Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for January 5, 2020

Endings Are for Beginnings

Numbers 27:12-23

-list of tribal family heads for selective service and land apportionment (Numbers 26)
-Moses: the mediator/leader who does not enter

1. The LORD Addresses Moses (12-14)

• story told four times
• sees land but will die
• rebellion against the word of the LORD (20:1-13)
• lessons of justice, sanctification and pastoral care (1 Cor. 10:1-5)

2. Moses Speaks to the LORD (15-17)

• no excuses
• appoint a shepherd
• foreshadowing of Christ (Matt. 9:35-38)

3. The LORD Responds to the Request of Moses (18-21)

• publicly commission Joshua
• invest Joshua with authority
• contrast between Moses and Joshua

4. Moses Obeys the LORD’S Command (22-23)

• as the LORD directed
• connection to Christ: Matt. 26:31-32, John 10:11 and Hebrews 13:20
• imperfect and perfect mediator (Heb. 3:1-6)

5. So What?

• Because the LORD is holy, follow His instructions and rely on His provision.
• Accentuate the LORD’S holiness in the eyes of His people!
• “Unbelief makes the past look brighter and the future look bleaker.” (B. Dempsey)
• Remember that without grace you are undone.
• “All the way my Savior leads me, cheers each winding path I tread, gives me grace for every trial, feeds me with the living bread, though my weary steps may falter and my soul athirst may be, gushing from the rock before me, lo, a spring of joy I see…” (Crosby)

Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for November 10, 2019

Transformed Relationships

Ephesians 6:1-9

-When you submit to the authority of Jesus, you serve others with a view to pleasing Him.

I. Children (1-3)

• obedience
• three grounds for obedience

♦ nature-right-dikaios
♦ law-commandment-Exodus 20:12
♦ gospel-in the Lord

II. Parents (4)

• parental authority presupposed
• focus on restraint in the exercise of authority
• negatively: don’t provoke
• positively: discipline and instruction
• analyze and intercede

III. Slaves (5-8)

• obedience
• Christ-centered instruction and motivation

IV. Masters (9)

• do the same
• avoid threats
• remember your Master

V. Abolition of Slavery

• NT neither condemns nor condones
• slavery in the first century
• internal revolution

VI. So What?

• Concentrate more on your responsibilities than your rights.
• Shared knowledge of Jesus as Lord and Judge is a leveling reality.
• “Our great need is the clear-sightedness to see Jesus Christ and to set Him before us.” (Stott)

Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for October 27, 2019

Holy Intoxication

Ephesians 5:18-21

-Because your fruitfulness hinges on submission to the Holy Spirit, obey the command to seek His filling continually.

1. Overview

• sealed (1:13), grieved (4:30) and filled
• a person and not an impersonal force
• incentives for right living

♦ judgment (5:5-7)
♦ light (5:8-14)
♦ wisdom (5:15-17)
♦ fullness (5:18-21)

• the issue here: sanctification-the process of conformity to Christ
• “But our duty and God’s grace are nowhere opposed in the matter of sanctification; for the one absolutely supposes the other. We cannot perform our duty without the grace of God; nor does God give His grace for any other purpose than that we may perform our duty.” (John Owen)

2. The Prohibition

• first imperative: don’t get drunk
• method and result

3. The Command

• second imperative: do be filled
• method and result
• the linguistic lesson: plerousthe

♦ imperative mood: authoritative command, obligation and not option
♦ plural number: for the whole Christian community, no secret technique or formula
♦ passive voice: acted on
♦ present tense: keep on…

• “When we speak of the baptism of the Spirit we are referring to a once-for-all gift; when we speak of the fullness of the Spirit we are acknowledging that this gift needs to be continuously and increasingly appropriated.” (John Stott)

4. The Impact

• musical joy
• comprehensive gratitude
• loving submission

5. So What?

• Drink deeply of the things of the Holy Spirit.
• For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:13)

Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for October 20, 2019

Dressing for Spiritual Success

Ephesians 4:17-5:4

I. Review

• 4:1-16: called to unity
• 4:17-5:4: called to purity
• Since God calls us to be a holy people, we must cultivate a lifestyle of purity.

II. Take off the Old Clothes (4:17-19)

• vain
• dark
• alienated
• insensitive
• unrestrained

III. Put on the New Clothes (4: 20-24)

• Christ: learned…heard…taught
• continual mind-renewal
• put off/put on

IV. Seven Concrete Examples (4:25-5:4)

• don’t lie…speak the truth
• don’t sin in your anger…avoid exploitation
• don’t steal…work and give
• don’t use your mouth for evil…use it for good
• don’t grieve the Holy Spirit…be sensitive to Him
• don’t be unkind and bitter…be kind and loving
• don’t joke about sex…give thanks for it

V. So What?

• objective: integration of Christian experience (what we are), Christian theology (what we believe) and Christian ethics (how we behave)
• “Holiness is not a condition into which we drift.” (Stott)
• passive spectator or active participant?

Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for October 13, 2019

Guest Speaker: Dr. Barry McCarty

Professor at SWBTS

Praying with Power

Colossians 4:2-4

Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for September 29, 2019

To Him Who Is Able

Ephesians 3:14-21

Our text this morning contains the second profound prayer of Paul in his letter to the Ephesians. Because of God’s incomparable character and unlimited capacity, you can experience His enablement and empowerment.

1. Introduction (14-16a)

• For this reason… (v. 14, v. 1: parenthetical digression of 3:2-13)
• posture points to intensity
• from exposition to intercession
• concept of family which proceeds from God the Father
• according to His inexhaustible resources

2. The Prayer (16b-19)

• strength: strengthened with power through the Spirit in your inner man so that Christ may be at “home”
• love: rooted (horticultural) and grounded (architectural) in love (depth as opposed to the superficial)
• knowledge: grasp of the surpassing love of Christ (four dimensions) with all the saints
• fullness: filled with all the fullness of God (points to completion)

3. The Doxology (20-21)

• “The highest aspirations are not beyond God’s power to bestow.” (J. Stott)
• able to do, able to do what we ask, able to do what we ask or think, able to do all, more, much more, way much more (according to resurrection power)
• The Giver gets the glory in the church and in Christ in the realm of time and for eternity.
• Amen: so be it!

Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for September 22, 2019

Being Built Together

Ephesians 2:11-22

-The most serious form of alienation is theological.
-Two focal groups: Gentiles and Jews
–When you remember that Christ brings near the far off, you can celebrate your status with the saints.

1. Remember your former status (11-12)

• separated, alienated and estranged
• without hope and without God

2. Reflect on what Christ has done (13-18)

• brought near
• became our peace
• broke down wall
• by abolishing, creating and reconciling
• preaching of peace and provision of access

3. Recognize your present status (19-22)

• God’s kingdom
• God’s family
• God’s temple (Isa. 28:16)

4. So What?

• Remember to remember!
• Refuse to build walls that have been torn down by Christ.
• Recognize that “the ground is level at the foot of the cross.”
• Remember to “pass the peace.”

Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for July 14, 2019

“Marching Orders”   2 Timothy 1:1-14   Bible Study   07/14/19

Because of the matchless worth of the Gospel, stand firm in it and steward it faithfully.

I. Introduction

• date/place: 66-67 from Rome
• author: Paul in his second imprisonment and near the end of his life
• recipient: Timothy the young pastor in Ephesus
• overview: hold on to it (1), teach it (2), abide in it (3) and preach it (4)

II. Paul’s opening remarks 1:1-5

• identification
• greeting
• affection
• affirmation

III. Fan the flame 1:6

• gift of God
• laying on of hands

IV. Remember your resource 1:7

• given by God
• not fear
• power, love and self-control

V. Embrace suffering for the sake of the Gospel 1:8-12a

• therefore…
• don’t be ashamed
• saved and called…
• death abolished and life brought…

VI. Rely on God’s faithfulness 1:12b

• Paul’s settled conviction
• supernatural security

VII. Guard the deposit 1:13-14

• follow “healthy” words
• Spirit-driven stewardship

VIII. So What?

• Assess your source of security
• Evaluate the stewardship of your gift
• Adjust your perspective on suffering
• Treasure the truth

Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for June 30, 2019

Guest Speaker: Timothy Jeffress

Mr. Jeffress is a retired, 30-year veteran of the Dallas police department and brother of our pastor.

Creating a truth-conforming church environment
1 Timothy 4:1–16

I. Book Theme: Creating a church environment so that false teaching cannot flourish

II. Review Chapters 1-3: Fight, Paul’s testimony, hold to faith/conscience, pray, ordered worship, leaders, personal conduct, doxology

III. 1 Timothy 4:1-5 False Teaching

a. Casualties/Apostasy
b. False Doctrine in other Epistles: “proto-Gnosticism”/proselytizers
c. False Doctrine in 1 Timothy
d. Rebuttal: “Everything created by God is good”
e. Application: 2 Timothy 2:23–26 (ESV)

²³Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. ²⁴And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, ²⁵correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, ²⁶and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

IV. 1 Timothy 4:6-16 Ministry Instruction:

1. V6 Rely on Scripture
2. V7,8 Train for godliness

a. Knowing ABOUT God through His Word
b. KNOWING God through means of grace (word, sacrament, prayer)
c. Expressing consequence to world
(head> heart> hands)

3. V11 Command and teach
4. V12 Set Example
5. V13 Devotion to Scripture
6. V14 Rest Assured
7. V16 Consistency

V. Application: pursue godliness

“In former centuries, the period between the Reformation and our fathers’ time, the tendency of the Protestant Church was very largely to let the conception of religion as a body of truths overshadow everything else. And nowadays, amongst a great many people, the temptation is to take the second story for the main one, and to think that if a man loves, and has the glow at his heart of the conscious reception of God’s love, and has longings and yearnings, and Christian hopes and desires, and passes into the sweetnesses of communion with God, in his solitary moments, and plunges deep into the truths of God’s Word, that is godliness. But the true exhortation to us is—Do not stop with putting in the foundations of a correct creed, nor at the second stage of an emotional religion. Both are needful.”
– Alexander MacLaren ¹

¹ MacLaren, A. (2009). Expositions of Holy Scripture: Philippians 4, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and 1 Timothy (p. 364). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.

Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for June 23, 2019

“The Mystery of Godliness”   1 Timothy 3:14-16   Bible Study   06/23/19

-Because the church is a supernatural entity with a supreme Head, communicate the truth accurately and cling to it tenaciously.

-Background/Context

* connection to 2:1-3:13
* conception of the church
* confession of the mystery’s greatness
* chiastic structure and cumulative parallelism

1. Jesus: revealed and confirmed

• implied pre-existence
• unfathomable condescension
• acknowledged deity

2. Jesus: attended and extended

• presence of angels
• proclamation to peoples
• near and far

3. Jesus: believed and received

• trusted in the world below
• taken into glory above

-So What?

* “Lord, forbid that we would add to the avalanche of error spoken about Christ in the world.” (Piper)
* Hold fast to Jesus and abhor everything that dishonors Him.
* The truth: digest it, defend it, disseminate it, demonstrate it (Hendriksen)
* Determine to know Jesus better and to enjoy Him more.