Calling God Good — Teresa Conlon

This message is one of the Times Square Church pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. None of these messages are copyrighted, and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to friends.

There is such a presence of Jesus tonight. It's wonderful. And I know that the Lord wants to speak something so special to our hearts tonight. My message tonight is called, Calling God Good. Calling God Good.

Calling God Good: The Goodness of God

And if you could turn in your Bibles to Psalm 129. Psalm 129. But it's going to take a little while to get to Psalm 129. Calling God Good. Father, I thank you for this word that you have given. I thank you, Lord, it was for tonight and it was for this people.

I thank you, Lord, that you are going to speak tonight in a way that you've longed to speak to many hearts in this house. So, Holy Spirit, come now and be our teacher. Come now and speak to us. And, Lord, we just open our heart to you and to your word and to your spirit.

And we will glorify you by doing this. In Jesus' precious name. Amen and amen. Calling God Good. I don't think I've ever written a message that's been more autobiographical than what I'm about to speak tonight.

And the Bible, many places all over, speaks about how good God is. And some of them in the Psalms, it's praise the Lord for he is good. Psalm 119 says, you are good and you do good. Psalm 106 and 107 both say the same thing, for the Lord is good and his mercy endures forever.

Problem is, when we say good in the year 2000, it's such a mediocre word. In this day of hyper adjectives, of humongous and incredible and fantastic and incredible, and on report cards outstanding and excellent are the categories we want, good seems overdone and conveys a sense of mediocrity.

And there's a small g good that you and I use every day. And that's that overused word. Sometimes it can mean beautiful or expensive or bountiful, sound. But when we say God is good, we're moving into a whole different realm.

When we say God is good, when we look in the Greek meaning of that word good, it means that it is someone who is always seeking the advantage of another. There's never a time that God is not looking to meet our need and advance our well-being.

God is good. Everything God does in our life is for our benefit, our good. That's why it says all things work together for good for those who are called, who love the Lord. And when God deals with his children, we can say absolutely, God is good.

Now there's a good that only applies to God and no other can claim that kind of goodness. And it's so identified with God that when you use the term good and you use the term God, you can use them interchangeably.

The Rich Young Ruler and the Goodness of Christ

And we see that very clearly in the book of Matthew. There was a story of a rich young ruler. And that rich young ruler is truly a parable of you and I today. It is going to speak about our life so clearly.

There is a young ruler and he came up and he said, Good Master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? Now that seems like an excellent question. That seems like, Good Master, what good thing can I do to obtain eternal life?

It would seem like the whole purpose of Jesus coming to the earth and ministering among us could be summed up in the asking of that question. It would be like he was waiting for someone to ask that question because he was going to be able to say so clearly who he was and what he was about.

But the interesting thing is that when he was asked that question, Jesus takes him to task on his greeting. He said, Why do you call me good? There is none good but one, that is God. What a good question and what a strange response we might think.

But Jesus was going after the heart of the issue with this young man. Beloved, you see the question came from a rich young ruler. And ruler in this sense means a person who rules, who has a measure of wisdom.

There is authority, there is a respect that comes with this young man. It is a young man that obviously had some truth and walked in it in order to keep that position of ruler. And he is a type of the believer who has embraced Christ in his heart and has been blessed.

It is a picture of you and I, beloved, when we came to Christ. When all of a sudden, by the power of the Holy Spirit, our eyes were opened and we knew we had need of God. We knew somehow that there was a hole and a void in us.

And the Holy Spirit began to draw us in a direction that for many of us we never thought or turned before. And that was in the direction of God. Is there hope there? We might have known for a season in our life there was a God, but He was not a vital thing.

And when the Holy Spirit drew us to Jesus Christ, we stood under a cleansing fountain. That began to cascade through us and cleanse us of sin. We began to understand that God loved us and longed for us so much that He knew He had to be reconciled to us.

And the only way to do it was to take His beloved Son and pour on Him the sin of you and the sin of me. A one who was sinless, who never did anything wrong. And He poured on Him every abomination that you and I ever did.

Every sin of the world put on a sinless Son who only did His will that you and I could be reconciled to Him. And now by faith we come to the Father and we are called children because of what Jesus Christ did.

Now we come and we are clean because of Christ. He gave us His righteousness. Now we have this relationship with God and never alone is our portion of we that walk with the living God. There's a purpose and a plan to our life.

We're like the rich young ruler. But beloved, He was not just a ruler, but He was young. And young means that there was an understanding in Him, but there were truths that needed deepening in His life.

He was a rich young ruler, but you know when the Bible talks about young Christians, He's not talking about the length of time that we've walked in truth, but it's how much truth has got a hold of us.

The Bible says why there's strife and envying and bitterness and backbiting. You're young, you're carnal. And here we have a picture of a young ruler coming to Christ. A picture of you and I many times knowing the full blessing of our salvation because maybe we don't experience it, but we have it by faith.

We are forgiven. We're going to heaven. We have a relationship with God and we are changed. But this young ruler comes and there is a truth now that needs to be deepened in his life. And Jesus Christ is going to speak a truth to this blessed young man that is going to touch a stronghold in his life.

It's also going to touch the most tenderest and vulnerable part in his life. Good Master, he says, what's that good thing I must do? Jesus says, you call me good. If you're going to use it that way, that means I am always seeking your advantage.

Only God is like that. Only God will seek your advantage. Do you still call me that? What he's saying is, if you're going to truly call me that and acknowledge that, you can call me Good Master or you can call me God Master.

It's the same thing. And Jesus says to him, what must I do? Jesus said to him, go, sell all you have and give it to the poor. You will have riches in heaven and come, follow me. I don't think there is a more incredulous man in the Bible than that rich young ruler.

You see, Jesus was trying to say to him, you are going to call me good and I'm going to tell you only God is good. And it really matters who's talking to us when something is said to us like that. Give up everything you have, give it to the poor and follow me.

You see, what he was saying is, if you truly believe me to be good, I only have your welfare in mind, that's why I'm telling you to do that. And he is such a picture of you and I when God is starting that deepening process in us.

Jesus gave him an answer that he did not want. Jesus gave him an answer he did not want to hear. And the Bible said he went away sorrowful and incredulous. He said, what good thing must I do? Jesus said, believe I'm God and believe I'm good.

Then you can do the rest. Believe that I am your God and that I'm always seeking your advantage. Sell all you have, give it to the poor and come follow me. You see, Jesus had called 12 disciples and this young man was blinded to the fact that he was being invited just like Matthew was a disciple to come and intimately walk with him.

That there were only 12 chosen men on the face of the earth and he was being invited into that incredible relationship that so few knew to know Jesus that way. And then Jesus said, how hard it is for they who have riches to enter in the kingdom of God.

You see, he knew that he loved this man so much, thinking, you better believe I'm good. You better believe I have your advantage. I want only good for you, your advantage. I'm going to tell you the truth.

Do this. I'll offer you an incredible privilege to walk closely with me. And I'll also separate you from that which can damn you. But beloved, do we believe God is good? This young man went away sorrowing.

Calling God Good Through Pain and Disappointment

There is a sorrowing when God asks us to believe he is good in the face of deep pain, deep loss, and long-standing affliction. When God does not seem to be acting like God to us. When he seems far off.

When he seems not to care or not to see. The rich young girl, I could feel him think, why would he ask me to do that? Could not my riches serve you, Lord? Is there a cry in the house tonight? God, I've given you my heart.

Why so long for my loved ones to come? Why this illness? Why this death? Why this desertion by a spouse when I say I love you and I've given you my heart? Many tonight stand in the rich young ruler's place struggling to call God good when their spirit is in anguish.

But beloved, remember two things tonight. God does not expect us to call bad situations good. We don't call cancer good. We don't call grinding poverty good. We don't call abuse or desertion good. But we call God good.

Also, many times people are in an anguish and facing trial and tribulations because at one moment in their life, a heart cry came from them. And it was, Lord, I would love you with all my heart, all my soul, all my mind, and all my strength.

There are those of you tonight that Jesus Christ is becoming the greatest reality in your life. There is no one more real to you, more precious to you, than Jesus. There is a growing love for Him. He is your joy, your strength, and your high tower.

There is a cry in you tonight, Lord, I want you to cut the cords of the world, cut the cords of mammon from my life. I want you to be first and highest. But I will tell you tonight, and I'll show it to you in the Word, that when that becomes your heart cry, you are going to be led many times to a place you never thought you would be because you prayed that prayer.

There was a time you thought you would be safeguarded from some things because you said, no holes bar Jesus, I give it all to you. But I tell you tonight that the Lord Jesus Christ is drawing many with a heart for Him to places they thought they would never have to go so that they may have the privilege of saying, through it all, God is good.

When we call God good in our most difficult moments, in our most devastating moments, we are totally disarming the enemy. The devil throws hell at us and we say, God is good. God is for me. All this, my God, will work together for good.

My God is good. He is good. What can the enemy do to us if we have been taught to say, it is well with my soul? But in order for us to say, God is good, and mean it, and believe it to the depth of our being, we must discover, beloved, He is good in the very worst of situations.

Sarah, Delayed Promise, and Faith

You know, I think of Sarah, the wife of Abraham. I think of this lady who, through her husband, was given an incredible promise. And I believe, in her old age, and I believe that she clung to it, and it was the joy and the spring of her life.

But year rolled into year, and many of you know the story. And that promise was not happening. And she began to realize, unless it happened very soon, she knew the signs in her body, that promise was not going to happen to her.

And you know the story, how she manipulated, fearing that she was going to displease God or miss the command or the call on her life. She manipulated. And her husband and her slave girl had a son. And now she's old.

And she has so little to show for her faith. Now she is old. And here's this woman, given a promise. And the promise to her understanding was fulfilled when her husband delights in a child that's not hers.

I could understand what an empty promise, in some ways, that must have been to her. She had settled down, I think, with a regret. And said, okay God, I guess that was your plan. I guess that's what you meant.

I must have heard you wrong. I could see how the enemy would torment her. I could see how the enemy could give her all kinds of reasons why God had to bypass her. Why He couldn't have used her. Oh yes, there was a promise one time.

But God couldn't fulfill it. And yet the Bible tells us that when she was old, and standing in the tent of her husband, her husband received three visitors. And one was a pre-incarnate Christ, God Himself.

And He said to Abraham, your wife shall have a son. And the Bible says she laughed. I think it was a tired laugh. And she was challenged. They said to her, why did you laugh? And she said, oh, I didn't laugh, I didn't laugh.

And the last line of Genesis 18 is God having the final word. Thank God, He said you did laugh. Then went on to another story. The Bible went on to another story, but what was ringing in her ear was, you will have a son.

You will have a son. Beloved, I want to tell you something. For all that we may say, she did wrong. I want to tell you something, she did right. She was still in Abraham's tent. She did not run. I'll tell you something, when hope is disappointed, there is nothing more bitter.

When God seems to make a promise and He seems a long time coming, and when it seems to slip through your hands, can we still call Him good? Will the enemy have us turn inward and eat ourselves up with regret?

Will the enemy have us saying, I guess I didn't hear right, it's something in me. Or will we say, no, God, you are good. You know I'm but human. You know I'm but flesh. You made a promise to me, and faithful is He who promised.

Because the Bible says that's exactly what Sarah did. And I believe that she received strength. I've got to quote this to you. In Hebrews 11 .11, it says, Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive.

She received strength. But she was empty. She was barren. But you know what, she didn't fold her arms over her heart and say, I can't believe you anymore, God. I'll tell you something, because she did not run, she was still in the tent of her husband in the hardest time.

Everything against her. I know when Hagar came back pregnant, led back by an angel of God from the desert, there would have been something in that woman to run from this situation. And though she never physically left, there would be a constant pulling in her heart to emotionally withdraw from this situation.

There would be a temptation in her to cover her heart and cover her mind and say, never again will I let God speak a word to me. She may never have said that to a living soul, but that would have been the battle in her heart.

But because she did not run, because she was still in the tent of her husband, in the worst of times, in a long time, in a long hard situation, she was still where she was supposed to be, at the door of her husband's tent.

And the Bible says that that visitation, that she received strength, that an empty woman unfolded her arms and her heart and said, do what you will, God. And the Bible says that God, she was able to receive it.

She didn't put her hands over her heart and her mind. She says, I open them up to you again. And the Bible says that she was able to say, she judged him faithful who had promised. She didn't run and God rewarded her.

The very weakness of our state sometimes begs God's intervention. Sometimes when we love Him, He leads us to a place we don't understand. And that's to bring us to a weakness that parallels Sarah's, where only God if you resurrected, only God if you bring life to this barrenness, will it happen?

And when we're in that weak state, that is where God can move the most gloriously. Sometimes we're not weak enough to move in faith. We're still hanging on. We're still trusting. But those that love the Lord Jesus Christ, He's going to bring us to a place sometimes we don't understand, that in our weakness, He's strength may be seen to all who will see and look.

Strength in Weakness and Surrender

Times of greatest power for God to work is when we are brought to nothing. That's the testimony of Joseph. That's the testimony of Job. That's the testimony of Sarah. Brought to nothing. Empty and filled by God.

And at that moment when we are filled because we know, Oh God, I can't take another step in this situation unless you enable me. God, I can't believe I can't come to you with strength and victory and power anymore.

All I can do is just say, Grip me and don't let me go. In those times, beloved, that's where Jesus is sweetest. Many times I've heard people say, I just don't feel God's love for me. That's because many times you're afraid.

You're bound with fear. You're afraid of rejection from God. You're afraid of what's going to happen. You're rebellious. And because our hearts are closed, we can't be led to the places He needs to take us.

Places we can't understand. Places where it's going to take faith to call Him good. But He'll give us the grace to call Him good. And at that moment in those low points, that is where the love of God comes in and floods us.

That is where when we take our hands off our heart and saying, You lead, do whatever you have to do in my life, Jesus. I don't care what it is because you've been taught me to say, You are good. And if I will just give you enough time, you will prove yourself good to me.

So I abandon myself to you. And we take our hearts and our arms off our heart and say, Lord, whatever, though you slay me, yet I will trust you. And the devil's right there saying, You let him lead you, you know what's going to happen.

You let him lead you, you know it's going to be misery and destruction. You're going to be Job all over again. But beloved, Job, when we read the full story, was more than blessed than what he started out with.

Joseph was more than blessed than what he started out with. To have that child in old age, what a delight when she never thought she would have him. Those that put their trust in him shall never be let desolate.

But we must give him time. And we must call the devil a liar when he tries to paint a picture. We say, Lord, you have to take my arms away. I don't want to protect myself anymore. I'm going to abandon myself to you.

And wherever you lead, you'll only prove yourself good to me. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I will. When Christ was on the cross, when Jesus was nailed to a cross, at His weakest point, at His most helpless point, God was doing His finest work ever.

The Cross, Suffering, and the Righteousness of God

And a cry came from the crowd. Save yourself. I brought you to this. You trusted in God and look where you are. Your utter agony, your utter rejection, your totally misunderstood. Save yourself because God is obviously not going to.

There was a cry and a push. In fact, if you would just turn quickly with me to Matthew 27. When we commit ourselves fully to God, when we say, Jesus, take over. Lead me. I give it all. We will not be unlike the Master.

In the sense that there are some areas of fellowship, fellowship of suffering, that He will take the committed through. Matthew 27 .40, they cried out and saying, Thou that destroyed the temple and buildeth it in three days, save thyself, if thou be the Son of God.

Come down from the cross. Likewise, also the chief priests mocking Him with the scribes and the elders said, He saved others. Himself He cannot save. If He being the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross and we will believe Him.

Verse 43, He trusted in God. Let Him deliver Him now, if He will have Him. For He said, I am the Son of God. Beloved, I'll tell you something. Everything that was now coming against Jesus will come against our mind.

There will be a pressure from the enemy to begin to say, Charge God foolishly. Save yourself. Get yourself out of that thing. Because now what you're suffering, you've crossed a line. Nobody suffers like this in the will of God.

You've missed it. You've changed somewhere. You're out of the will of God. And now even the elders and the scribes and all the people that should be knowing are taunting Him with cruel mockings and they're saying to Him, If God will have you, you have crossed the line.

I can see when Jesus hanging on the cross and the sin of the world, He hath made Him to be sin who knew no sin. Corinthians 5 .21 Laid on Him the iniquity of us all as Jesus was hanging on that cross, it says in Isaiah.

Being made a curse for us. Galatians 3 .13 Hanging there in His humanness and the devil's voice being magnified. Come down from there. This is not God's will. Or if He will have you. You're too filthy.

You're too vile. You have missed it. Beloved, those will be the voices of those that say, God, I would have you teach me to say you are good in the deepest, darkest part of the road. We will hear these voices.

We will hear that condemner. Just as Jesus did. But beloved, Jesus did not charge God foolishly. He did not allow God to be slandered in His mind or heart with what ifs. 1 Peter 2 .23 said, When He was reviled, He reviled not again.

When He suffered, He threatened not. But committed Himself to Him that judges. He in His humanness, there would be a temptation to believe what was being told Him. But He determined that He would close His mouth and commit Himself to Him who judges righteously.

That the judge of all the earth would do right. And that He could say even in the greatest part of His agony, God is good. What He is doing here, even in my deep suffering, it is the complete will of God.

Not because I have sinned. Because this is what He has ordained for me. And though suffering in His flesh, He was not delighting in it. Yet I tell you something, God the Father did something for Him at that moment.

I believe it was so precious to Jesus. The Bible says that even in verse 44, the thieves also which were crucified with Him cast the same in His teeth. All those around Him were reviling Him and scorning Him.

Probably the worst of it was when He looked down at His mother and John and thinking, Oh God, don't let them charge you foolishly. With a stream of what-ifs rolling through their mind. But the Bible tells us in Luke, when you read Jesus on the cross, the accounts of His crucifixion in Matthew and Mark, they say the same thing.

But when you get to the book of Luke, it tells you that when Jesus was crucified with thieves one on the other, it was all of a sudden like one crucified thief in His suffering, in His pain, His eyes were opened.

And all of a sudden, He who was reviling Christ has all of a sudden His eyes opened. I believe because of His pain and His suffering. And all of a sudden He looks to the thief on the other side of Christ and says, Why are you reviling Him?

Then we are suffering because of what we've done wrong. But this man has done nothing amiss. Beloved, He started calling God good. He said, you will be with Me in Paradise. Sometimes we get no revelation without the goodness of God leading us to a place of crucifixion and pain.

We don't get the understanding that we need to have that can answer the cry of our heart, Lord, I would love You first and most. Then Jesus said, Trust Me, I'm going to take you to a place you may not understand.

But I'm going to, in your pain, in your suffering, I'm going to remove the veil from your eyes and heart. You're going to see Me as you've never seen Me before. And I will reward you with Paradise. There is a power in declaring God good.

Declaring God Good by Faith

There is a power in declaring God good. First of all, it's true. And the truth sets us free. And we remember that because there are days you come into this house and the choir is singing, Whose report will you believe?

And we start singing, His report is, I'm filled, I'm healed, I'm free, I have victory. And you feel anything but. Well, whose report do we believe? We believe the truth. We believe the truth. We declare God good when not feeling it.

And we come in and say, Yeah, Lord, I am filled because You cleansed me. And I can be filled with the Holy Ghost. I am healed by Your stripes. I am healed. I am free from the power of sin and death as I move in faith.

And I have the victory because when I leave here, I'm with You. I have a hope. I have a future. I have a victory in Jesus Christ. Even over how I'm feeling at this moment. Jesus' love most sweetly, piercingly revealed in our lowest hurting moments.

It has to be that way. Otherwise, we would feel we deserve to be loved some days. Or otherwise, we feel we deserve to be cast off. We have to almost know that range of emotion to fully understand He chose us.

He loved us first. And so we can commit ourselves to a God who is good, who loves us to this depth. I read a line once. It said, we follow a stripped and a crucified Savior. And I never forgot that line.

And there came a time in my life where I had to know a Jesus that was stripped and crucified. There was a time in my life where when I first got saved, and I was so bound, and I was so dark, but Jesus began setting me free.

And then by His grace, He began using me. And as I began to say, God, whatever you want me to do, and my husband and I, we just started a little Bible study, and then it grew into a church. And, God, whatever you want.

And that was the true cry of my heart. And when that's the cry of your heart, you get healed. Well, guess what? Then all of a sudden, I began to see something creep into my heart and life. Ministry wasn't doing it for me anymore.

I was healed now. I could actually start to be the wife and mother I always longed to be. Except now, I had 140 people around me wanting something for me. I wanted to just go off and be in the woods and start to be the mother and wife that finally I could be because Christ healed me.

And I was led to a place where God is saying, you see, you don't define the terms of ministry. You have to let me lead you. And I didn't want to go there. And He had to show me the ugly selfishness of my heart.

He had to show me how rebellious I was. He had to bring me to a place where I followed a stripped and a crucified Savior because I did not want to be where I was. I began to fight where I was. And I remember it was so scary because all my old battles started looming up in my face again saying I'm going to go back to being a bitter woman.

I'm going to go back to being a bound woman. But beloved, I didn't understand that the love of Christ was nailing my foot to the floor and He wasn't going to let me run. And when the devil would come to say you're not in the will of God, it wouldn't be this tough.

It wouldn't be this hard. And you wouldn't be going backwards. I later found out I wasn't going backwards. Jesus Christ was leading me. And the interesting thing when I look back on those times when the road was so rough and so dark, I realize as I was stumbling along behind Him and my feet were cut and bruised by the path He was taking me on, I noticed His feet were cut and bruised too.

See, He said He'd go with me. And because He went with me, He took me to a place where I said not my will but Thine. And though the knife was still in my spirit, though I was in a place I did not want to be, He at that moment started to become so sweet to me.

And I needed to follow a stripped and a crucified Savior at that moment. I was going through a stripping and there was a comfort to me that He was too. I was being crucified to my own will, but it was a great comfort to me that He knew what crucifixion was.

And beloved, when we go through, if your heart is to follow Him with all your heart, there's going to come a time in your life that only the Word is what's going to bring you comfort. Only His Word, lighted on by the Holy Ghost, is going to get you through of what I'm talking about.

And Psalm 119 .50, it says, this is my comfort in my affliction. Thy Word has quickened me. Thy Word has quickened me. I want you to turn, I want to close Psalm 129. I want us to see now the fruit of calling God good.

Psalm 129 and the Righteousness of God

If you've just come into this house tonight, maybe you haven't given your heart to Jesus. You're thinking, my gosh, what is that woman talking about? Well, I hope you'll leave saying God is good. He said His Son that we may have life.

And now for those of you that have said in your prayer closet in the bottom of your heart, Jesus teach me to love you first and most. I would that you spoil me to the world, that you may have all of me and I may have all of you.

Then the fruit of calling God good, of having Him teach us through every step of the way, through the times we don't understand, through the times where He seems so far off, from the times where it seems there's never going to end this affliction and this trial.

Lord, You're going to teach me every step of the way by faith to call you good. Then He's going to show us Psalm 129. It says, Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth. May Israel now say, Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth.

They have... I've got to stop there. You see, we have this real relationship with Jesus. We have a real relationship with the Father. You don't have a real relationship unless you speak the truth. Unless you say what's going on.

And I love the Psalms because David always said exactly what was going on in his heart. That's why God was so real to him because he could totally unbear his heart and he was not going to be rejected and he knew it.

He could totally say, I feel so cast down, O my soul. He could say what was there. And this is what he's saying, Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth. And it was so true and so real to him he had to say it twice to get it over, to get it out.

Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth. Yet, and this glorious yet, yet have they not prevailed against me. Many a time the devil had me, he had his mouth wide open to devour me, and yet the Lion of Judah came and rescued me.