Multiplied Grace For Elect Exiles
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Speaker: Dave Royes
Scripture: 1 Peter 1:1-2
September 7, 2025
1 Peter 1:1-2: Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
Sermon Outline
Main point: When sorrow is added, God's grace multiplies.
1. Introduction
"Christianity is like tea"
What it's like this side of Glory
2. An unlikely shepherd
A man who needs no introduction
A man least expected to write these words
A man who experienced firsthand the grace of God
3. A foundational identity
Elect exiles
Status and sorrow
4. A sovereign plan
Known by a loving Father
Claimed by his indwelling Spirit
Cleansed to be like the Son
5. An agenda-setting prayer
1 Peter 5:12: By Sylvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it.
"Peter's brief greeting, 'Grace and peace be yours in abundance,' gives in miniature the whole message of his letter. He writes to those who already feel the scorn and malice of an unbelieving world. Writing from Rome under the emperor Nero, Peter knows that they will experience much worse. Can he really pronounce peace in abundance to those who are only beginning to discover the suffering to which Christians are called? Peter writes for that very purpose.
Once he had fought to defend the shalom (peace) of the Messiah. Under the olive trees of Gethsemane, he drew his sword to resist those who came to arrest Jesus. But Jesus had made him sheath his weapon after one misdirected stroke. Peter wanted to fight because he feared that the death of Jesus would end all hope of victory, all hope of the Messiah's peace. But the death of Jesus had done the opposite. It had accomplished the salvation of God's Anointed.
Now Peter, the apostle of the risen Lord, can pronounce peace; the peace that comes, not by the sword, but by the cross." -- Edmund P. Clowney, The Message of 1 Peter (2021)
