The inestimable cost of sin

We all know Christians who have fallen into sin. I have heard people fretting about them, “They’re going to get away with _______.” The unstated idea is, “I live right and do everything the right way . .. . and they live like this and get away with it.” I have always been astounded at this thinking and believe it says a lot about the maker of the statement. But let’s consider this idea of “getting away” with sin.

There are many ways to approach this, but I will take just one, simply a few verses from Psalm 51. This is “A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.” So he had sinned big time. In 1-9 he asks God for His forgiving mercy, then says:

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.  
11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.  
12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.  

Behold how awful are the consequences of sin for the believer! It affects the heart, the spirit, the presence of God, and joy.

Create in me a clean heart – “Mending will not avail; my heart is altogether corrupted.” “Out of [the heart] are the issues of life”. Sin is not just a little drop of water, it is like mustard or blueberry or oil on nice, white cloth. It gets in the fabric. It is so hard to get it out, and the more you rub it the deeper it goes and the farther it spreads! A ruinous stain.

and renew a right spirit within me – “a constant, steady, determined spirit; no longer bound and degraded by the sinfulness of sin.” This is “the deceitfulness of sin:” it promises one thing but delivers only bondage and degradation.

Cast me not away from thy presence – Whatever your view of eternal security (whether the right one or the other one!), this much is without a doubt certain, Living in sin has an impact on the presence of God in your life. You lose the presence of God, or the blessed sense of His presence. In addition, sin usually impacts your relationship with other believers, the Church, and when you stop assembling with the saints you lose that measure of the presence of God as well. One of the saddest statements in the Bible is made concerning Samson. It looked like Samson really was getting away with sin: he had the anointing of the Spirit while at the same time he was living in sin. Then one day he was waylaid by the Philistines and we read, And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he knew not that the LORD was departed from him. Behold the deceitfulness of sin, the awfulness of sin: “he knew not that the LORD was departed from him.”

And take not thy Holy Spirit from me – “I know I have sufficiently grieved it to justify its departure for ever, in consequence of which I should be consigned to the blackness of darkness, - either to utter despair, or to a hard heart and seared conscience; and so work iniquity with greediness, till I fall into the pit of perdition. While the Spirit stays, painfully convincing of sin, righteousness, and judgment, there is hope of salvation; when it departs, then the hope of redemption is gone. But while there is any godly sorrow, any feeling of regret for having sinned against God, any desire to seek mercy, then the case is not hopeless; for these things prove that the light of the Spirit is not withdrawn.”

Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation – “This is an awful prayer. And why? Because it shows he once Had the joy of God's salvation; and had Lost it by sin!”

And uphold me with thy free spirit – “Prop me up; support me with a princely spirit, one that will not stoop to a mean or base act.”

Does it look like David is “getting away” with anything? This is the inestimable cost of sin. How do you count this? How do you measure this? When you see a brother or sister fall into sin don’t fret, “Oh great, they get to have God and sin. They get everything.” The truth is, they get nothing. They lose what they had. When you fall into sin you lose with the Lord and the pleasures of sin are only for a season. What should you do when you see someone falling into sin? If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. Everything should be bathed in this prayer.


It seems to me that there are two requests in this Psalm: forgive my sin and restore me. That is, restore to me what I had with you – presence, clean heart, right spirit, joy, and ministry - before this sin. Was his prayer answered?

Forgive my sin – I have always been told that Psalm 51 is the confession of his sin and Psalm 32 is the answer. And in Psalm 32 he wrote / sang,
I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. 
I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; 
and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.  Amen.

Or as in another Psalm:
If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?  
But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. And again I say, Amen.

Restore me – but was he restored? Was David restored to his pre-sin heart and ministry? His desire was, Restore unto me . . . then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Did he see that? I confess, I struggle with this.

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.  
Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.  
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.  

We used to sing this and you can too. Go here.