and entreats and compels. He will make you come in to the supper of the Lamb. If you will hear his voice and obey, the Father is willing, the Son is willing.

All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. So we see Christ's reception of sinners. Listen to the word of God from the prophet Isaiah.

Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts.

And let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. If God's Spirit has been dealing with you, friend, don't you delay. Don't let the devil deceive you and tell you you're all right.

Don't you wait one skinny minute. You come to Christ now. Lay your sin burden down that is now pierced feet.

Come while God is speaking to your heart in this window of grace. This gospel call may be the last one you'll ever hear. If you're hearing God's voice speaking to you, then come now and surrender all you are to all he is.

And the Spirit and the bride say, come. And let him that hears say, come. And let him that is a thirst come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.