 Alright, I'm assuming that my sound is clear and the video is sort of clear, I hope. So yeah, good morning to all of us who are here and we'll get started. This is class two of systematic theology. Last week we just had a very brief intro regarding what exactly systematic theology is. We saw that it is different from biblical theology. So we looked at the difference between those two things. And then we kind of moved into the doctrine of the Bible, okay, is what we talked about. So today we will get into the doctrine of God, the second doctrine that we would be doing. So those of us who are here in the class, you got your assignments week. So even as we have finished one topic doctrine of the Bible, you can actually maybe work on that particular assignment from now itself. If you work on one or two of them, it will give you kind of practice and then you will be able to do them better. So you would need time to work on all the five which you would need to submit. So you can actually begin to work on doctrine of the Bible and doctrine of God so that you will be able to improve upon it after you do the first draft, then maybe you can do the second draft so that by the time you submit the assessment, it would be in a good shape. All right, so get started on those doctrines even as we are, you know, covering them in the class. Yeah, so to start off with the doctrine of God, maybe we can take a little time to talk about how everyone is aware that God exists, whether they admit it to themselves or not, instinctively on the inside of every human being. We have this awareness that God exists, it's the way we are programmed. God has programmed us in such a way that we instinctively sense that there is someone greater than us, bigger than us. So we are aware of it and we have some scriptures which in fact talk about that, a couple of scriptures that we could actually look at right now maybe, like if someone could read out Psalm 19 verses 1 and 2, and what does that say about the existence of God? Psalm 19, 1 and 2, 19, 1 and 2, it says here that the skies are proclaiming the work of his hands, they are proving that there's such a thing as God, you know, the skies are proving that God exists and it says that day after day, they are pouring forth speech. It's like as if the creation is talking and saying, hey, look at me, I am the proof that God exists. So creation is talking, it is pouring forth speech and moment by moment declaring to everyone that God exists and it says night after night, these skies and this creation they reveal the knowledge that God is there and maybe back in those earlier centuries, it didn't really make sense in what way, oh Lord, are the heavens really pouring out speech. We don't really hear them, we don't really understand what they are trying to say, maybe people of those days could have said that but now today when we are living in this century where science has advanced so much, now it becomes a little more difficult for us to pretend that God does not exist because the more people are understanding science, the more they are realizing that there must be an intelligent creator, some intelligent being has made all of these things because now we are beginning to realize that this universe is not just some primitive bit of entity that's just existing, it is so intricately designed, every single thing has been so perfectly placed to perform a particular purpose. So we can't, we can no longer pretend and say, oh there is no God because someone must have made everything fall into place so accurately and so the more science is advancing, the more difficult it's becoming for people to pretend that oh there is no God in existence and so in fact things came to a climax in the mid 1980s when they had this conference on science and religion, it was this international conference and you had a lot of big names and big figures who were supposed to speak at that particular conference and one of the main speakers for that conference was this person named Alan Rex Sandage, now of course we who are not really familiar with the scientific field may not even be aware of his name but this was a big person who in the field of cosmology, the people who study the skies and the planets and all of that so he was a really big name in that particular field and he was one of the main speakers at that event and so at the conference you had all the theologians, the people who believe in the existence of God sitting on one side and you had all the scientific community sitting on the other side and so they would be having a lot of talks and discussions and that was basically what the conference was about so when Alan Rex Sandage came they just assumed that he too would be sitting on you know on the side of the scientists but he goes and takes a place among the theologians and he sits down over there and everyone is very puzzled and they're wondering why he is sitting on the other side especially because he you know is an acclaimed atheist who doesn't even believe in the existence of God so they all wonder and then when his turn comes to get up and speech he stands up over there and he says I have been studying the Big Bang Theory in great detail and now I'm a Christian I believe in the existence of God and that was like a shock for the scientific community at that time and then after that it kind of became common even as science kept advancing and people began to understand what exactly is involved in all the things which exist today they began to understand oh there there was definitely someone an intelligent being who made all of this happen it didn't just accidentally come into place so after the 1980s as we entered into the 1990s you had a whole bunch of scientists admitting that yes God exists without the existence of God this creation could not have come into place could not have become what it is and so science in fact actually points again and again towards the existence of God and so why do people still not believe Romans 1 18 to 20 gives a very very you know actual practical reason why people are still resisting this whole idea of God's existence if we could have someone read out Romans chapter 1 verses 18 to 20 very very clear powerful wording mentioned over here in this passage in verse 19 it says since what may be known about God is plain to them because God has made it plain to them okay so it says since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities is eternal far and divine nature have been clearly seen being understood from what has been made and that is why it says people are without excuse anyone who can see creation is without excuse because creation points to the fact that there is a creator God and no one can deny it why are people denying it it explains that in verse 18 it says godlessness and the wickedness of people that is what is causing them to suppress the truth by their wickedness because once you admit that God exists you have to admit that he has certain standards in place and you will have to change your lifestyle and start living in a way that you know meets those standards so it is easier it is more convenient to pretend that God is not there because then you have the freedom to live however you wish and then it's up to you to you know to drop your own set of ethical principles and say this is good I will follow this but if you say that God exists then he gets to decide what is good and what is bad and then you will have to live according to those standards and that requires you know a responsibility and people do not want that and so even though now I mean especially today when the whole theory of evolution is literally going down the drain and people are able to come up with so much evidence which disproves evolution scientists are coming up with the most outlandish most ridiculous theories just to keep supporting that theory because if they have to admit that God exists then oh my they'll really have to rework on their entire principles their ethics their lifestyle and they don't want to do that and so they're coming up with such ridiculous ideas just to hold up this ancient you know 19th century theory about evolution so this is very very interesting the way you know the world direction inch the world is headed the evidence of God is becoming clearer and clearer people can no longer just pretend that he is not there this is a Christian writer named Lynn Anderson and so he was having this discussion with an atheist and he came up with some very good arguments about why God really exists and so he was having this discussion with this person and that person you know kept coming up with all kinds of arguments and then finally Lynn Anderson you know he said some of the arguments that I have presented are so logical and they are so correct and you're still denying and saying that God does not exist so tell me is the problem that you can't believe what I am saying or is the problem that you don't want to believe what I am saying and in fact it's very wonderful that that particular man you know such a frank and honest man he sat for a while he thought about it and then he said you know I'm running this business I'm making a lot of money but I am bending rules breaking you know the law to make the money that I am making now if I believe in God then I'll have to give up this in fact I lose all of my wealth plus I'm having all of this extramarital affairs that my wife doesn't know about I'll have to give up all of that I think it would be more convenient for me if God does not exist is what he very very frankly said so you see it is the wickedness of humans which suppresses the truth or the truth is very very plain to be seen in creation that there is a Creator God who is you know who is behind all that has been created so that is the evidence that we get from nature and creation we also have the evidence of the Bible how does the Bible begin Genesis 1 1 if someone could read out Genesis 1 1 yeah it's very very plain and simple you know the first verse of the Bible does not say does God exist should we know try to try to explore and find out whether God exists no such no such arguments even necessary very first sentence very plainly says in the beginning of what God God was there in the beginning God was there and God went on to create the heavens and the earth so there's no need for any argument even scripture starts off with a basic wording in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth so from verse 1 it's very very clear that God is there the problem is with people wanting to not accept the fact but scripture very very clearly points to the existence of God now you know most of the notes which you have are based on Wayne Grudem's systematic theology and that was something that was written in the 1970s so it is a little dated a little outdated so he only gives three arguments he calls them the traditional proofs for the existence of God so he gives the cosmological argument the teleological argument and the moral argument which you know the three arguments which argue that God exists the first one is the cosmological argument it's just basically saying every single thing you know which exists must have had a cause something didn't just appear out of nothing something must have made it appear something must have caused it to come into existence so the cosmological argument basically says that everything has a cause there is a causal agent which made something happen you know for instance you know if we all come down over here to the basement and we find a horse standing over there you know one fine morning and then you know if someone says yeah the horse just came into existence you would look at that person like as if there's something very wrong with his mind because obviously someone must have brought that horse down someone caused it to come down it didn't just simply materialize every single thing that is there in existence must have been caused by something okay so everything that has a beginning has also a cause which caused that beginning okay so the cosmological argument it's supposed to have been actually formulated I think in the 15th century or 16th century by this Middle Eastern person who came up with the thing and so he says every single thing that has a beginning began because something caused it to start existing it doesn't apply to God because you see God never had a beginning God always was there so you know he didn't need to have a causal agent he always was there but everything which has a beginning something must have made that beginning begin okay so that is the cosmological argument without going into the details of it teleological argument is basically the argument which says that there is so much harmony so much order so much design in the universe that we have to admit that an intelligent being must have made it okay so you know we talked about all these scientists who are now beginning to realize that there must be an intelligent creator one of them is Michael B. Hay I think I'm probably killing the poor man's name but you know it's B. H. E. Michael B. Hay or whatever so he's this biochemist who did a lot of research into DNA so he basically studies the living cell and you know the human living cell and inside that cell you have DNA so he's done great research into that and the more and more he began to research he began to discover how amazingly detailed this whole cell is one tiny little thing you know a cell is like the most basic organism out of which you know you have other things being built and this thing is so detailed so intricate so finely designed it could not have accidentally come into existence so he too became a believer you know and he too became a Christian and he said God exists and he went on to write something called Darwin's black box and that went on to be an award-winning book in which he really destroys the whole theory of evolution okay so the teleological argument basically says that there is so much harmony and order and design in the universe that it is ridiculous to say that there is no intelligent creator coming to the moral argument you know which Wayne Grudem mentions what do we mean by moral argument all of us human beings we instinctively have this sense in our heart of something which is right and something that is wrong even if nobody teaches us that we automatically sense that there are certain things which are correct and certain things which are wrong you know even the cannibalistic you know primitive societies you know which actually go around eating human beings even they know that murder is wrong in the sense you know they go and attack the another enemy tribe and then they kill them and they have they perform this ritual where they actually cook the enemy and they eat the enemy because they believe that the power of the enemy is now coming into their body you know when they eat them or something like that they have their own set of ideas but even they believe that murder is wrong because you know if somebody in their community happily goes around killing all their neighbors you think they're going to keep quiet no they're going to take action against that person because they also know that murder is wrong they are willing to try it out on an enemy tribe but you start killing their own neighbors and their own family members you think they're going to be quiet no because even they in their hearts sense that murder is wrong so human beings have been created with a certain set of moral absolutes we automatically sense that certain things are wrong and certain things are right so we cannot escape this so why why do we have this you know moral absolutes in our heart because a creator god is there who put that particular value system inside us so people you know who say oh the ethics that we have is just a sociobiological evolution society decided that certain things you know make life convenient so they chose certain things as right and they chose certain things as wrong we can say that but even the most primitive societies which decided that cannibalism is a good thing even they if you try doing that to their family member or to their neighbor they are not going to keep quiet because in their heart they have that moral absolute murder is wrong so these are things that we cannot escape from so these moral absolutes in our heart prove that there's a god who put those absolutes in our heart and we cannot get away from it we cannot escape that okay so we spend some time talking about why we clearly can see that god exists okay so i thought this is one important component that we should you know consider even as we are having this talk before we move on to the next thing okay the second argument the spelling of that would be t a l e o l o g i c a l teleological argument now all these three things are there in the notes so you know if you're on go in the google classroom it will be there in your stream page the notes have been posted so it's there it's mentioned in your notes and of course if you're on the e-platform there as well you would have the notes posted okay so the first was the cosmological argument then you have the teleological argument and then you have the moral argument all three of which are just very briefly mentioned like i said last time you can always download the Wayne Gruden book which will you know discuss these things in greater detail because Wayne Gruden is very very easily available on the net you just have to type in on google and it automatically appears yeah so coming to the attributes of god now generally you know you would have scholars dividing the attributes of god into the communicable attributes and the in communicable attributes in communicable attributes are attributes which are unique to god human beings don't have them on the other hand communicable attributes are attributes of god which he has passed on to humans he has shared that with humans for instance god is holy but he god has also enabled humans to be holy you know with the help of the holy spirit in the same way god is truthful and humans also have been given the ability to be truthful so there are certain attributes of god which he has shared with humans so those you would call the communicable attributes and then there are in communicable attributes which are unique to him only he has those attributes now it's kind of difficult to you know to classify and separate these two sets of attributes so sometimes I might get a little mixed up in the way I'm you know I'm covering these attributes of god but basically we're supposed to be right now discussing the in communicable attributes but I'll bring in even some communicable attributes because I just want to bunch all the similar ones together so that you know we don't repeat the same thing again and again so anyway moving into the first in communicable attribute god is the creator and he is eternal maybe we can look at one verse which talks about that some 90 verse 2 90 some 90 verse 2 if someone could read out from everlasting to everlasting you are god so god has always been there he never had a beginning so something didn't have to cause him to start being he always was there okay so from everlasting to everlasting he always existed so obviously he was there before the mountains were born he was there before the world was brought into existence he was always there maybe one verse we can look at from the new testament 1st timothy 117 if we could have someone read out 1st timothy 117 so 1st timothy 117 describes god as king eternal always has existed there never was a beginning there never will be an end to him he always has been and he always will be everlasting to everlasting so he's king eternal now Jesus of course has the same attribute because Jesus you know the word was with god in the beginning and the word is god as well so Jesus Christ is also eternal it's just that some of the wording Jewish wording which is used in our bible kind of makes people in modern times think that maybe he was created but then we need to understand the way the Jews used those particular terms so that we don't misunderstand what is written in scripture about Jesus Christ so you know I thought it's good if we can just cover this while we are talking about the eternal nature of God Colossians chapter 1 verses 15 to 17 if someone could read out Colossians 1 15 to 17 okay so the problem is with that I know phrase the first born overall creation and so some people have this mistaken idea that you know God that Jesus Christ was created but that would be a wrong way of reading that particular term Jesus Christ was first born in the same way that Isaac is called the only son now we very clearly know that Isaac was not the only son of Abraham Abraham had two sons he had Ishmael and Isaac so in your Genesis chapter 22 verse 2 where God describes Isaac as your only son that term you could say it's a kind of legal term because it's talking about the son you know the prominent son the one who will be given the inheritance so in that sense he is the only son because you know in a legal sense he is going to be the heir the inheritor of everything that is going to be given so these terms first born only born all of those terms are the Jewish way of saying this is the person the prominent son to whom everything is going to go okay so it's something like that which is why of course in John 3 16 you have Jesus being described in that way where it says he gave his one and only son also over there you know the legal term being brought out is that he is the one to whom everything belongs and so Colossians 1 15 to 17 when it's describing Jesus as the first born over all creation or if you want to use John 3 16 where it says the one and only son it is talking about what is described in Colossians 1 15 16 17 for in him all things were created and it goes on to say all things have been created through him and for him he is before all things and in him all things hold together so he is going to be the ruler the Lord over everything that has been made and in fact he is the one who made it all happen so in that sense he is the first born the inheritor over all creation he is the only begotten son the you know the one and only son in the sense that he is the one who is going to be inheriting what is what has been created so in that sense Isaac 2 was called your only son when biologically we know that there were actually two sons involved okay so these are more legal terms which the Jews would have understood very easily it's just that we are now living you know so many years later and so we may misunderstand these terms but in in no sense you know are we to understand Jesus Christ as being created he was not a created being he too is eternal just like God the Father and God the Holy Spirit coming to another important attribute of God God is infinite there are no limits okay now these are all points some of these points are there in your notes some of the points are not in your notes so it's just you know I picked up stuff from different places so some of these things you may not find in your notes but of course it's there in your lecture now so you can always go to the video and you will have all of these points all right so I'm just wanted to you know tell you that I'm not covering the things in the same order in which you know it's covered in your notes and we'll just try to fit in whatever we can into the time that we have because we're talking about God and we're talking about an infinite limitless God and to fit him into to our lecture is like impossible okay so we'll just cover whatever we can about this infinite God who has no limits so once we see that God is without limit and he's infinite automatically a whole bunch of attributes kind of fall into place we'll be talking about his omnipotence we'll be talking about his omnipresence uh what is the other one the omniscience and then there are a whole other bunch of things so I just kind of bunched all those together you know all those aspects which kind of reflect his um infiniteness so maybe we can start off with God being omnipotent no limits to his power okay potent is the word for power so he's omnipotent all powerful no limits are there to his power now how does he express this power that's the sheer beauty of it okay we have this very lovely verse in Hebrews 4 12 if you could have one read out Hebrews 4 verse 12 yeah you know I'll we'll just go to that third portion which is describing the word God as being living and powerful this omnipotence of God his unlimited power is contained in the word and it's freely available you know sometimes you don't even have to purchase a bible like they give it you're free you have free copies of the bible being given out this bible contains the words in it contain the omnipotent unlimited power of God so this unlimited power of God is being made available to people who will put their faith in the word of God and if you do that this unlimited power gets released on our behalf I mean imagine how much more of a luxury and a privilege can we possibly have the omnipotent unlimited power of God is contained in his words and those words are written down for us in scripture and if we can just study this word of God and really understand how it applies to our lives and start applying it you literally have the omnipotent power of God working for you for your family it's such a beautiful thing and all it takes is faith and submission you know just that simple trust where you say Lord I trust your word I trust what you have said and I'm going to submit myself to it and live in accordance with it and when you do that his omnipotent power is working on your behalf and it's an amazing you know thought it's something that you know we can tap into for the rest of our lives so this unlimited power of God is also you know very beautifully brought out in another scripture that we can look at Luke 1 36 and 37 if someone could read out Luke 1 36 and 37 okay so the NIV you know which our student read out just now it says no word from God will ever fail because you see these words of God they contain the omnipotent power of God how on earth can his words fail they can't there are no limits to his power so if he says something he will make it happen so that is why this old lady you know who's who was beyond her childbearing years she just goes ahead and conceives why because when God speaks something his omnipotent power which is contained in those words will cause that word to pass he will make it happen he will fulfill it and so you know the NKJV does not bring it out so clearly it just simply says for with God nothing will be impossible which is true but you know NIV tries to make an effort to bring out the meaning of what is contained over there and it translates it as for no word from God will ever fail okay so if he says something even if it's an impossible thing that he is saying it will happen because his omnipotent power which is contained in his word causes it to happen okay let's move on to the other infinite aspect of him his omniscience he is a God who is all knowing he knows everything and he knows it perfectly because there are no limits to his understanding maybe we can look at a few scriptures Psalm 147 verse 5 if someone could read out Psalm 147 verse 5 yes his understanding has no limits in NIV it says understanding is infinite okay so God's understanding is infinite now how does that apply to us you know the very very popular famous scripture that we all know Isaiah 55 8 and 9 if someone could read out Isaiah 55 8 and 9 so God's thoughts are infinitely higher than our thoughts so sometimes there are things which go on in our lives in our family and we wonder why I have been faithful to the Lord I have held on to his promises and yet all these things are happening why why is God permitting these things to happen and God does not give us a detailed explanation of why he's doing things in a particular way all he says to us is he says my thoughts are not your thoughts your thoughts are very very limited very restricted but on the other hand my understanding my thoughts are infinite so what you are trying to logically understand at your little level is nothing my thoughts are higher than than your thoughts to the extent that the heavens are higher than the earth which is like you know infinitely higher because we know that the heavens have no limit it just infinitely goes on and on so you know we don't need to worry as long as you're walking in line with the Lord and you're following his guidance and you know you're being sensitive to his leading he will take care because his thoughts are infinitely higher so if it doesn't make sense to your little brain and you have you know Satan coming in whispering and you're saying ha ha see things are not working out for you God has not come for come through for you he's not being faithful then you can tell Satan Satan my thoughts and your thoughts are very very limited his understanding is infinitely higher so you just wait and see the day will come when things will fall in place because my God knows what he is doing you and I may not understand you Satan now don't have much of a brain you don't understand I don't understand but our Lord he understands and he will take care you know so we can have the beautiful assurance in this omniscience the all-knowingness of God another aspect of his infiniteness would be his omnipresence God is present everywhere and this is what God says about his omnipresence in Jeremiah 23 versus 23 and 24 if someone could read out Jeremiah 23 23 and 24 yes so the Lord says here can anyone hide himself in secret places so I shall not see him I'm everywhere I'm the God who is near I'm also the God who is afar off nobody can go anywhere and hide themselves from my presence I am everywhere and it sounds almost threatening that my goodness you can never escape from God but there's a good side to it as well if we can look at some 139 7 to 10 okay some 139 7 to 10 if someone could read out okay so now in Jeremiah the person who is fleeing from God and trying to hide from God we do not know why he is doing that the same way over here in Psalm 139 verse 7 we're not particularly sure why this person is trying to flee from God but wherever that person flees wherever that person tries to go and hide God is over there and he's not pursuing that person out of any evil intent that is the beauty which comes out in Psalm 139 why is the why is God going on pursuing that person into whichever corner he's fleeing to because God wants to guide that person with his hand he wants to hold him fast to make his life secure so you know we never have to feel threatened by the omnipresence of God wherever you go however far you try to run away and hide God is still there but God is not chasing you with any evil intent he's coming after you because he wants to take hold of you make your life secure he wants to guide and lead you and that's exactly what happened with Jonah Jonah went running because he wanted to go running away and hide he wanted to get go as far away from God as possible and so he if God says you know go towards Nineveh he goes in exactly the opposite direction towards Tarshish but you can't escape from God's presence because God's presence is everywhere and why did God's presence continue to pursue Jonah not to bring him any kind of harm God wanted to guide him and hold him fast in his hand and make his life secure so Jonah finally comes to his senses and he writes us the story so we all know today what happened okay so if you had not come back to his senses and written down that story about what happened you know we would have you know lost in a very wonderful story so God is everywhere and we don't have to worry about that because he is everywhere he can reach us even at the lowest depths if you have messed up your life completely and you're finding yourself at the bottom of the pit even at the bottom of the pit his presence is there and he wants to guide you and he wants to hold you fast he wants to make your life a better one so it's such a good thing God is present everywhere alright keeping that in mind you know we could maybe look at another aspect of God's nature which is that God is a spirit so if God had been restricted to a material body or physical body he would only be there in one place but because he is he's a spirit being he is everywhere there is no to his presence so he can be in the same place but he can be at the same time so he can be with us believers who are gathered over here in the class and at the same time he is also with our families back home you know so his because he's a spirit being there are no limits to where he can be now how does that apply to us if we could have one person read out John chapter 4 versus 19 to 24 John 4 19 to 24 okay so we have this lady the Samaritan lady you know she's bringing up an argument which had been going on for centuries an argument between the Samaritans and the Jewish people because both of them claimed that their spiritual father was Moses so the Samaritan said our spiritual father is Moses and the Israelites said you know our spiritual father is also Moses so Samaritan said Moses instructed us that we should worship God on Mount Gerizim but the Israelites said no no no God has instructed us to worship him in Jerusalem so this controversy had been going on so she says to Jesus you know I think you seem to be a prophet so you tell me where should we actually worship God on Mount Gerizim or should we do it on Jerusalem and God looks at her and says you know what you're not going to be worshiping him on this mountain or in that city he is a being going to be praying for people who are going to worship in spirit and truth because he is a spirit being he is everywhere so he is meant to be worshiped everywhere there is no limit so when you go to your workplace or you go to the office you can't say oh okay on Sunday I was in God's presence and I had to be respectful and worship him today I'm in my workplace I'm at the office no God is a spirit is there present in your office the way you conduct yourself in your office better be respectful the way you're doing your work your boss is not looking it better be honorable because God is there and you're he's you know waiting on you to worship him so you cannot escape from God's presence wherever you go he is there and he expects you to be worshiping him so you can't say only when I go to Mount Gerizim I will worship him and you can't say only when I go to the temple I will worship him that is no excuse you ask worship him in spirit and truth everywhere because wherever you go he is present and he expects you to be living in an honorable way you know when we come into the church especially in some cultures when you come to the church you're so aware of his presence that people actually remove their footwear and then they come inside because they say oh we are in God's presence we have to be respectful but according to this scripture passage when you go and hang out with your friends in someone's house his presence is over there so you may not take off your footwear but he is there so the words you speak the jokes you crack the discussions that you have what you're watching oh may be honorable to the Lord because it's the same as when you step into church the same way his presence is there in the church it's there in that house where all of you are hanging up so you cannot escape as meant to worship him in spirit and truth because he is a spirit being he is everywhere okay so on that note we will take our break and then we'll come back again at 10 o'clock so if we can all log back in at 10 o'clock we'll you know resume with our class thank you