The Existence and Attributes of God (Week 3)

the image of the unseen god creator of all things in heaven above and earth below the ultimate authority he is before all things [Music] is he now presents us [Music] all the body the church is spotless pride his love for us extends to death in him we safely hide one day [Music] [Music] he the is is [Music] the author of eternity [Music] when christ who is [Music] he is christ is all he is [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] his wonders to perform he plants his footsteps all right folks good evening welcome to our systematic theology class week three i don't know about the others but you're persevering and i'm thankful for that been thankful for the excitement uh around this and that people are coming and learning and giving us good responses to it thankful for chase's leadership and putting this together by the way i should say this as we begin a couple of handouts you got on your way in hopefully you picked them up one is an article on immutability and impassability and i'll say more about this article uh in those topics when we get to them a little later in the evening and then this other handout you got this is a list of attributes of god with different bible verses alongside each of them very handy brandy beck and other women's ministry leaders put this together and it's a great guide that'll really supplement what we're we're doing here this evening so make sure you give some some time to that later on on your own well like i said it's great to be with you guys and i'm excited uh tonight we talk about the existence and attributes of god and then next week we'll continue the attributes of god and there are a lot of attributes of god so we've got our work cut out for us looking at others down the list of weeks to come and seeing what they have i think boy i i picked one with a lot of slices of pizza so yeah this will be busy but bear with us and i think it'll be it'll be a sweet time maybe let's just to start i should say uh something about the whole idea of knowing god i'll pray in just a bit but i want to say something up front about knowing god and the study of god to sort of wet our taste buds a little bit here's here's a passage that comes to mind for me is jeremiah 9 verse 23 and 24. i know chase by the way has been giving you bible verses up on the screens i don't have that for you this evening the the various outline the points of the outline will be up on the screen but as far as bible verses go i'll read them and i'd encourage you to write down the references in case you want to go look up the verses later so this first one is jeremiah 9 23-24 listen to this thus says the lord let not the wise man boast in his wisdom let not the mighty man boast in his might let not the rich man boast in his riches but let let him who boasts boasts in this that he understands and knows me that i am the lord who practices steadfast love justice and righteousness in the earth for in these things i delight declares the lord god says if you're gonna boast boasting this one thing like you couldn't brag about it but this is where your confidence should lie that someone understands and knows me so knowing god is important it's essential i think if hosea 6 verse 3 which just says almost in passing let us know let us press on to know the lord so that's one thing we want to do tonight is to press on to know the lord better than we have before we walked in here this evening one other way i want to help us begin is with a longer quote from charles spurgeon when charles spurgeon began one sermon on an attribute of god he began his sermon like this and just listen the highest science the loftiest speculation the mightiest philosophy which can ever engage the attention of a child of god is the name the nature the person the work the doings and the existence of the great god whom he calls his father there is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the divine it is a subject so vast that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity so deep that our pride is drowned in its infinity other subjects we can compass and grapple with in them we feel a kind of self-content and go our way with the thought behold i am wise but when we come to this master science finding that our plumb line cannot sound its depth and that our eagle eye cannot see its height we turn away with the thought that vain man would be wise but instead he is like a wild asses cult and with the solemn exclamation he says i am but of yesterday i know nothing here's more but while the subject humbles the mind it also expands it he who often thinks of god will have a larger mind than the man who simply plods around his narrow globe he may be a naturalist boasting of his ability to dissect a beetle anatomize a fly or arrange insects and animals in classes he may be a geologist able to discourse the megatherium and the plesaurosis i don't even know those words and all kinds of extinct animals i dare say with this science it ennobles and enlarges the mind after all the most excellent study for expanding the soul is the science of christ and him crucified in the knowledge of the godhead in the glorious trinity nothing will so enlarge the intellect nothing so magnify the whole soul of man as a devout earnest continued investigation of the great subject of the deity and while it is humbling and expanding this subject is eminently consolatory comforting oh there is in contemplating christ a balm for every wound in musing on the father there is a quietus for every grief in the influence of the holy spirit there is a balm for every sore would you lose your sorrows would you drown your cares today then go plunge yourself in the godhead's deepest sea be lost in his immensity and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest refreshed and invigorated i know nothing which can so comfort the soul so calm the swelling billows of grief and sorrow so speak peace to the winds of trial as a devout musing upon the subject of the godhead that's what we want to do tonight so let's pray our god we want to know you and know you better and know you accurately and we don't want to take for granted any word in any bit of revelation in your word we want to take it in we want to know it and digest it we want to live in light of it better than we have so help us or we know that this is not merely an intellectual exercise it is a spiritual one as well and that's why we pray we pray for your help we pray for you to teach us we pray for you to shape us we pray for you holy spirit to illuminate your word to even answer our questions before they could be voiced to another if it be your will and yet we thank you for others we thank you for this time to be together and we pray in christ's name amen all right so let's start with the existence of god if you're taking notes i'd encourage you to take notes we've just got an outline and as i said i don't have scriptures that will go up on the screen but i'd encourage you to jot down the basic outline of what we're discussing you can follow along on the screens for that but then listen for bible verses and then jot down those references to look up later on your own the existence of god you know sometimes the scriptures just assume the existence of god they don't debate it they don't defend it they don't argue it and genesis 1 1 our passage for sunday is one of those in the beginning god created the heavens and the earth it doesn't defend god it doesn't say here's objections you might have about the existence of a god let me help you out there it just insists there is a god the god and most fundamentally we actually receive what the scripture says about the existence of god through faith through faith i could have mentioned this on sunday i didn't but hebrews 11 verse 6. without faith it's impossible to please him for whoever would draw near to god get this must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him must believe that god exists so there's a measure of faith involved we accept that and yet sometimes the scriptures argue for the existence of god we'll go to several passages this evening where the scriptures mock false gods it shows how stupid they are how inadequate they are how weak and powerless they are how they they can't speak that's one of the ways that scripture argues for the existence of god by showing that all other would-be gods are no gods at all the alternative to atheist the alternative to belief in god atheism the bible calls what foolish right psalm 14 1 the fool has said in his heart that there is no god that's an argument for god it's simply foolish to not believe that there's a god in fact the bible insists that all people really do actually know that there is a god both creation and conscience testify to this now i know if you were here a couple weeks ago chase already dealt with some of this but let me just remind you psalm 19 we saw it on sunday the heavens declare the glory of god remember the creation is pouring forth speech it's constantly revealing does it reveal salvation no but it reveals a lot about god it reveals remember our list on sunday that he's powerful and that he's glorious and that he's creative and that he's orderly all those things the heavens declare the glory of god you'll remember that chase said a couple weeks ago romans 1 says the explanation for quote unquote atheism is that they suppress the truth in they have the truth but they push it down they try not to believe that it's there they try to ignore it and so yes some call themselves atheists a great title of a book i forgot the author is that god doesn't believe in atheists right the bible says there really are no atheists if they'd be honest with themselves the bible also tells us that it is reasonable to believe in god it's reasonable to believe in god and here let me give you two different ways in which this has been done over the years one is called the classical arguments for the existence of god if you look into most systematic theologies like so here's one i'll go through these later but here's charles hodge the green book he's got three volumes this one is just on god and his attributes and all the things related to that so a book like hajj would have a section on the existence of god and would almost certainly have a section on these classical arguments for the existence of god here are a few of them i won't give you all of them but there's the cosmological argument for the existence of god this means that everything must have a cause right so i inferred this on sunday out of nothing nothing comes there had to be a somebody or someone before in the beginning that there would be a beginning that's the cosmological argument then there's the teleological argument teleology is the end of things it has the end in view and this has to do with the fact that there is design and order in creation that points to a designer an orderer a creator then there's the moral argument this is that human beings have an innate sense of right and wrong you find that in romans 1 and 2. their conscience either excuses them or accuses them right as they suppress the truth and unrighteousness they're able to say i'm excused from this guilt but at times that guilt just can't be suppressed enough and they feel guilty and they don't know why well this is the moral argument human beings have a an innate sense of right and wrong one more there is the religious argument the religious argument and this is that all human beings are here's a latin phrase homo religiosis always religious even the ones that say they don't like religion they're against religion religion harms people they do things they believe things that have an element of religion in them they are always religious so those are classical arguments for the existence of god here's another way to approach it you can call them presuppositional arguments for the existence of god and in short this has to do with the fact that we all presuppose certain things about this world and the metaphysical what is beyond the physical we all have presuppositions we all have things things in which principles by which we live the way we think the world works that sort of thing and the bible presents a god with well it presents us with a uniquely meaningful worldview let's put it that way you think of the absurdity of the alternatives to the bible's worldview part of what's this called presuppositional apologetics part of this is um getting in the cars the thought cars of non-christians in driving their cars around and showing them how their cars don't work right that's presuppositional apologetics let me take your presuppositions and show you that they're in conflict you think there's no evil what about the sexual abuse and the murder of an eight-year-old girl what about hitler those kind of things or we we have this phrase i love this phrase we have an explanation for that part of our world view is that we have an explanation for that as christians so we can speak of the goodness of this world yeah of course our god is good he made a good world and then people speak of well but this horrible thing happened in this world well yes it is a fallen world we have an explanation for that even things like earthquakes well this world is under a curse it's no surprise i could go on about presuppositional arguments for the existence of god but i'll leave it at that there's also the fact that the resurrection of jesus christ necessitates a divine being so that's another way to work at this stuff is to maybe start with the resurrection of jesus and work backwards if if jesus has really risen from the dead and by the way all the alternative explanations for what happened with this jesus of nazareth surrounding his death and burial sometime in the first century all the alternative explanations don't really work very well at all the easiest explanation is that he rose from the dead if he rose from the dead there is a god okay and then we have the scriptures and the scriptures not only teach us that there is a god but show us what he is like the bible is not exhaustive in telling us what god is like it can it's using human words god is infinite the words are finite but there's a whole lot there there's a whole lot in the bible about god for us to learn about by the way i mentioned already that chase covered some of this uh just a couple of weeks ago remember he covered it under the categories of general revelation that's creation and conscience and then the other category of special revelation that being scripture so i just did the same thing without using those categories so that i didn't bore you with repetition but it's the same stuff just want to connect those dots for you any questions on the existence of god before we move on to the attributes of god i take it you he you all think that he exists then the attributes of god let's get on to those then when we say the the word attributes referring to god we're referring to his characteristics what he's like these summarize what the bible says about god so rather than just say here's this story about god and this story about god and this story about god or rather than talk about what he's like in some sort of chaotic stream of consciences consciousness way there's actually benefit like we're going to do tonight to categorize what we're talking about and let's just take a step back what is that we're doing what's the name of this class not the class tonight but the class over these many weeks systematic theology so this is the work of systematic theology where we take biblical data even from stories or from instruction and we take it from all over the bible but then we categorize it and we summarize it in sections or under headings now i want to just acknowledge that some don't agree with this process there are some progressive christians liberal christians who would object to that kind of theologizing and they say that's unrelational that's unexperiential that's unspiritual and it reduces god to a set of propositions that's something they love to say it reduces god to a set of propositions let me give three answers to that number one the bible itself leads the way in this thing of theologizing god himself describes himself in categories he uses single words to describe whole things about him like he is holy and that word holy we'll get to it next week there's a whole lot to unpack there right but in a word god reveals himself as holy or good or sovereign that's all that god is in a realm of something a realm of thought summarized in a word god himself describes himself in categories and then the biblical authors of course follow suit first timothy 1 17. paul says unto the god immortal that's an attribute we're going to talk about it tonight invisible the only wise god be glory forever and ever amen so one the bible leads the way in theologizing number two who says that propositional truth is unrelational that it has to be unrelational who says propositional truth has to be unrelational when i write a card to my wife maybe it's her birthday or an anniversary and um and i'm looking maybe it's a romantic evening and i'm doing it face to face but i i'm i'm looking to compliment her to celebrate her to praise her and if so if i'm trying to do that in a new way i'd be looking for ways of describing her and celebrating her in summarizing her her her features her her ways her sacrifice right all those things i'm looking to celebrate things that i love and i'm thankful about her well can you imagine her protesting however bad my note is however bad my little speech is about my love for her can you imagine her protesting you think i'm just a bunch of propositions don't you you think i'm just summarized in words you think i'm just categories of course not no relationship involves and covenants all involve propositional statements and the third answer to this objection we actually do this work of theologizing for convenience for shorthand and for instruction we do it just so we can talk in shorthand about this or that theological topic so i wanted to cover that and tell you that when we talk about the attributes of god we're doing the work of systematic theology and we're doing that without apology the bible leads us in that it is not unrelational and it's good for shorthand and for teaching the next generation to come all right so here we come to incommunicable attributes this week and next we're going to cover incommunicable and then communicable attributes you might not know what those words mean incommunicable attributes are the ways in which god is not like us not like us and then communicable attributes you can guess these are the ways in which god is like us or better that we are like him of course we'd have to qualify that and say though like him in a very limited way right so god is good you should be good you're not good enough but he's good there's a correspondence hence it's a communicable attribute of god but he just happens to have the perfect version of it so let me begin with incommunicable attributes and the first is god's self-existence or the old word is a saity self-existence means god exists of course in himself and that's what the old word a saity means it literally means in himself or from himself let me give you some verses on this the simplest is god's personal name exodus 3 verse 14 god said to moses i am who i am yahweh is the hebrew word it means god is it means he is who he says he is it means he is self-existent he is the one it means so many things or you think of the end of romans 11 where paul says for from him and through him and to him are all things to him be the glory forever amen from him through him to him are all things god exists in himself those things are all dependent on him or see if you can hear it when paul is preaching in acts 17 to the athenian philosophers verses 24 and 25 of acts 17 he says the god who made the world and everything in it being the lord of heaven and earth does not live in temples made by man nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything i believe it's psalm 51 where god says do you think i need anything do you think i need anything from from you i own the cattle on a thousand hills but i will give to you and you will glorify me god doesn't need anything we don't bring anything to him the relationship is one directional he's the giver he's the source he needs nothing he's never been dependent on any one thing or person which means then that he didn't create anything because he was bored or because he was lonely he wasn't missing something he wasn't before in the beginning this unfulfilled restless god no he created for his glory yes he is glorified in his creation but what we can't say is that he was lacking anything before creation in man we can really contrast that whole idea with what we experience in ourselves but we know our own lives to be we're just needy we're dependent we were made we were born we came into this world utterly dependent and restless right we need we need we need if my heart stopped right now well i i can't do anything about that i can really i mean i can try to be healthy i can you know try to avoid certain foods or whatever but but i can't prolong this death forever and sometimes people mysteriously drop it's very hard but it shows us that we're dependent we're the creatures and god isn't like that that really gives us hope in our need in in our dependence now when we come to the new testament that's what makes god's grace so amazing i mean that's that's the essence of the gospel that we are so utterly needy but god is so utterly able right in all these attributes i'm going to try to take us to the new testament just to get us there a little bit and show us how this attribute of god blossoms on the other side of the cross and resurrection with our savior so that's self existence or god's a saity any questions on that one all right the second one then god's immune ability and related to it is his impassability i mentioned that reading assignment that take home article that we've already put in your hands it's by matthew barrett on the immutability and impassability of god so i'm going to cover this but his article covers it at more length i think when i printed it out it was four pages that's probably what you have in front of you so he'll put it a little bit differently and probably cover it a little more thoroughly but let me still cover it tonight here's immutability it means that god doesn't change literally he doesn't mutate right immute ability here's some bible for it hebrews 13 8 he is the same yesterday today and forever numbers 23 verse 19 god is not a man that he should change his mind or first samuel 15 verse 29 the glory of israel referring to god himself the glory of israel will not lie or have regret for he is not a man that he should have regret now if you know the bible fairly well you'll know that there are some passages that seem to say that god relented or even repented or that he changed his mind or that he had sorrow i mean genesis 6 god was sorry that he made man exodus 32 god relented of the disaster he spoke of bringing on the people or jonah 3 god repented of the evil that he said he would bring to those people how do we understand these well with this big word anthropothism these are anthropophagisms anthro man path let me just shortcut and say perspective anthropopathism means it's from a human perspective so in these passages god is revealed as how we perceive god to be acting at any one given time so much of the bible's descriptions of god are like this and really elsewhere we can say it's anthropomorphic so let me change that word slightly anthropomorphic human form an anthropomorphic element of scripture is when god reveals his arm right or he it's as he sees or his eyes refers to his ears or or he he came down the beginning of exodus he really came down these are all anthropomorphisms they're all giving us anthropopathic perspectives of things and this is just the way it is in the scriptures and this is the only way it could be where god communicates to us finite human beings in finite ways with finite language and with analogy and with human-like word pictures so that we would understand what it's like the old dutch theologian hermann bovink he said this if god were to speak to us in a divine language just let that blow your mind wait what what would divine language even be i don't know but i know that the trinity probably wasn't speaking english all this time if god were to speak to us in a divine language not a creature would understand him but what spells out his grace is the fact that from the moment of creation god stoops down to his creatures speaking and appearing to them in human fashion isn't that great it's part of his grace that god reveals himself in these well what calvin called it's his baby talk his baby talk okay so hopefully that's enough for us to at least set aside that question or possible concern of what of those passages that say god repented or relented or was sorry now back to those passages that more explicitly teach that god is immutable like psalm 102 verses 25 to 27 psalm 102 of old you laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of your hands they will perish but you will remain they will all wear out like a garment you will change them like a robe and they will pass away but you are the same so here god is contrasted with his creation creation is really old doesn't matter if it was six thousand ten thousand or six million or billion years it's old it's old but it's not old as god right god is way before and creation will come to well to a destruction in a new creation when jesus returns creation will have its end we christians don't have to be nervous about this countdown clock at the sun wait the sun will eventually run out of energy can we do something about that can we get some nuclear bombs there to prolong that expiration date that's all right we know this world is not our home but we have an eternal unchanging god who's different than his changing creation i mean haven't you heard the the saying that no river is exactly the same after you know some period of time right the river is always changing as water flows through rocks move erosion happens this fish was there now it's there this one's dead this one's being born no river is ever the same it's always changing there is this this changingness about creation it's always changing of course there's some rhythms about it and those things are really encouraging right they remind us that god is faithful the sun came up it was even predicted what time it would come up mark ronketti told us and that's what time it was there it was it peaked over and it'll do the next thing tomorrow lord willing there's predictability in creation but it's all changing too the weather's change the pressure's changing my migraine headaches are often caused from barometric pressure change so i'm this nut that drives my family crazy i i can just feel it and i get out my phone pressure's changing because i know that might mean a migraine's coming i'm getting nervous and my sweet wife one day just said to me yeah the weather is always changing yeah it's changing like that's what it does that's what weather does but but god doesn't change and people change well god doesn't change dependable people are not always dependable really fit people will not always be here god is not like that and this means that god is not only just constant in himself he's constant in all of his other attributes we want as we think about one attribute we want to think about that one but then we want to think about the whole these aren't little pieces floating out there this is one god he's all interrelate god is constant not just in his existence he is constant in his all in all his other attributes which means that in his word as a reflection of him is it's constant it's unchanging yes it had a progressive revelation to it it unfolded slowly over time but now that we have that word it's not a morphing word it's not a kaleidoscope it's not the river that's always changing the word is the same yesterday today and forever and all that means that god is utterly dependable and trustworthy you can just feel the application of this this is not some dry dusty doctrine i mean this means whatever happens tomorrow our god's the same he's trustworthy he's dependable we can bank on it you can't bank on anything for sure about tomorrow except god now let's talk about that other word that's related impassibility literally that means without passions god is without passions is that right well what we mean by this is that god's emotions are not subject to anything outside of himself now that doesn't mean that the scriptures don't show us god having emotions the scriptures show us god having strong emotions it doesn't mean that the scriptures don't show a god that responds to his creatures god responds to his creatures but it does mean that god can't be acted upon or changed from anything from outside himself it means that god can't be made mad or made sad it means that he chooses anger or sadness that's kind of true for humans right so we taught our kids choose happiness right fight for joy right autumn we said that but we also are realistic we know that um we human beings but we're affected things get to us right we've all we can say over reacted and sometimes because of something very little and we've all been hurt well god is not like that you know the word victim is a big and important word in our day today people ask whether this person has been victimized is this person a victim is this group of people a victim and whether that term is overused or misused today that's not my point i i do hope that no christian would ever say that no one can even be victimized that no one has ever been a victim that's ridiculous i mean those who died on 9 11 were victims i mentioned already an eight-year-old girl raped by an uncle is a victim of course what's my point only this that our god has never been victimized no one can actually get to him no one can put him in emotional deficit and what a contrast this would be to the gods this quote-unquote gods of the nations the idols around israel who are famously moody and unpredictable they'd be doing something you know people thought this god is now doing something to pay me back and i don't know what i did wrong so let's hurry up and appease the god so it stops you imagine living like that we don't we don't have to we have confidence in god and as we come to the new testament we think of the fact that god has set his unchanging affections upon us in christ we can say with the apostle paul what can man do to me if god be on our side who is against us even if they have sword and even if there is famine what can be done that's all part of the impassability of god that god has now set his affections on us and he won't change i mean that's true before christ came but it's all the more true now in light of the finished work of christ and his glorious resurrection it's settled he's on our side that won't change that's impassability well if you have any questions on impassability don't ask me right now read that matthew barrett article maybe he'll have an answer for you and i do recognize that that's one of the more tricky attributes of god for us to get our arms around and feel great about but i think it is actually in the bible and important for us to to have in our pockets third attribute is infiniteness infiniteness of course this means that god is infinite he is limitless chase referenced on sunday psalm 145 verse 3 his greatness is unsearchable the lord is great and greatly to be praised his greatness is unsearchable limitless and again let's tie this in to the other attributes that means all of god's attributes are limitless it's not just that he's limitless in himself or just limitless in regards to space or time we'll come to those but it also means that he's limitless in his love and limitless in his sovereignty he's not mostly or occasional he's not he's not mostly or occasionally anything that he is i will come to love and sovereignty in providence in later weeks but for tonight we want to cover four sub categories of god's infiniteness four ways in which his infiniteness is best seen so god is infinite in space and we call that omnipresence god is infinite in space aka omni presence solomon king solomon said at the dedication of the first temple he said ii chronicles 16 8 he said as he prayed will god indeed dwell with man on the earth in other words in this temple will he really inhabit this building he said behold heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you how much less this house that i have built well done solomon this is one of his finest hours this is one of his best theological insights god is everywhere all at once he's spirit he doesn't have a body like you and i do and yes god has revealed his presence specially sometimes in certain places for certain people the temple is certainly one of those right after solomon prayed that prayer fire came and entered in to the temple like god inhabited he took up residence there or if you back up the people in the wilderness they had god in the tabernacle he met with them there right he especially in the holy of holies he was there he met with moses in the tent of meeting the people could see the fire come down and go in you know moses met with god on on the mountain back in exodus 3 and you could moses could tell he's there because he can hear god but also see a burning bush so god has revealed himself yes at times especially but those are again special manifestations of the omnipresent god you can't say that when god was with moses in the tent of meeting he wasn't on the continent we now call north america he was everywhere he was in heaven he was in the lowest hell whatever he's everywhere he sees all and he knows all which according to some passages is not a great comfort like jeremiah 23. listen to this jeremiah 23 verses 23 and 24 god says am i a god at hand and not a god far away can a man hide himself in secret places so that i cannot see him declares the lord do i not fill heaven and earth declares the lord judgment's coming that's the point in jeremiah 23 where are you going to go from it that's scary but psalm 139 finds it a great comfort there david prays let's just look at it maybe you want to open your bible for this one psalm 139 let me read verses 7 following david said where shall i go from your spirit or where shall i flee from your presence if i ascend to heaven you are there if i make my bed and sheol you are there if i take the wings of the morning and dwell on the uttermost parts of the sea even there your hand shall lead me your right hand shall hold me if i say surely the darkness shall cover me and the light about me be night even the darkness is not dark to you and the night is bright as the day for darkness is as light with you and then david talks about being formed in his mother's womb god was there as well so god is not like us we are not everywhere and that's why this is one of his incommunicable attributes right and that's the very nature of this attribute it's incommunicable and that's why it's hard for us to comprehend wait a minute he's everywhere all at the same time how is that possible well he's just different the same way you are only one place at a time god is everywhere all the time it's just the very nature of his being again we have to compare this to the other quote-unquote gods in the ancient near east they are so different the idols of the nations listen to this jeremiah 10 verse 5 their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field and they can't speak and they have to be carried for they cannot walk so don't be afraid of them for they can't do evil neither is it in them to do anyone any good i love it i mean a god and when you move from one place to the next you've got to pick it up and carry it who's serving who here i mean who's more strong the quote-unquote worshiper and the quote-unquote god our god is not like that he doesn't have to be carried he doesn't move he's everywhere and as we come to the new testament that's what makes the incarnation of jesus so jaw-dropping because the second person of the trinity has taken on a body forever forever do you know that when jesus ascended to the right hand of the throne of god he didn't shed his physical body he has his glorified body like which someday we shall also have with him of course in his divinity he is still omnipresent in his divinity that's how he can say in matthew 28 right before the great commission lo i am with you always even to the end of the age he's with us but in his humanity he has hitched himself to our humanity and to our body leanness forever that's astonishing as we think of god's omnipresence think think of the fact that as christians the spirit now dwells within us the omnipresent god takes up residence especially like the way he took up residence especially in the temple or in the tabernacle he now takes up residence especially within the very bosom of every christian and one day we will be with him we'll see him face to face how does that even fit with an omnipresent god i don't know it'll be glorious that's his omni presence any questions on omnipresence before we move on to the next one yeah um yeah so there are two different ways in which the bible communicates this second thessalonians 1 talks about those being destroyed away from his presence so i think that means away from all the good stuff sadly revelation 14 would be a passage that says that they're tormented in the presence of the lamb and his holy angels so that's the worst part about hell is that god is there yeah there's a sense in which he's not there's a sense in which he is but but there is no realm where he is not he is omnipresent yeah it's a good question thanks for asking it all right let's cover omnipotence now god is infinite in his power and the technical word for that is omnipotence where do we see this in the bible well right from the very beginning right we saw it on sunday the god of creation speaks this world these galaxies this universe into existence with mere words he is omnipotent let me give you another passage from jeremiah 10. reading on in jeremiah 10 now verses 12 to 13. it is he who made the earth by his power who established the world by his wisdom and by his understanding stretch out the heavens when he utters his voice there is a tumult of waters in the heavens and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth he makes lightning for the rain he brings forth the wind from his storehouses what a great poetic and picturesque way of showing god's omnipotence in creation or think of this passage the barrenness of sarah in the book of genesis later on genesis 18 that's a passage where god reiterates his promises to abraham and sarah that they will have a multitude of an offspring and that's also when sarah is very old and she laughs she laughs at god rehearsing the promises of a multitude she's old they haven't yet bore a child and that's when god later says to abraham this great line is anything too hard for the lord genesis 18 14 every one of us can memorize that before this evening is done is anything too hard for the lord wouldn't that be great to just have right here tomorrow various trials come up is anything too hard for the lord it doesn't mean he'll always give you what you want but but is anything too hard for him our families watch this movie is it facing the giants autumn that you probably know i have in mind it's this kind of christian attempt at hollywood it's it's good it's a little cheesy but it it's sweet and i just love the the football coach who's sort of a nominal christian at the beginning god's getting a hold of his heart and getting a hold of his heart and getting a hold of his heart and then one day he is in the front lawn with his bible and he said my god can do anything anything he wants my god can do anything he wants i just love that oh that we would say it more all that we would say is anything too hard for the lord of course all this relates to god's sovereignty right a different doctrine a different attribute we'll get to that later on but let's remember that these are interrelated so in some ways you can't talk about god's omnipotence without talking about his sovereignty his control of all things so listen to daniel 4 with that in mind this is nebuchadnezzar's confession of the sovereign god daniel 4 verse 34 and 35 he says his dominion god's dominion is an everlasting dominion and his kingdom endures from generation to generation all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say to him what have you done none can hold back what he plans to do and no one has the right to say to him after he does what he does wait you did what well he has the authority that's another attribute of god which we could talk about which we won't but you can see again they're interrelated again let me just point out this thing of god's being interrelated distinguishable yes but interrelated yes that's important and remembering that god is all of his attributes fully and perfectly always all the time so it's not like uh attributes that are spread out on the wheel of fortune wheel and let's spin it and see which one it lands on right now oh that's the most prominent one that god is showing forth here no he's he's all the attributes on the wheel at the same time it's not like the attributes are a box of chocolates and you never know what you're to get right he has all these things and he's all of them fully and perfectly always and that is especially important with regard to god's infinite power can you imagine a god who is omnipotent but he's not good well that's scary i mean i'd be hell that'd be torturous can you imagine a god who is all-powerful and he's wise but he's not good do i say that not good already so let's let's now think he's not wise can you imagine a god who's all-powerful but he just keeps messing up and keeps messing up and keeps messing up that's what i would do with all power but god is good and wise and all-powerful good and wise those are attributes we'll come to next week but again we're touching on how they are all interrelated and as we come to the new testament with god's omnipotence in mind remember we remember that god has shown his infinite power in the apparent weakness of the cross right to show that his power is greater than the weakness of men to show that god can save even in these seemingly upside down and ironic ways or what appears to be defeat but you also think of god's infinite power displayed in the resurrection of jesus paul says in philippians 3 i want to know him and the power of his resurrection i do too i don't have enough guts to pray that yet i don't i mean i i wish i did but i feel like i would just be mimicking paul to pray that right now but paul had enough guts to say i want to know him and the power of his resurrection so these things like omnipotence you get to the new testament and again it blossoms it grows it expands there's dimension there's permanence it's all the more clear how about god being infinite in time we call this god being eternal god is infinite in time again paul just says in passing in this great exclamation of praise first timothy 1 17 to the god immortal invisible immortal god is infinite in time psalm 90 verse 2 is a passage i referenced on sunday before the mountains were brought forth or ever you form the earth and the world from everlasting to everlasting you are god elihu said of god in job 36 the number of his years is unsearchable now let's pick at this a little bit more what does it mean that god is eternal that he's infinite in time it doesn't just mean that he's super old okay it means i hinted at this on sunday it means he's out of time he's outside of time he's beyond time at creation god created time and stepped into time but even now while god interacts with his creatures in their timeline right think of any story in the bible that has god and human beings in it god is interacting with their timeline that's true it's not a mirage but we have to say that even now not just in times of old or in eternity past but even now throughout our timeline god hit god is in his essence outside of time you say how is that possible well he's god right of course you don't get it you're only in time it's like you have a body you can't imagine being bodyless spirit everywhere well just like you're in time god is outside of time second peter 3 verse 18 with the lord one day is a thousand years and a thousand years is but a day that doesn't mean that he has this sliding scale like because he's really old a thousand years is not that long at all it doesn't mean that it means he's outside of time which means then that god in his essence he doesn't look back to what was to what happened neither does he look ahead to what's still to come he sees all that is all that has been all that will be as ever before him it's ever present before him you don't have to get it but you should stand in awe of it you should shake your head and smile about it you should be confident in this god that unlike you stuck to time right that's the very nature of your creatureliness you're stuck to time you got a watch you got a phone there's a calendar on your phone you've got to do list you've got due dates god has none of that he's outside of it he's beyond that he's bigger than that so man you're hitched to him and that's that's encouraging when when time feels like a cruel master right clock just keeps ticking or sometimes people go through depression and time is cruel because it's so long it's so slow you've got to be kidding me it's only the end of summer you know in depression time can go slow but with god he's beyond that he's bigger than that he's outside of it as we come to the new testament with omnipotence i'm sorry with time on our minds we remember not only that jesus is himself eternal in fact this is one of the last words in our bible revelation 21 verse 13 jesus says i am the alpha and the omega the first and the last the beginning and the end that's how revelation begins that's how revelation ends with jesus proclaiming his eternality and his supremacy alpha and omega first and last and get this this eternal god this eternal godhead the second person of the trinity stepped into time in the incarnation in a way that's just mind-boggling he did that for us let it blow your mind lastly and then we'll get to some questions we say that god is infinite in his knowledge and we call this omniscience god is infinite in his knowledge and by now if it feels like well of course he is if he's all those other omnis certainly is this omni as well that's the point you're getting it you're getting it no wheel of fortune no box of chocolates not with this god so now we're not surprised all things that have happened are happening or will ever happen he knows it all he knows motives he knows what's behind the scenes he knows what no one else in the world knows he even knows philosophers deposit this that he he knows what might have been they call it middle knowledge middle knowledge is god knowing all possible contingencies all things that might have ever been everything that could have been but wasn't and there are hints of this in the bible i won't take the time to show you but but there are examples of god showing that this might have been but it wasn't he knows this means that god doesn't learn anything we learn everything he doesn't learn anything this means he doesn't have to access information like we do he doesn't recall he doesn't remember he never snaps his fingers and asks what's her name everything is all present in his thoughts at all times he doesn't pull it from the recesses of his brain to the forefront of his brain it's all at the forefront you say how well this is our god this is what he's like of course you don't recognize this of course you can't relate to this you're a creature he's the creator again romans 11 remember how it ends oh the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of god how unsearchable are his judgments how inscrutable his ways for who has known the mind of the lord or who's ever been his counselor who's given a gift to him that it might be repaid for from him and through him and to him are all things to him be the glory forever let's contrast this with the god of the nations once more the idols of those nations surrounding israel in fact let's turn to isaiah 41 here's a longer passage we're coming close to the end here isaiah 41 look at verse 22 i mentioned early on that the bible often mocks the foolishness of idols and how weak and worthless and impotent they are compared to our great god so here's a great passage for that isaiah 41 verse 22 god says let them bring them referring to idols and tell us what is to happen tell us the former things what they are that we may consider them that we may know their outcome or declare to us the things to come tell us what is to come hereafter that we may know that you are gods do good or do harm that we may be dismayed and terrified behold you are nothing and your work is less than nothing let them bring them and tell us what is to happen tell us the former things what they are that we may consider them and that we may know their outcome verse 24 behold you are nothing i'm sorry i have repetition in my notes here that's why this passage is so long and i thought how's that only four or five verses but here it is let's get to verse 26 who declared it from the beginning that we might know and beforehand that we might say he is right there is none who declared it none who proclaimed it an abomination is he who chooses you you idols i stirred up one from the north and he has come from the rising of the sun and he shall call upon my name he shall trample on rulers as on mortar as the potter treads clay who declared it from the beginning that we may know and beforehand that we may say he is right there is none who declared it none who proclaimed our god did and then look at isaiah 46 a few verses there verse 9 remember the former things of old for i am god and there is no other i am god there is none like me declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done saying my counsel shall stand and i will accomplish all my purpose calling a bird of prey something small from the east a man of counsel from a far country i have spoken i will bring it to pass i have purposed i will do it you say well that sounds like sovereignty yeah but sovereignty based on omniscience god knows he accomplishes he does he plans he purposes he accomplishes that's our god there's only one god like that and again we see the interconnectedness of these attributes how important that is you see hints of god's self-existence in these isaiah passages you can see hints of god's eternality hints of his omnipresence hints of his power and sovereignty and when we come to the new testament with omniscience in mind it's little verses like this that you didn't notice before that might now blow your mind colossians 2 verse 3 in christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge somehow this slips off our radar with regards to jesus being the embodiment of wisdom he is the wisdom of god that matters the wisdom and knowledge of god is shown supremely in jesus or how about ephesians 3 that god was manifesting his wisdom in the church listen to this ephesians 3 verse 10 it's through the church that the manifold wisdom of god might now be made known to rulers and authorities in the heavenly places the whole idea of the church and what he's accomplishing with the church is supposed to blow the mind of angels because of how wise it was that's my paraphrase of what paul says there he says this was according to the eternal purpose that he has now realized in christ jesus our lord through the church the manifold wisdom of god now made known to rulers and authorities so let me do a quick review and then see if you have any questions god exists god's word shows us a god with distinguishable but interrelated attributes we've covered six tonight we didn't number him quite that way but essentially we covered six he's self-existent he's immutable and impassable he's infinite in space infinite in power infinite in time infinite in knowledge he has all these things to the fullest all the time everywhere in everything he does that's the one and true god there is no other god that god is our god that god is your god brothers and sisters and that transcendent god astoundingly is also personal personal and we learn all that from the bible which communicates those truths to us in a dizzying array of stories and teachings with variety and vibrance so let's spend the rest of our lives getting to know him and knowing him better in walking with him this is what we will do in eternity we will know god more and worship him better for all eternity and because he's infinite will never fully discover all that he is so we'll never get bored we'll never be done and it's the best of all worlds so what questions do you have as we wrap things up yeah great question yeah so he learned in his humanity right we'll get to um the person and work of christ later on in this class and uh that's an important thing that there is two natures one person but but there are two natures of christ and there's there's a time to talk about this being an expression of his divinity and this other thing being expression of his humanity so his embodiment would be an example of his humanity and i said and yet he is still omnipresent that's an expression of his divinity and uh and we would say he knows all things as an expression of his divinity but we would also say that he learned obedience that's hebrews or early in the gospel accounts he grew in knowledge and in stature okay in his humanity that's a that's how we reconcile those anyone else yeah for knowledge so um we'll get to that later too so i don't want to take too much time on it but for knowledge i would take uh especially in the new testament as it regards our salvation that's an intimate knowledge so he foreknew us i knew you it's almost like what david said in psalm 131 in my mother's womb he knew me so i think it actually relates to god's electing predestinating love he knew us in that way not just he looked into the future to see what would happen does that answer your question thank you marshall anyone else yep better than um spreading god's glory broader and deeper yeah theology right yeah yeah yeah so that passage we see in a glass dimly refers to i think what we have in the scriptures which we have a lot but remember i said at the beginning uh we don't have everything we can't he's an infinite god these are finite words right and as thorough as they are as many as they are it's finite but we have an infinite god um and so when we see him face to face one day we will so that we'll be in this we call it the beatific vision the beautiful vision so there's this categorical difference between me before i see him face to face i'm in this fallible body this the this short working brain a small working brain etc we have all these limitations before we see him face to face in a second we're changed we see him face to face and we shall be like him so the beatific vision changes a ton but that doesn't then mean that it's stagnant from for the rest of all eternity so if you're thinking graph of knowing and experiencing god uh before creation that's that's pretty low right you experience god in creation and you try to suppress the truth and unrighteousness and then you get saved and then oh you commune with god in scripture you pray to him you know him you're growing a little bit in your christian life and then you die or the lord returns beatific vision you see him face to face you are with him you are changed your ability to receive revelation of who he is has grown exponentially but then now and jonathan edwards had this idea that in fact in heaven it doesn't just grow it actually grows exponentially so it's a curve because the more we know him the more we can know him the more we understand him the more we can take in more about him so it won't be a oh wow that's interesting and the next day oh wow that's interesting and oh wow that's interesting it's going to be this ever increasing experience of god's glory and our joy so why don't we end there let me quickly just point out some of these books that i have here this big fat one is stephen charnock the existence and attributes of god if you want to go deep this is the book for you it's 17th century it's it's the classic giant puritan work on what we talked about tonight uh bob inc is one that chase mentioned already i know this is the wonderful works of god just a new translation and it is great very great bob inc also has a four volume systematic theology there's one whole volume on god and creation that's wonderful i mentioned charles hodge already his systematic theology you can get this really cheap three volumes uh christian book distributors has systematic theology sometimes for as low as like 30 bucks i think 10 bucks of volume for any book give me i buy that usually so that might be something to pick up one volume is devoted to god and his attributes chase has already mentioned knowing god by packer there are several little books that go through god's attributes here are two these are thin you can see here is a new one by gerald bray in anglican theologian uh still alive today and here's one by arthur pink the attributes of god they take 12 to 17 attributes and unpack them over a few pages here's one by a friend of mine mark jones god is a devotional guide to the attributes of god wonderful book and then this is also one that's new that i'm just getting uh acquainted with but loving it none greater the undomesticated attributes of god by matthew barrett who also writes that article that we put in your hands this evening so i'll leave these up here afterwards if you want to come take a look at any of them we're going to ask you to do this as we close things out tonight as you have been doing we want to uh we want to pray and so let me encourage you to partner up with two or three uh if you'd rather just sit where you are and not partner up that's fine i want to pressure you to to do that um but we want to take the last five minutes of our time together for us to pray prayers of praise to god about what we learned tonight so hopefully you have those things in front of you god's self-existence um god's immutability and impassability his his omnipresence his omnipotence his eternality and his omniscience why don't you take five minutes before you leave here tonight to talk to the lord about these amazing ways we find him revealed in the scriptures all right thanks for being with us you

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Length: 90min 50sec (5450 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 15 2021