Of all the words that God could use to describe
himself, what one word do you think he'd choose?
While you're thinking about that, I have to tell
you that many years ago, a man gave me a thin
little book on the attributes of God, and the
one attribute that changed the course of my life
is this one word. Want to find out what it is?
Stay with me. Welcome to this edition of Living
on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Our mission is
to inspire Christians to be genuine followers
of Jesus and to empower them to be active disciple
makers in our world. Thanks for being with us
as we pick up in our series, The Real God, How
He Longs for You to See Him. Today, Chip begins
breaking down the first of seven characteristics
God uses to describe himself through nature,
his word, and Jesus. So if you have a Bible,
go now to Psalm 84, and let's settle in for Chip's
message, The Goodness of God. I was at a major
crossroads in my life. There was a path that
was clearly the will of God, and there was a
path that was clearly not the will of God. And
although sometimes that can be confusing and
hard, this was easy. I knew exactly what God
wanted me to do. And I had enough self -awareness
to know that whatever path I took would determine
the rest of my life. That the implications were
just amazingly overwhelming. And I knew exactly
what to do. But I couldn't get myself to do it.
Anybody been there? For a year, year and a half.
Went to Bible studies. Still read my Bible. Outwardly,
I'm sure few people really knew. But I was involved
in a relationship with a young lady that God
made it very clear, this is not my will. But
I was in love. And I had worked and worked and
worked out of all my insecurities. If you've
ever gone to an outdoor playground and seen very
competitive basketball, and you just see one
skinny little white kid. John Stockton was my
hero. the over -aggressive, over -the -top, over
-achiever, that was me. And so I grew up playing
in inner city playgrounds and then played in
college. And my whole identity was wrapped around
being a basketball player, but really it wasn't.
It was really was, it was my God. It was my Isaac.
It's what held me up inside. And God had made
it very clear that I love you very much. And
that you need to break off this relationship
and trust me for your future. And you need to
release this idol that you have. And my fears
were that if I did, one, I would be single the
rest of my life. Or I would marry someone, this
is bizarre thinking, that I would really not
like. Because what I had was really good and
I could see her and touch her and she was beautiful.
And what God had was invisible. And I felt like
if I entrusted basketball to him, he would probably
take it away and not let me play anymore. On
the front of your notes, I put a sentence that
I think is worthy for all of us to look at. There's
a private battle that every true follower of
Christ must face and you must win. There's no
exceptions. The battle is for your heart. It's
for your affections. It's for your loyalty. We
call it a lot of things. Some people call it
surrender. Others call it being all in. Others
say it's being totally committed. Jesus said
it's picking up your cross, denying yourself
and following him and saying that he and he alone
is the Lord of your life. And there's lots of
competition. There's an entire world system that's
designed to woo your heart away from your Savior
who loves you. The barrier is FOMO, F -O -M -O,
fear of missing out. And there's this idea that
somehow FOMO is this thing that keeps us not
enjoying the present, not being who we're supposed
to be, living with this fear that we're going
to miss out. Well, I got news. It's not new.
The very first sin by our first parents was FOMO.
Eve, don't you understand that he's holding out
on you? Don't you really want to be wise? Don't
you want a better life? God's not really good.
Has God really said? The first sin that ever
occurred was a belief that God was not a good
God, that he was holding out on us, and that
you're going to miss out by allowing him to be
the Lord of your life. The breakthrough, I'm
convinced, for all of us, is not trying harder,
not seeing someone who's more committed, not
saying, this time I'm really in, I'll do anything,
I'll go anywhere, and out of your flesh and energy
say, okay, I'm really going to be committed,
even though, because we've all done that, and
what happens? You cycle back, cycle back, cycle
back. The breakthrough, I believe, comes when
you actually believe that God is good. that he's
for you, that the path of his will, though difficult
on the front end, is the good. The acceptable,
that the highest good that you'll ever receive,
the best relationships, the best decisions, the
best future, that literally that surrender or
total commitment because God is good is the channel
through which his biggest and best blessings
flow and that the most intellectually feasible,
the emotionally fulfilling path that you could
ever take would be do exactly what God says because
all his commandments are for your good. And rather
than being prohibitive, his commands are like
guide rails on a winding path. And if you would
break through the guardrails, there's a thousand
foot drop. And he so loves you and so loves me.
He gives us guide rails about relationships and
sexuality and money and decision making. All
so that we land and experience the very best
because you're the object of his affection. But
I am deeply convinced. that many of us don't
believe in our hearts that God is really good.
Tozer said, what comes into your mind when you
think about God is the most important thing about
us and that there is a secret law of the soul
that you and I will move and make decisions consciously
and unconsciously toward our mental image of
God. And if God is not good, if he's not for
you, if you don't believe that at the core of
your being, then you will constantly struggle
with commitment, constantly struggle with manipulating,
constantly struggle with, how can I get as close
to sin as possible but not fall in? And then
ultimately, never really fully trust God. The
thesis of this whole study is that our distorted
view of God is at the root of all of our problems.
Your fears, your anxieties, your relational breakdowns,
your sense about the future, your conflict in
relationships. At the root of all of our problems,
it goes back to a distorted view of God that
gives us a distorted view of ourself, a distorted
view of the future, a distorted view of relationships.
So we have this... scarce pie mentality. There's
not much to go around. I better get mine. If
I don't have this position, if I don't have this,
if I don't look like this, if I don't own that,
if people don't think this about me, and we have
this, all this stuff going on, and then we're
bombarded by media and a world system that says,
if you look like this, or if you have this, or
if you own this, or if you've accomplished this,
then you're a somebody. And so our significance,
our security is all wrapped around chasing the
wind. As opposed to realizing there is a good
God who is completely for you. And it brings
rest to your soul. And you can trust him. But
I will tell you, it's a battle. So in our study,
we're going to start with the goodness of God
because it's foundational. The theologians call
God... simple. And what they mean by that is
think of the character of God as a diamond and
that as you would tilt the diamond and put light
on it, it would reveal different facets, but
it's one diamond. It's not like God is holy and
then on some other days he's loving. His holiness,
his infinitude, his self -sufficiency, his justice,
his compassion, they all work as a simple unit.
He's always holy in all of his love. He's always
loving in all of his justice. He's always compassionate
even in judgment. But I think one of the things
that we miss And as foundational is the goodness
of God. If God isn't good, life makes no sense.
As Tozer would say, heaven can become a hell
and hell can become a heaven. There is no values
if there's no goodness. And so often if you want
to study something, go to where the concept first
pops up in scripture. And so I'm going to ask
you to turn with me to Exodus chapter 33 and
chapter 34. And as you turn there, I'll give
you the context. Moses has seen God's power.
He's seen the miracles. He's a reluctant servant.
You know, Lord, send somebody else, not me. But
he's now seen the Nile turn to blood. He's seen
the parting of the Red Sea. There's a fire by
night. There's a cloud moving by day. He's seen
miraculous things. And as he is now in intimate
relationship with God, the psalmist gives us
some insight. Psalm 103 verse 7 is one of those
interestingly hinged verses. It says he made
known his ways to Moses, his acts to the sons
of Israel. His ways. All of Israel saw his acts,
right? Power, deliverance, power, deliverance.
How many of those people who saw all of his acts
entered the promised land and believed God? God's
acts will never sustain you. Everyone in this
room, we all probably have a big challenge and
one of our kids is in a jam or we have a health
issue or a financial issue or something's upside
down or you have a big fear about something.
And all of us, we play, this is human. Oh God,
if you would just do this and let's just say
hypothetically, he miraculously did that big
thing in your life. I'll guarantee 30 days from
now, I could sit down with you and you'd be asking
him for the next big thing. Oh, if you would
just change so -and -so's heart. If you would
only, and God supernaturally, if you would look
in the rear view mirror, he's intervened in your
life in supernatural ways. Acts that are deliverance
are evidence of his kindness and his goodness.
But God's acts don't sustain us. His ways do.
And Moses, after seeing all those acts and interacting
with God, He makes this outrageous, bold request
that I think thrilled God's heart. Show me your
glory, he says. I want to see you face to face.
I want to know all of who you are. And God says,
again, some of these translations are sort of
the Ingram telling the story through my lens.
So, you know, don't look for this right in the
Bible. But I think God's response in essence
was, you have no idea what you're asking. But
what he actually did say is, no one can see me
and live. But I'll tell you what I'll do. I think
when God sees a seeking heart, he says, Moses,
you get over there, kind of edge back in those
rocks. And what I'm going to do is I'm going
to pass by you. And then I'm going to give you
just a glimpse of my back. And then notice in
your notes, when God wanted to describe his passing
by, all my goodness will pass before you. Isn't
that interesting? Not all my holiness, not all
my, all my goodness. will pass before you. And
then God answers his prayer. Exodus 34, we pick
it up in verse five. Now the Lord descended in
the cloud and he stood with him there and he
proclaimed the name of the Lord and the Lord
passed before him and proclaimed the Lord, the
Lord God, merciful and gracious, long -suffering,
abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy
for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgressions
and sin. And then in all that love, compassion,
and goodness, by no means declaring the guilty
innocent, visiting the iniquity of the fathers
upon the children and the children's children
to the third and to the fourth generation. You're
listening to Living on the Edge. We'll return
you to today's message in just a second. But
let me quickly ask you, do you often find it
difficult to read and understand God's Word?
If so, join us after today's program as Chip
talks about our useful resource, Daily Discipleship
with Chip. This tool has helped tens of thousands
of people study the Bible and develop a deeper
connection to God. Stick around to learn how
to sign up. Over that, let's rejoin Chip for
the remainder of his message. J .I. Packard in
his book, Knowing God, comments on this passage.
He says, within the cluster of God's moral perfections,
there is one in particular, the term goodness,
that points to a quality which God especially
singled out from the whole when proclaiming his
goodness to Moses. He spoke of himself as abundant
in goodness and truth. And then Packard makes
this comment that as he studied this word, This
idea of goodness at its heart is the generosity
of God. Have you ever thought of God as generous?
Have you ever thought of God as no matter, he
just wants to lavish. He longs to give the core
of the character of God and all of his attributes
that he's generous. No scarcity. When he sees
you, when you come to his infinite mind, he longs
to bless, he longs to encourage, he longs to
create a path. I love this next line. He says,
generosity expresses the simple wish that others
might have what they need to be happy. Have you
ever thought of God like that, thinking of you?
That you might have what you need to be happy.
See, it's interesting is the world says, here's
all these things that'll make you happy someday,
some way. God says, no, no, no. Follow me, worship
me, I've made you. I want to give you a life
from within and in relationships, in a path with
me that would bring delight to my heart and make
you happy as a byproduct. That's how God thinks
of you. The Hebrew word here means pleasant,
joyful, agreeable. And when it's translated into
the Greek text, it's noble, admirable, worthy.
It's this, it's good. It's the standard of goodness.
Goodness isn't something that God possesses.
He is the standard. It is how he is. And again,
I've given you a thought by Tozer. He says, the
goodness of God is that which disposes him to
be kind, cordial, benevolent, and full of goodwill
toward men. He's tenderhearted and quick of sympathy.
Is that how you think about God? When you bow
your head, do you think, oh, he's for me? He's
glad to see me. He's full of goodwill. He wants
my best. He's orchestrating people and circumstances
in my home and in my job and in my heart to bless
my life. He's quick of sympathy. How many of
you, when you hurt and when you mess up, feel
like God just moved away 10 yards? God's arms
are crossed. God's attitude is, again, huh? How
many times are you gonna go around this barn?
So, oh, you think that thought, that lustful
thought again, you're still envying her. Oh,
you opened your mouth again and talked about,
well, friend, well, you know what? I call that
gossip or you know what? So are you just possessed
with greed? Can you, you have to get up and look
at the wall street journal before anything else.
I mean, mind me what's with you. Oh, that's that
show came on and you lingered a little bit longer
and you didn't click the thing. So how many times
are we going to deal with this issue? How many
of you have a view of God that his arms are crossed
and he's basically down on you instead of a view
that says, the moment that you turn and go, oh,
Lord, you're mindful that I'm dust. I'm just
a person of flesh. I get lulled into these, oh,
I so don't want to be that. And that when you
would turn like that, he would be, I understand.
I'm for you. I love you. See, the power of temptation,
The power of the lust of the flesh, the power
of the pride of life, the power of the lust of
having and possessing, the power of what everyone
thinks matters so much is behind it is a belief
that God isn't for you, that the real action
is over there, that the real success, the real
fulfillment, all the things you're looking for
are some way out there. And that's why 1 John,
the apostle of love, would say, love not the
world or things that are in the world. And all
that's in the world, the lust of the flesh, the
lust of the eyes, the pride of life, it's not
from the Father, but it's from the world. And
if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father
isn't in him, but the world's passing away. But
God's love abides forever. See, what Tozer wanted
us to get around, that's what God is like. The
last line. He says this, and I have this underlined
like 45 times in my little book that I've been
reading. It says he, by his nature, circle that
in your notes, by his nature, not by your circumstances,
not by whether you're doing good or doing bad.
God isn't good to you because you're good. God
is good because he's good. It's intrinsic. He
can't not be good. You have good days, bad days,
obedience days, not obedience days. It doesn't
change the character of God. Actually, there's
times that it's out of his goodness. Some of
the difficulties that some of us have in our
life, the difficulties I had in my life, that
18 months when I was in a relationship that was
sinful and when I had an idol in my life, in
the goodness and kindness of God, the velvet
vice of discipline started. So I pulled my quad
right out of here to here. Wow, couldn't play
12, 13 games. You know, then pretty soon as I
rehabbed and so I went again and then I had a
stress fracture in my foot. I mean, every year
it was like God going, you know, Ingram, you
can worship basketball or you can worship me,
but I love you so much. I mean, finally, my surrender
was not like some noble, I will give you everything.
I mean, literally mine was, if you can't lick
him, join him. Literally. God, I'm bankrupt.
You frustrate my plans. This relationship isn't
what I know it is. I don't like the guilt. I
don't like the shame. I don't like living a double
life. I look in the mirror and I don't like me.
I appear to be one person. I know I'm not. You
frustrate, frustrate, frustrate, frustrate my
plans. You know what? And you won't leave me
alone. I've tried to quit the Christian life
a couple times. You won't leave. You know, when
you receive Christ, it's like in a marriage.
You said, I do. Lord, come into my life. Guess
what? He said yes. And then he sealed you with
his spirit. And he lives in you. And he permanently
came in. And you can grieve the spirit, but out
of his goodness, some of the most difficult things
in our life is his saying, I want what's better
for you, so I'm not going to allow you to keep
going down this path. The scripture says that
God disciplines every son, every daughter that
he really loves. It's out of his goodness. It's
out of his kindness. He doesn't want you to miss
out. He takes holy pleasure in the happiness
of his people. The breakthrough came for me when
a passage came. from my intellect to my heart.
And then I later claimed a promise. It's Psalm
84, 11. I have a little card that's about 30
years old and it says the goodness of God. And
on one side, I have written my fears about the
future. And on the other side, after it says,
stop being afraid of the future, you won't miss
out. On the other side has Psalm 84, 11. The
Lord God is a sun and a shield. The Lord gives
grace and glory. No good thing does he withhold
from those who walk uprightly. Now think about
this. And by the way, it's the Lord God. It's
Yahweh Adonai, the I am that I am, the one who
spoke the world into existence, is a sun, unlimited
source, is a shield, unlimited protection. He
gives grace, what you don't deserve, blessing,
lavish, love, goodness, kindness, mercy. What's
mercy? He withholds the due judgment that we
ought to get in so many occasions. No good thing.
Here's the promise. No good thing will he withhold
from those who walk uprightly. As you have the
crisscross of this path is God's way or this
path in small and big situations, as you say,
I'm going to go on your path, here's what you
can say. I do not fear missing. because on this
path, God will never withhold what's best for
me. That's a statement of faith. That's a promise
to claim. It will change the course of your life.
Well, how has God revealed his goodness? It's
one thing. I can tell you, if you actually come
to believe that from your head down to your heart,
obedience will be completely different. trusting
him becomes completely different. The fear of
the future, we always have some, it'll begin
to dissipate. Because if God has your best and
he's sovereign and he's control and he's an all
-wise God and he's for you and he's leaning forward
on the throne to bless your life and to help
you and give you the very best, well then, whatever
he says is the, well, that's what I want to do.
Now, by the way, it doesn't mean that you don't
have some emotional fear. It doesn't mean the
front end might be really hard. But it means
that you trust his promises because he's a good
God. He's revealed it to us in three ways. And
let me encourage you to let these ways sink in
and begin to practice them in a new way. Because
you've got to do some things to move. I believe
God's good to hear. First, it's through natural
blessings. Psalm 145, 7 through 9 says, They
celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully
sing of your righteousness. The Lord is gracious
and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in
love. The Lord is good to all. He has compassion
on all he's made. Does the all include you? He's
good to all. This little phrase is repeated all
through the Old Testament. He's gracious, compassionate,
abounding, multiplying, exponentially available,
loving kindness. The word is hesed. It's a steadfast,
loyal, commitment, love to give you the best.
That's how God is with his creation. Later in
the same Psalm, verse 16 says, you open your
hand and satisfy the desires of every living
thing. The Lord is righteous in all his ways
and faithful in all that he does. And here's
what I'd say is pause to look around. We get
so busy, so focused. Just observe people. Observe
people at a restaurant. Observe people walking
on the streets now. The whole world does this.
A family sitting together in a restaurant. There's
four phones out. When's the last time, I'm serious.
When's the last time you saw a sunset? You, when's
the last time you saw a sunrise? This is Living
on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and you've been
listening to part one of Chip's message, The
Goodness of God, from our series, The Real God.
Chip will be back shortly to share some helpful
application for us to think about. You know,
we've all unintentionally projected some of humanity's
worst qualities into our Creator. Many view God
as moody, weak, unfair, impatient, and merciless.
But those ideas couldn't be further from the
truth. Through this series, Chip explores key
Bible passages to reveal seven fundamental characteristics
of our Heavenly Father, attributes that reflect
the very essence of His divine nature. Join Chip
on this journey to reshape your perspective toward
God, which will deepen your relationship with
Him like never before. You won't want to miss
a single part of this study. Well, before we
go any further in this program, here's Chip with
a quick word. I'll be right back with some specific
application from today's message, but I want
to share something with you that's very personal
to me. When I was a young Christian, I really
struggled to understand God's Word, and I really
struggled to get into it on a daily basis. There
were so many names and places I couldn't pronounce,
but I knew it was really important to get in
God's Word and really let Him speak to me. And
I thank God for Dave Marshall. He was a bricklayer,
an older mentor who came down to my dorm room
when I was in college and met with me and showed
me how to read the Bible and study it for myself
in a way where I began to hear God's voice. He
actually started speaking to me and it wasn't
like a mystery and it took time and it took discipline
and I needed Dave to show me how. And I want
to invite you. to get from me what Dave gave
to me. I want to mentor you in what we call Daily
Discipleship. It's a free video tool where I
literally mentor and study the Bible with people.
I mean, individually. I'll never speak for more
than about 10 minutes, and then I'll ask you
to study on your own for another 10 minutes.
Let's dive deeper into God's Word and build a
life -changing habit of meeting with God. Check
it out. Daily Discipleship with Chip. Thanks,
Chip. So if you're looking for a practical way
to deepen your faith, let me encourage you to
sign up for Daily Discipleship with Chip. This
free video resource will help you learn more
about God and His Word. To sign up for any of
our Daily Discipleship series, visit livingontheedge
.org. That's livingontheedge .org. App listeners,
tap Discipleship. Well, with that, here again
is Chip to share a few final thoughts about the
goodness of God. By his nature, he is inclined
to bestow blessedness, and he takes holy pleasure
in the happiness of his people. That statement
in the same sentence with God was inconceivable
to me. I was a Christian three, maybe four years
at the time. Now, I didn't grow up in a Christian
environment. I'd only read the Bible for a couple
three years, but all the baggage of my past was
this angry, God who was down on me. Do you understand?
It was like the lights coming on. Do you understand
what will happen to you if you can begin to renew
your mind and believe that by his nature, not
your performance, by his nature, not your behavior,
by his nature. In other words, it's what God
is like. It's who he is. He doesn't change. He
is eternally good. Every morning when you get
up, it brings God. pleasure to see happiness
birthed in your heart out of your relationship
with him. When he wants to give good gifts, when
he wants to bless, and I don't mean just superficial
stuff like, you know, money or cars or things
working out your way. Of course he blesses in
those things, but I'm talking about the depth
of your very soul to know that you are approved.
God is for you. He is with you. He wants to bring
great joy to you. That's Jesus. And Jesus says
to you today, come unto me, all of you who are
tired and heavy laden and worn out and stressed
out, and I will give you rest. Why? Because God
is good. Thanks, Chip. And as we close, I want
you to know that as a staff, we ask the Lord
to help you take whatever your next faith step
is, and we'd love to hear how it's going. Would
you take a minute to send us a note or give us
a call? Either one is easy. Just email chip at
livingontheedge .org or call 888 -333 -6003.
Again, that's 888 -333 -6003 or email chip at
livingontheedge .org. We'll listen to next time
as Chip picks up in his series, The Real God.
Until then, this is Dave Drewy saying thanks
for joining us for this edition of Living on
the Edge.