Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for November 29, 2020

Doing the Humanly Impossible

Luke 1

Luke is the only gospel writer who records the foretelling of the births of John the Baptist and Jesus. By focusing our attention on both the similarities and differences between these events, Luke teaches us important truths about the power of God, the preeminence of Jesus and our response to the One who does the humanly impossible.

-summary of Luke 1: an emerging pattern and invitation to compare/contrast

1. The Power of God

• prediction of births (1:13 and 1:31)
• nature of births (1:7 and 1:35-36)

2. The Preeminence of Jesus

• words of John the Baptist (Matt. 3:11 and John 3:30)
• affirmation of Gabriel (1:32-33)

3. Our Response to the One who does the humanly impossible

• Zechariah: “I can’t be sure.” (1:18-20)
• Mary: “I don’t understand.” (1:34)
• explanation and declaration (1:35-38)
• resulting praise (1:46-55; 67-79)

4. So What?

• Because God excels at doing the humanly impossible, trust His promises.
• “The Son of God became man to enable men to become the sons of God.” (Lewis)
• “And our eyes at last shall see Him, Through His own redeeming love; For that child so dear and gentle, Is our Lord in heaven above, And He leads His children on, To the place where He is gone.” (“Once in Royal David’s City,” Alexander)

Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for November 22, 2020

Thanksgiving Message

The Path to a ‘Good Place’ This Thanksgiving

Psalms 13:1-6

1. Background

• lament psalm for Thanksgiving?
• from desperate intensity to dependent sufficiency

2. Indication of David’s Anguish 1-2

• individual lament
• four-fold use of “How Long…?”
• forgotten, forsaken, sorrowful, subdued
• Num. 6:22-27

3. Direction of David’s Appeal 3-4

• “…O LORD my God…”
• consideration and illumination
• grounded in dependence

4. Consolation of David’s Affirmation 5-6

• affirmation of trust
• anticipation of thanksgiving and praise
• basis of consolation: bountiful dealing

5. So What?

• Because of God’s mercy, trust God and anticipate joy even in your trial.
• “We are to bring our emotions underneath the jurisdiction of God’s character and God’s purpose…God’s care for his children is like the sun: it’s constant. Even though the clouds obscure it, it doesn’t mean the sun isn’t there.” (Begg)
• Connection to Christ: Psalm 22, Isa. 49:15

Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for November 15, 2020

When Kings Fall Silent

Isaiah 52:13-53:12

1. Background

• 4th “Servant” song
• 700 years before Christ’s birth

2. The Servant’s Exaltation and Humiliation 13-15

• action and exaltation of the Servant
• exaltation of the Servant
• contrasting revulsion
• world-wide impact: sprinkled nations and shut mouths

3. The Rejecting Response of Rebel Subjects 1-3

• a question expecting a negative answer
• observed and misunderstood
• despised and rejected

4. The Revelation of the Ransoming Substitute 4-9

• His suffering explained
• the voluntary and undeserving nature of His suffering
• a suffering Substitute for straying sheep

5. The Reality of the Substitute’s Ultimate Triumph 10-12

• the LORD’S pleasure
• a concise exposition of atonement theology
• the LORD’S testimony to His Servant

6. So What?

• Because of the stunning impact of the suffering Substitute’s substitution, bow before Him in worship now!
• NT connections: Mark 10:45, 1 Cor. 15:3, Rom. 15:21
• Man of Sorrows! What a name, for the son of God, who came, ruined sinners to reclaim. Hallelujah! What a Savior! Bearing shame and scoffing rude, in my place condemned He stood; sealed my pardon with His blood. Hallelujah! What a Savior! Guilty, vile, and helpless we; spotless Lamb of God is He; Full atonement! Can it be? Hallelujah! What a Savior! (Bliss)
• Celebrate and share the story of your Substitute!

Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for November 8, 2020

A Greater Deliverance

Isaiah 49:1-13

1. Background

• the identity of the “Servant”: the corporate/individual tension
• the Moses/Christ connection (Deut. 18:15, Ex. 32:7-10)
• “second” Exodus language

2. The Servant’s Declarative Description 1-3

• command to listen (Mark 9:7)
• prepared and named (Gen. 35:10)
• summoned to show “splendor”

3. The Servant’s Focused Fortification 4-6

• antidote for despondency
• resting in the wisdom and power of God
• extension from Israel to the nations
• the deliverance/salvation the world needs

4. The Servant’s Certain Success 7-13

• despised yet exalted (Isa. 52:13-53:12)
• promise of a “second” Exodus
• provision and protection along the way
• comprehensive joy

5. So what?

• Knowing that the Lord comprehensively and compassionately delivers His people through Christ, set your sight on Him when nothing seems to make sense.
• “Despondency arises through listening to ourselves and our self-assessment instead of looking to God and recalling His purposes.” (Motyer)
• Keep looking to Christ, The sure and steady Anchor. (Heb. 6:19-20)

Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for November 1, 2020

He Will Carry You!

Isaiah 46:1-13

1. Background

• fall of Babylon in Isaiah 46-48
• idolatry/collapse connection and the future security of God’s people

2. Carried gods (1-2)

• carried as burdens on weary beasts
• carried with their worshipers into captivity

3. Carrying God (3-4)

• command and commitment
• a striking contrast
• comprehensive coverage: from womb to tomb

4. Made gods: burdens void of saving power (5-7)

• clarifying question
• made by human hands: immobile, inarticulate, incompetent

5. The Making God (8-11)

• confrontational command
• declarative rebuke (47:8-10)
• declaring…saying…calling…

6. The Saving God (12-13)

• provision of righteousness for those far from it
• conformity to the will of God

7. So what?

• Because carried gods lead only to collapse, trust the God who carries you.
• “What we revere, we resemble; either for our ruin or restoration.” (Beale)
• “His love, in time past, forbids me to think He’ll leave me at last in trouble to sink: Each sweet Ebenezer I have in review confirms His good pleasure to help me quite through.” (Newton)
• “When man carries his god, the end is destruction; when the true God carries man, the end is salvation.” (Young)
• connection to Christ: 2 Thess. 3:5

Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for October 25, 2020

Unwearied Help for the Weary

Isaiah 40:27-31

1. Background

• impending Babylonian Captivity (Isa. 39:6)
• worse before it gets better
• comfort, word and greatness of God (40:1-26)

2. A Questioning Despondency (27)

• God’s knowledge
• God’s care
• legal case of pessimistic pilgrims

3. A Theological Reminder (28-29)

• formula repetition
• everlasting
• unwearied
• unfathomable

4. An Experiential Challenge (30-31)

• patient expectancy
• sovereign enablement
• as if people grow wings

5. So What?

• Proper thinking about God enables proper waiting on God.
• “…Understand that love, revealed on the cross, does not exclude but must always include suffering.” (Elliot)
• “Your thoughts of God are too human.” (Luther to Erasmus)
• NT connection: Matt. 11:28-30
• “He bids weary travelers rest in His house.” (Thomas)

Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for October 18, 2020

Holding Fast to the Lord

Isaiah 37:1-38

1. Background considerations

• Assyrian threat to Judah
• Hezekiah: “Yahweh strengthens”

2. Hezekiah responds to a national crisis (1-13)

• taunts of Sennacherib 36:1-22
• responding to arrogance with humility
• acknowledgment of utter helplessness
• prophecy of Isaiah and “remnant” repetition
• Sennacherib takes a parting shot

3. Hezekiah’s prayer for deliverance (14-20)

• “…spread it before the LORD.”
• adoration
• petition
• concern for the glory of God

4. Sennacherib’s fall (21-38)

• contrast between Sennacherib (v.3) and the LORD (v. 5)
• steps sequenced by the LORD
• a hook for the nose and a bit for the mouth
• 185,000 struck down

5. So What?

• Because the LORD always acts in the best interest of those who abandon themselves to Him, keep on holding fast to Him.
• Weave what you know of the LORD’S character into your worship.
• Speak to the LORD and expect to hear from Him.
• “And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail, and the idols are broke in the temple of Baal; And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword, hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord.” (Byron)
• “For my life He bled and died, Christ will hold me fast; Justice has been satisfied; He will hold me fast. Raised with Him to endless life, He will hold me fast, ‘till our faith is turned to sight, when He comes at last.’” (Getty)

Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for October 11, 2020

The Non-Egyptian Protection Plan

Isaiah 31:1-9

1. Background

• fifth in a series of woes
• consideration of the extent of God’s power and control
• Judah in the midst of its Assyrian Crisis

2. The disaster of depending on Egypt 1-3

• warning against an existing dependence (Psa. 20:7)
• reliance rooted in settled attitudes
• the God who does not “take it back”
• the folly of trusting Egypt rather than the LORD (John 4:24)

3. The defense of dependence on the LORD 4-5

• growling lion of conquering sovereignty
• hovering bird of gentle protection (1 Cor. 1:25)
• sufficient and surrounding help

4. The invitation to depend on the LORD 6-9

• from revolt to repentance
• the ditching of idols
• the LORD “passes over” and the Assyrians “pass off” (2 Kings 19:35)

5. So What?

• Because only God can help you, look to Him.
• connection to Christ: A King will reign in righteousness (see Isa. 32!)
• “The blood of the lamb might have seemed ineffectual and irrelevant to a people under sentence of death but it was enough! So, against the unwisdom of Judah, the pretenses of Egypt and the threats of Assyria, the hovering God will prove His sovereign strength.” (Motyer)
• “All the king’s horses and all the king’s men…”

Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for October 4, 2020

A Case of Well-Placed Confidence

Isaiah 25:1-12

1. Testimony of Past Plans (1-5)

• Yahweh…Elohim
• declaration
• explanation
• elaboration
• checklist of faithfulness
• revered by the “ruthless”
• subdued noise

2. Anticipation of Future Celebration (6-12)

• “on this mountain…”
• inclusive provision
• veil removal
• death swallowing
• extinction of mourning
• waiting on the God who saves
• God’s presence and pride’s absence

3. So What?

• Knowing that you are engaged in a cause that will triumph in the end, persevere in hope.
• NT connections: I Cor. 15:55-58 and Rev. 21:4
• “They are spinning ropes of sand, if they are trying to lift the world clear of its miseries and of its hunger, and are not presenting Jesus Christ.” (Maclaren)
• “Send us strength, oh, Pilgrim Guide, sin would drown us in its tide, be close at hand and go before, as we sail to heaven’s shore.” (Nelson/McHugh)

Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for September 27, 2020

How’s That Working out for You?

Isaiah 23:1-18

1. Background/Setting

• last in a series of judgments pronounced against the nations
• note the inclusion of Israel in the previous chapter
• a few facts about the Phoenicians

2. A poem of ruin (1-14)

• downfall of Tyre and Sidon
• representative of man’s attempts to live without God (Rev. 17-18)
• loss of commercial influence
• silence in contrast to the buzz
• the past as though it never happened
• losses: joy, peace, rest and security

3. A prediction of restoration (15-18)

• recovery after 70 years
• unflattering portrayal
• invincibly appropriated
• brought down and raised up
• making even the enemy a servant

4. So what?

• Because God is sovereign and you are accountable to Him, live for His glory now!
• Recognize that opposition to God’s reign is the ultimate exercise in futility. He always has the last word!
• Reject the foolishness of a presumed invulnerability.
• See the NT connection and the wideness of God’s mercy (Matt. 15:21-28)
• “There’s a wideness in God’s mercy, like the wideness of the sea; There’s a kindness in His justice, which is more than liberty.” (Faber)
• Revel in the sovereign grace of the LORD!