Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for December 22, 2019

Christmas Series

The Ultimate Rescue Mission

Matthew 1:18-25

-The Genius of the Genealogy (1:1-17)

1. Mary’s Condition (18)

• found to be with child from the Holy Spirit
• when she had been betrothed to Joseph
• before they came together

2. Joseph’s Resolution (19)

• resolved to divorce her quietly
• being a just man
• and unwilling to put her to shame

3. The Angel’s Revelation (20-21)

• as he considered these things
• behold
• saying…

♦ son of David
♦ do not fear…
♦ she will bear a son
♦ call Him Jesus
♦ He will save…

4. Prophetic Confirmation (22-23)

• Isaiah 7:14: virgin birth
• Immanuel: God with us

5. Joseph’s Submission (24-25)

• took his wife
• knew her not…
• called His name Jesus

6. So What?

• Because Scripture verifies the birth of Jesus Christ as a rescue mission, feast on the truth of Immanuel.

Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for December 15, 2019

Christmas Series

From Gloom to Glory

Isaiah 9:1-7

Connection of This Text to Christmas

-Advent, leading up to Christmas, the birth of Christ
-For unto us a child is born… (Isa. 9:6, Luke 2:10-11)
-700 years before events fulfilled

1. Consideration of the Original Context (1-2)

• 8:22 and 9:1: hope after judgment
• former time: gloom (2 Kings 15:29)
• latter time: glory (Matt. 2:22-23)
• darkness/light contrast
• fulfillment in Christ (Matt. 4:12-17)

2. Consideration of the Overwhelming Conquest (3-5)

• multiplied the nation (Gen. 17:5, John 10:16)
• increased its joy: plenty and victory
• grounds for joy: liberation and appropriation (Judges 7:12, 20-23 and Rom. 8:35-37)

3. Consideration of Christ’s Everlasting Agency (6-7)

• child born and son given
• administrative authority
• incomparable description
• supported by sovereign zeal (Isa. 40:5)

4. So What?

• Because of God’s gift of His Son, celebrate the removal of anguishing gloom and the arrival of inextinguishable light this Christmas.
• Ponder Isaiah’s astonishing insight. (Isa. 53)
• securing peace through the blood of the cross (Col. 1:20)
• “No Christmas story will ever surpass the original.” (Bob Kauflin)
• “Tears are falling, hearts are breaking, How we need to hear from God, You’ve been promised, We’ve been waiting, Welcome Holy Child. Bring your peace into our violence, Bid our hungry souls be filled, Word now breaking heaven’s silence, Welcome to our world.” (Chris Rice)

Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for December 8, 2019

Rebellion or Reliance?

Numbers 14:5-19

Overview

-rebellion at Kadesh (13:25-14:4)
-a whole lot of grumbling going on…
-rejection of the word, goodness, power/glory of the LORD

1. The Leaders Respond (5-9)

• fell on their faces
• tore their clothes
• expressed utter confidence in the LORD
• two appeals: don’t rebel and don’t fear

2. The Congregation Responds (10)

• stone them with stones
• progression: murmur, mutiny, murder

3. The LORD Intervenes (11-12)

• glory of the LORD
• two piercing questions
• intent to destroy, disown and start over

4. Moses Intercedes (13-19)

• appeal based on the word, goodness, power/glory of the LORD
• an alien, God-centered perspective
• plea for pardon (Ex. 34:6-7)
• breaking the cycle of rebellion

5. So What?

• Knowing that rebellion against the LORD invites ruin, pray for a tender heart that trusts Him and values His glory.
• connection to Christ: Hebrews 3:1-6, 7:25 and 1 John 2:1-2
• “Other refuge have I none, Hangs my helpless soul on Thee; Leave, ah! Leave me not alone, Still support and comfort me. All my trust on Thee is stayed, All my help from Thee I bring; Cover my defenseless head, With the shadow of Thy wing.” (Jesus, Lover of My Soul- C. Wesley)

Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for December 1, 2019

From Here to Dependence

Numbers 9:15-23

Background/Overview of Numbers 1-8

* conclusion of one-year encampment at Sinai
*about to embark on journey through wilderness to promised land
*first and second Passover observances (Ex. 12 and Numbers 9:1)
*new beginnings: Law, priesthood/sacrificial system, tabernacle

1. Foundational Presence of God

• tabernacle: God’s presence with and among His people-constantly
• pillar of cloud by day
• pillar of fire by night

2. Functional Procedure of God’s People

• cloud moves/people move
• cloud stops/people camp

3. Fundamental Principle Communicated

• constant uncertainty of departure, duration and immediate destination
• the principle of dependence
• keeping the charge: adherence to divine command

4. So What?

• Because the Lord demonstrates the historical pattern of going before His people, depend on Him to go before you.
• how this text both encourages and exposes
• “Israel in the wilderness had nothing which we do not possess.” (Maclaren)
• “There is no time lost, while we are waiting on God’s time.” (Henry)
• connection to Christ: Heb. 11:39-40 and John 1:14
• “…by waters still, o’er troubled sea, still ‘tis His hand that leadeth me…” (Bradbury)

Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for November 24, 2019

Thanksgiving Message

A Psalm for Thanksgiving 2019: A Table in the Wilderness

Psalms 78:4-19

1. Setting/Background

• a statement of the Lord’s purpose in giving revelation to His people and a history of deliverance
• intention: “…that all future generations might remember what He had done and be encouraged by the remembrance to hope in Him for the future; and by both memory and hope be impelled in the charge of present duty.” (Maclaren)
• the passage of time which bears all of us onward steadily and silently
• tell the coming generation: deeds, might and wonders (4)
• establishment of testimony and appointment of law (7)
• purpose: set hope, not forget, keep commandments, not be like fathers (8)
• catalog of the history of the Lord with His people:

faithful/faithless contrast (8b-19)

• the question of a thankless and forgetful people

2. Remember the Lord with gratitude

• educating your memory for spiritual purposes
• a biblical perspective on your past
• cultivating the memory of His hand

3. Face the future with hope

• the connection between memory and hope
• looking forward to a fixed future

4. Consecrate the present with consistent obedience

• fitting us for work in the “flying” moment
• grains of sand in an hour glass

5. So What?

• Because the Lord can set a table in the wilderness, remember Him with a thankfulness that fuels future hope and present obedience.
• “…A home within the wilderness, A rest upon the way…” (E. Clephane)
• Christ: the living water and nourishing bread (John 6:35 and 7:38)

Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for November 17, 2019

Final Words: The Armor of God

Ephesians 6:10-24

-Because you are in a war, equip yourself with God’s armor.

I. Introduction/Overview

• reminder of constant opposition and its source
• existence of Satan assumed (Isa. 14:12-17; Ezek. 28:1-10)
• not for satisfaction of curiosity but for mobilization of soldiers

II. The Enemy We Face (10-12)

• needed: thorough knowledge and healthy respect
• not human but demonic: powerful, wicked, cunning
• needed: the power of God

♦ Be empowered…
♦ Put on…

• our objective: to stand

III. The Equipment We Appropriate (13-20)

• Take up…
• Stand…
• six key elements

♦ belt of truth
♦ breastplate of righteousness
♦ footwear of the gospel of peace
♦ shield of faith
♦ helmet of salvation
♦ sword of the Spirit (only offensive weapon)

• “…each piece put on with prayer.”
• Paul’s specific prayer request

IV. The Encouragement We Need (21-24)

• role of Tychicus
• encouragement
• peace, love, faith, grace

V. So What?

• Remember that you can’t wield what you don’t wear.
• Dare to cultivate a “wartime mentality.”
• “Equipping yourself with God’s armor is not a mechanical operation; it is itself an expression of our dependence.” (Stott)

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 November 3, 2019

The Window of Your Marriage

Ephesians 5:22-33

I. Introduction

• from new standards to new relationships
• priority of the home
• transitional verse: 5:21-“submitting”
• Because God designs marriage to reflect the relationship between Christ and the Church, fulfill your assigned role by the power of the Holy Spirit.

II. Wives (22-24)

• submission does not imply inferiority
• basis of authority
• differing God-appointed roles
• submission: the humble recognition of the divine ordering of society
• two reasons for submission: creation and redemption (1 Tim. 2:11-15; 1 Cor. 11:8)
• creation and redemption-not culture

III. Husbands (25-33)

• authority does not mean tyranny
• scope of authority
• love your wives (agapao)
• two analogies

♦ as Christ loves the church
♦ as husbands love their own bodies (1Pet. 3:7)

• Christ’s bride and body (Gen. 2:24)
• five verbs showing Christ’s care: loved, gave, sanctify, cleansed, present
• biblical marriage: a “window” through which the world may look to observe the way Christ loves the church and the way the church submits to Christ.
• the profound mystery: Christ/church and husband/wife connection

IV. So What?

• “How many of us have realized that we are always to think of the married state in terms of the atonement? Is that our customary way of thinking about marriage? Where do we find what the books have to say about marriage? Under which section? Under ethics. But it does not belong there. We must consider marriage in terms of the doctrine of atonement.” (Jones, Life in the Spirit, p. 148.)
• Am I prepared…?
• Do I love…?

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?