Sin has a Payday
But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out. (Num. 32:23)
Friends, please listen closely today, for as our text verse says, we have sinned against God, and we can be sure that our sin will find us out. I will attempt to show as much as I can, how sin affects not only the guilty party, but others who are not even involved in the same sin and debauchery. I will attempt to show how sin affects society, and families, and of course, the individuals that engage in it. Go with me a moment into the realm of imagination, as I create some real live events in the lives of many unwary people. We may know some of them, though they are, in my illustration, and for the most part, fictitious, they are real in the sense of mans nature, and the affects of sin on mankind. The examples and events I allude to are real, though and the people are real, though they are analogies that show a parallel to today’s reality. Let us begin…
A young man and girl are out on a date. They enjoy being with each other--he makes her laugh; she is easy to talk to; soon things escalate, and they find themselves in an intimate relationship. At the time, she does not think of raising a child alone; she is not thinking too much of the possibility that he may “move on” to other girls, and another life; they are living for the moment. As time goes on, and the dating continues with the intimacy becoming more frequent and the thoughts of “getting caught” begin to taunt them, the unbelievable happens! She finds that she is pregnant! Suddenly, their dating has come to a standstill; he is “busy” and can’t see her as often as she would like. Her dreams of marital bliss soon become shattered, and she is left with some serious decisions to make: Is she ready for the day-to-day drudgery of raising a child? Is she up to it? What about school? She has not yet graduated, and her parents will be outraged to think that she would not finish school. And what about the pregnancy? They will be furious! Could she adopt the baby out? Is abortion an option for her? How will she hide the fact that she is pregnant--surely she will have to own up to everything.
The young man? He has begun a life of fornication; a life of “conquest” to brag about to his friends. He will continue to be dominated by pornography, and fornication until he finally finds the right woman and settles down--and probably even after that! He’s hooked! He quits his job, lest she hound him about his responsibilities to her unborn child; he moves to another part of town. He finds another sweet, unsuspecting “prospect” to conquer, and begins a new start with the same heart. He is a “hero” to his friends, a “mans man” because he impregnated a young girl, and ruined her life.
Eventually, the parents do find out. They are outraged! They are embarrassed; they are dumbfounded and perplexed to think that their little girl has betrayed them and deceived them. They are hurt. They want to cast her out--to disown her at first, and remove her place from the family table; they too are at a loss as to what to do. After the smoke clears, and rationality comes back to them, they consider the options too--the same options that they young girl has been mulling over in her mind from the onset.
So far, her sin has affected her, her boyfriend, her parents, but what of the baby? How is her decision to affect that precious little life inside her? What will be done with it?
The young child now faces depression. She asks, almost to herself “Why me?, Why does this have to happen to me?”, but she knows “why”; she knows that she sinned against her God, her parents, and herself, and perhaps even her unborn child, “Oh I wish this would never have happened” she exclaims, but it did happen, and she must deal with it. The problem is not hers alone though; it affects a young man destined to be ruled by a life of lust; it affected the parents shamed and humiliated by the lovely offspring of their own unity; their hopes for her shattered in a moment; their dreams of her success, and her happiness are completely destroyed, as well as her own dreams, and for what? One act of sin without second thought; the desire for “fun” and acceptance; all this is the payday for her foolishness; yes, payday has come.
Let’s leave them for now, and move on to the office worker who is stuck in a time warp, a “rut” if you will. He’s tired of the same old thing day after day, week after week. He needs a change. His dilemma began a few years ago when he decided the that the office could buy him lunch, it is the least they could do for his years of faithful service. He began taking a little out of the till, jut a little so that it wouldn’t be missed, but it was missed! “As much as they make off my efforts, it’s the least they could do“, he thought. Just a simple few dollars for lunch--no big deal really. But that too escalated. Soon things began to happen at home; his house was in danger of foreclosure; he needed another car; His wife was nagging him about wearing the same old clothes for years, he was in debt! It was easy then for him to steal a little more, to help out, after all, he could pay it back later--but “later never came. The amount the stole increased gradually over the following year, and soon he was taken to task for all the expenditure that seemed to be piling up with no verification for it. He denied it, of course. One lie led to another, now he is a thief and a liar, and is thinking of leaving his job for “better things”. He wonders “What is happening to me? Where does it all stop?” Meanwhile his wife has filed for divorce, he has been impossible to live with; guilt has eaten him up, but still he persists and digs the hole deeper. His life is a wreck. He has affected his wife’s life, his family is in jeopardy of losing their breadwinner, and his friends are even forsaking him. He has affected the lives of others, and infected society with his sin. Some now have problems not of their making; they are troubled and worried, and at a loss as to what to do, because of his actions. Oh, he doesn’t see their woes, he has eyes only for himself, nonetheless, the family suffers, his relationships with neighbors suffers; his friends forsake him, and his relatives suddenly become scarce, after he has borrowed so much from them that they no longer trust him. Eventually he considers suicide, which also affects others in a major way.
Let’s move on again to the two youths that love to party. “A little marijuana and a snort or two of cocaine never heart anyone, and adds to the fun” that was their motto. Spending their lives in fulfilling the lusts of the flesh, having a “good time”, but never realizing that sin has its payday. They live as if the world was made specifically for them, and there was no retribution for sin. One dies of an overdose of drugs; the other must live with the fact that he supplied the drugs to his “friend”, and he sinks deeper into despair. He is “looking for himself” and floats around with no goals, no hope of a normal life, just a mere, shallow existence; he too decides to take his life eventually. His family is heartbroken; his sister wonders what happened to her little brother, why did this happen? He leaves her with many unanswered questions; she spends much of her life in the shadows, never having the initiative to excel. She is despondent, confuse, and on the verge of a nervous breakdown. The dad, he is a broken man. He lost all ambition, he sits and drinks all day, and wonders’ “why, why did this happen to my son?” He is angry, and vengeful, and confused, while the mother is hospitalized with a nervous breakdown, and seemingly is losing her mind. All this because of the foolishness of a youth; a youths idea of “fun” and drugs, and sex, and parties all the time with no real responsibilities. One life has ruined many. Society is also affected because they have to support a family financially, and mentally with support groups. Everyone suffers the loss, and sin has had its payday!
I could go on, but you all have heard the stories before of the broken lives, and the wiles of Satan as he gets his evil claws into the lives of mankind. You get the gist of the message. Why don’t we simply obey God and make life easier for us and for others? Is it so hard to do right? Yet none of us do--not all the time at least. Be careful, be vigilant, Be sure your sin will find you out!
Gypsy Martindale
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