Scripture Reference: Psalm 36

2. The Fullness of Salvation – Continued

Please read Psalm 36:5-9 for the background to this section.

It is a fact that they who attempt to live godly lives will suffer persecution. It is also true that many times saintly, godly people do not receive the recognition they deserve. They often do not have the social status and standing that those in the world have. In spite of this, I emphatically emphasize that God never gives anything inferior. God’s measuring stick is so far removed from the world’s; His measuring stick is perfect and just. Many Americans are so shallow in their thinking that they think life should be judged by bank accounts, securities, cars, real estate, appearance, and personal status in the eyes of the world. But those are foolish fleshly, worldly standards. All those things have this in common; they will not last. Thus they will never supply abundant satisfaction. God has never promised us those things. What He does promise us however is real, excellent, and abundant.

“They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights.” The word “delights” here is edena. Sounds like Eden, doesn’t it? The connotation the writer is trying to relay are the delights and pleasures God gave Adam and Eve in the perfection of the Garden of Eden. He wants to restore to us believers the pleasures of Eden.

Genuine pleasure is God’s invention. Satan has never invented any real pleasure. Satan is a loser and a deceiver from the beginning. He has never had an original thought. He is the original plagiarizer; he always takes God’s ideas and creations and twist it to his malevolent use. What is sin? Sin is not necessarily doing something that in itself is wrong. Sin is taking something God intended to be used in one way and perverting and abusing it, twisting and using it in the wrong way. Now that’s sin. It is the perversion of good. Satan doesn’t even have enough sense to think up something evil in the way of pleasure. He just grabs something good and messes it up. God is the inventor of genuine pleasure. Any of us can become wonderfully satisfied in the Lord. God is not against pleasure, He is against the fleeting, unfulfilling “pleasures” that Satan offers. God is not merely going to give us pleasures, He is going to give us a river of pleasures, an abundance of them. Pleasure was invented and produced in heaven, overwhelming the spirit and soul of the believer.

Deep down inside we sometimes feel that if we follow God, we might somehow be cheated just a bit. We’ve all heard folks comment, “Well, I want to sow my wild oats, even if it’s just for a little while. After all, there’s time when I’m older.” If we truly knew the result of wild oats, we wouldn’t even consider wanting to sow them. If we do, we’re only going to penalize ourself.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
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