"Buy Now - Pay Later!" Salesmen use this pitch because it works. Impulsive shoppers are urged to purchase a desired item now so they can enjoy it. Paying for it is something they are told they can worry about later. Sin works exactly the same way. The devil entices us to enjoy the pleasures of this world now. The last thing he wants us to think about are the consequences - the price that has to be paid. However, there is a price to pay.
Genesis chapter three gives a great lesson on the high price of sin. When Satan tempted Eve, he assured her she would gain by eating the forbidden fruit. "Then the serpent said to the woman, 'You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.' So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate" (Gen. 3:4-6), However, Adam and Eve learned the hard way that sin brings nothing but loss. Notice the things they lost when they sinned.
Sin brings loss of life. God placed only one restriction upon Adam: "And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, 'Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die'" (Gen. 2:16-17). Adam did not die physically that day, but physical death entered the world because of that first sin (Gen. 3:19). Death and sin are connected (1 Cor. 15:56).
Sin brings loss of innocence. The Bible says before Adam and Eve sinned they knew no shame. However, immediately after they violated God's law, "the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings" (Gen. 3:7). They came to know right from wrong. They learned of evil. With this knowledge, man eventually gave himself to committing evil. The first murder is recorded in the very next chapter (Gen. 4:8), and just two chapters later - "Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Gen. 6:5).
Sin brings loss of peace. Adam and Eve had enjoyed face-to-face fellowship with God. When they sinned, they found that covering their nakedness was not enough. They had to hide from God (Gen. 3:8). Sin had brought guilt, and guilt had produced fear. They were no longer at peace with God.
Sin brings loss of God. Sin forced man to leave the presence of God (Gen. 3:22-24). Physical death occurs when our spirit is separated from our body (James 2:26). Spiritual death occurs when our spirit is separated from God - the Father of Spirits (Heb. 12:9). Sin causes this separation (Is. 59:1-2). Being separated from God in this life is bad enough, but consider the eternal fate of one who dies in this condition. If we die in our sins, our soul can't go to Heaven to be with God. That leaves only one other place - Hell.
Sin is not harmless. There is pleasure in sin, but it is only temporary (Heb. 11:25). There is a price to be paid. Sin will cost us our innocence, our peace of mind, and eventually our life. If we die in our sins, it will cost us our eternal soul. It took the sacrifice of God's Son to provide a remedy for our sins. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 6:23).