"Buy now, pay later." Many a salesman has used this attractive pitch; and it has worked. People go ahead and get what they want now, and the salesman assures them that paying for it is something they can worry about later.
The devil peddles sin in much the same way. He entices us to go ahead and indulge ourselves, fulfill our lusts, treat ourselves to a taste of the forbidden. It's all wrapped up in a nice little package, and no price tag is attached. We know there is a price to pay, but the last thing the devil wants us to think about are the consequences of our sins.
The results of the first sin give us ample warning of the high cost to be paid for personal sins. While the serpent promised Eve she would benefit from eating the forbidden fruit (Gen. 3:4-6), sin actually brought great loss.
Sin brings loss of life. God had placed man in the garden with only one prohibition. "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. 2:17). Man did not die physically the day he ate, but physical death entered the world and became a harsh reality because of the first sin (Gen. 3:19; Rom. 5:12). Sin and death are connected (1 Cor. 15:56).
Sin brings a loss of innocence. Before Adam and Eve sinned they knew no shame, but 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 next chapter (Gen. 4:8). Just two chapters later we read, "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). Innocence was gone, and evil ruled in the hearts of men, all because of sin.
Sin brings a loss of peace. Adam and Eve had enjoyed a face-to-face fellowship with God in the garden. When they sinned, they found that covering their nakedness was not enough. "And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden" (Gen. 3:8). Sin had brought guilt, and guilt produced fear. They were no longer at peace with God.
Sin brings a loss of God. Sin forced man to leave the presence of God (Gen. 3:22-24). They may not have died physically that day, but Adam and Eve died spiritually. Physical death occurs when our spirit is separated from our physical 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. "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear" (Is. 59:1-2).
Separated from God in this life is bad enough, but consider the eternal fate of one who dies in this condition. When we die, our soul leaves this body of flesh and has only one of two places to spend eternity: Heaven or Hell. If we die in sin, our soul cannot go to Heaven to be with God, because we are separated from God. "Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie" (Rev. 22:14-15). Hell is for those who cannot spend eternity with God; for those who have died in their sins.
Sin is not harmless. There are both immediate and eternal consequences to our sins. Adam and Eve lost their innocence, their peace, their home and their special fellowship with God. This is the price we must pay for our sins.