The Treasures of Sin

Burn up their idols in the fire. Do not wish for the silver and gold on them. Don’t take it for yourselves, or you will be trapped by it. The Lord your God hates it. Do not bring one of those hated things into your house. If you do, you will be completely destroyed along with it. Hate and reject those things. They must be completely destroyed. Deuteronomy 7.

This text instructs the Israelites to not only turn from idol worship but also what to do with the idols… utterly destroy them and burn them up. But look what else the text says don’t even keep the melted silver or gold that the idol was made of… get rid of it. Probably don’t even sell the gold and silver… just get rid of it.

In fact we see the exact same principle illustrated in the New Testament…

Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices. And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing. Acts 19.

Some might say… why don’t we take the gold from the melted idols… sell it and give it to the Lord. Or… why don’t we sell these magic books and give the proceeds to the church?

There is a sort of wisdom in that but not godly wisdom… the proceeds from the melted idols and sold magic books would be tainted and not acceptable to God. What can we learn from these examples and the sin in our lives today?

Suppose you went to the garage sale of a widow and you “beat” her up on the pricing and went home and bragged about the good deal you got and the money you saved. Is the okay to take advantage of widows or the poor? What do you do with the widow’s property that you stole from her? Keep it anyway? Sell it so you won’t be reminded of your iniquity and use the money to buy something else?

What if you had been engaged in “outlaw” hunting on one of the big south Texas ranches and brought home a trophy buck and had it mounted and placed over your fire place. You later realize that you are a thief. What do you do with the deer mount? Keep it and recite to yourself over and over that you are saved by God’s grace? Or do you get rid of the monument to your sin and refuse to even keep or profit from selling it?

God’s people live to a higher standard than the rest of humanity. Part of that is not sinning or even keeping any of the treasure associated with sin. If you’re not ready to do that then you are not worthy of the Kingdom.