Beautiful Conduct and the Glory of God (Part 2)

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Speaker: Dave Royes
Scripture: 1 Peter 2:18-25
December 7, 2025

1 Peter 2:18-25: Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Sermon Outline

1. The gaze of God

2. The footsteps of Christ

3. The reversal of curse

1 Peter 2:12: Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

Beautiful Conduct and the Glory of God (Part 1)

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Speaker: Dave Royes
Scripture: 1 Peter 2:13-17
November 30, 2025

1 Peter 2:13-17: Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme,  or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

Sermon Outline

1. A Distinct Attitude

• For God’s glory, we defer rather than complain

• For God’s glory, we trust his providence

2. A Divine Agenda

• To change foolish narratives

• To demonstrate true freedom

3. Reordered Affections

Favor and Fervor

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Speaker: Dave Royes
Scripture: 1 Peter 2:10-12
November 23, 2025

1 Peter 2:10-12: Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

Main point: Life’s fervor depends on heaven's favor

Sermon Outline

1. Introduction

• Christians aren’t designed to blend into the culture

• A book of hope to people in exile

• Main point

2. An insightful greeting

• A turning point in the text

• A greeting inspired by Hosea

• God doesn't love you for anything in you, but for reasons in Himself

3. An ongoing war

• A war that is within

• Soul-destroying desires

4. A watching world

• You will be mislabeled

• Our conduct is paramount

5. A coming day

• Two main views on “visitation”

• How are you doing behind closed doors in the war against the flesh?

Hosea 1:6-9: She (Hosea’s wife Gomer) conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, “Call her name No Mercy*, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”

When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People**, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”

Hosea 2:23: And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, “You are my people;” and he shall say, “You are my God.”

*Lo-ruhama (she has not received mercy)
**Lo-ammi (not my people)

As You Come To Him

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Speaker: Dave Royes
Scripture: 1 Peter 2:4-9
November 16, 2025

1 Peter 2:4-9: As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture:

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,

“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”
and
“A stone of stumbling
and a rock of offense.”

They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Main point: Endurance occurs when we stand together

Sermon Outline

1. Introduction

• Who Christians are together

• Main point

2. A spiritual house

• Christians gather in the presence of God

• Christians gather for right worship of God

3. An eternal decree

• Jesus is the foundation of the house

• Jesus is the architect of the house

4. A treasured people

• A people God delights in

• So that you may proclaim

Daniel 2: 31-34, 44: You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness stood before you, and its appearance was frightening. The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces.

And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed. Nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever.

Exodus 19:5-6a: If you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

Wise Speech and the Power of God

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Speaker: Dave Royes
Scripture: Proverbs 18:13
November 9, 2025

Proverbs 18:13: If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame.

Sermon Outline

1. The priority of hearing

2. A temptation when speaking

3. A window into the heart

4. The wisdom of our God

1 Corinthians 1:18: For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

The Fruit of Love and Longing

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Speaker: Dave Royes
Scripture: 1 Peter 1:22-23
November 2, 2025

1 Peter 1:22-23: Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;

Sermon Outline

1. An earnest call to the fruit of love

2. A brief reflection on implanted truth

3. A healthy appetite in spiritual longings

Striving by Grace

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Speaker: Dr. Stephen Nichols
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, 15:9-11
October 26, 2025

Jacob’s Encounter With God

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Speaker: Richard Goswiller
Scripture: Genesis 32:22-32
October 19, 2025

Genesis 32:22-32: The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip on the sinew of the thigh.

Sermon Outline

1. The background to this story

• A fleeing trickster

• A returning patriarch

• A fearful wrestler

2. The Lord prepares Jacob

• Protective division

• Providential seclusion

3. The Lord wrestles Jacob

• Who is this man?

• What is the meaning of this?

4. The Lord blesses Jacob

• Why the name change?

• Why the crippling?

5. How should we seek to apply this?

• The way of divine blessing

• The duration of divine blessing

Hosea 12:3-5: In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he strove with God. He strove with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought his favor. He me God at Bethel, and there, God spoke with us — the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord is his memorial name.

“Jacob obtains what he had sought from this encounter, as he sees God face to face and receives God’s blessing. Yet in this instance meeting with God leads not to peace and healing for Jacob but rather to an enduring, painful crippling of his hip. Jacob will forever bear in his body the marks of this excruciating yet grace-filled encounter, in which to survive and to cling to the Lord was to triumph.”
— Iain Duguid, Living in the Grip of Relentless Grace (2002)

Hope and Holiness

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Speaker: Dave Royes
Scripture: Peter 1:13-21
October 12, 2025

Peter 1:13-21: Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

Sermon Outline

1. The call to a fixed hope

2. The display of family holiness

3. The beauty of a foreknown savior

Salvation’s Past

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Speaker: Dave Royes
Scripture: 1 Peter 1:10-12
October 5, 2025

1 Peter 1:10-12: Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time[a] the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

Main point: Seeing the transmission of God's grace helps us to treasure God’s grace.

Sermon Outline
1. Introduction

• Dinner and a tour

• A glimpse to help us savor the gospel

• The main point

2. The work of prophets

• Who does Peter have in mind?

• The prophets' diligent interest

3. The message of preachers

• They unfolded the scriptures

• They heralded the good news

• They were energized by the Holy Spirit

4. The longing of angels

Salvation’s Present

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Speaker: Dave Royes
Scripture: 1 Peter 1:6-9
September 28, 2025

1 Peter 1:6-9: In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith — more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire — may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Sermon Outline

1. Grief in the hand of God

2. Faith in the furnace of fire

3. Joy in the absence of sight

Salvation’s Future

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Speaker: Dave Royes
Scripture: 1 Peter 1:3-5
September 21, 2025

1 Peter 1:3-5: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Main point: What God has caused, God will guard

Sermon Outline

1. Introduction

• Homesickness and anticipation

• The foundational main idea

2. What God has caused

• A new birth

• A living hope

3. What God guards

• An inheritance

• A salvation

Such a Great Salvation

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Speaker: Dave Royes
Scripture: 1 Peter 1:3-12
September 14, 2025

1 Peter 1:3-12: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith — more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire — may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look

Sermon Outline

1. A salvation ahead

2. A salvation being worked out

• Our trails are various

• Our time is short

• Our faith is tested

• Our reward is being worked out

3. A salvation long anticipated

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.

Main point: When sorrow is added, God's grace multiplies.

Sermon Outline

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)

The Wonderful Works of God

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Speaker: Tyler Estes
Scripture: Psalm 95
August 31, 2025

Psalm 95: Oh come, let us sing to the Lord;
    let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
    let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
For the Lord is a great God,
    and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are the depths of the earth;
    the heights of the mountains are his also.
The sea is his, for he made it,
    and his hands formed the dry land.

Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
    let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
For he is our God,
    and we are the people of his pasture,
    and the sheep of his hand.
Today, if you hear his voice,
     do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
    as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
when your fathers put me to the test
    and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
For forty years I loathed that generation
    and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart,
    and they have not known my ways.”
Therefore I swore in my wrath,
    “They shall not enter my rest.”

Sermon Outline

1. An invitation to worship

• A corporate invitation

• A kingly invitation

• A pastoral invitation

2. A warning against hard hearts: seeing the hand of God

• In his works of creation and providence

• In his work of salvation

• In the work of the church

“On my way, the thunder and lightning were renewed; but there being no rain, I kept on, and, blessed be God's good providence, arrived safe at the vicarage. The Lord preserved me from a slavish fear; but I felt a very desirable awe on my mind, even such as I would always wish to feel, on such a commanding occasion. I conversed much with God in mental prayer, and desire to bless his name, that the awful manifestations of his power were not commissioned either to hurt or destroy. I have heard much louder thunder; but never, I believe, saw such prodigious lightning; unless my being more exposed to it, than I ever was before, makes me think so.

Thou, O Lord, commandest the waters; it is the glorious God who maketh the thunder: and (adored be the riches of thy mercy) it was Thou who didst bid the lightnings alarm, but prohibit them to strike. O take me, and seal me thine for ever!” — Augustus Montague Toplady, Memoirs (1825)

Perhaps I Can Make Atonement

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Speaker: Dave Royes
Scripture: Exodus 32:30-35
August 24, 2025

Exodus 32:30-35: The next day Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” So Moses returned to the LORD and said, “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold. But now, if you will forgive their sin — but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.” But the LORD said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book. But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them.”

Then the LORD sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made.

1 Peter 3:18: For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.

Sermon Outline

1. Introduction

• A treasured possession

• What if I’ve been living for myself?

• The confidence of a Christian

2. A lingering stain

• A debt has been incurred

• A relationship is broken

3. A determined mediator

• Moses pleads with God on Israel’s behalf

• Moses is grieved over sin not his own

• Moses appeals at the cost of his life

• Moses is insufficient to reconcile

4. A future visit

• A day of reckoning

• A day of atonement

Who is on the Lord’s Side?

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Speaker: Dave Royes
Scripture: Exodus 32:25-29
August 17, 2025

Exodus 32:25-29: And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break loose, to the derision of their enemies), then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the Lord’s side? Come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.’” And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell. And Moses said, “Today you have been ordained for the service of the Lord, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day.”

1 Thessalonians 4: For this is the will of God... that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness... that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things...

Sermon Outline

1. Introduction

• Failure to heed urgent warnings

• The urgent call to us

• The main idea

2. A shocking sight

• A people out of control

• The derision of their enemies

• What Moses saw

3. A gracious call

• A gracious call from the place of judgement

• “Who do you belong to?”

4. A particular judgement

• A call to Levites to punish the unrepentant

• God sometimes uproots to preserve

• Some sins are more heinous than others

5. A blessed result

Aaron’s Reply

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Speaker: Dave Royes
Scripture: Exodus 32:21-24
August 10, 2025

Exodus 32:21-24: And Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?” And Aaron said, “Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. For they said to me, ‘Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ So I said to them, ‘Let any who have gold take it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”

Sermon Outline

1. Introduction

2. A sobering question

• There is a representative responsibility in God-given leadership

• There was a great sin in the camp because there was a subtle sin at the top

• What of people in a leadership role today?

3. An evasive reply

• Aaron takes refuge in three “disguises”

• First disguise: “My sin is reasonable”

• Second disguise: “Their sin is greater”

• Third disguise: “Circumstances caused it”

• Our pathetic disguises

4. An enduring word

• What becomes of Aaron?

• Jesus, our great High Priest

Living Sacrifices

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Speaker: Matt Carter
Scripture: Romans 12:1-2
August 3, 2025

Romans 12:1-2: I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Sermon Outline

1. The call to offer ourselves to God as living sacrifices finds its motivational force in the mercies of God.

   • If the mercy God has shown you isn’t motivating you in the direction of offering yourself as a sacrifice, it’s likely that you’ve:

     • Been viewing your own sin as a small thing.

     • Lost sight of God’s holiness.

     • Or failed to recognize how much it cost God to pay for your sin.

2. Though on the outside, the concept of a living sacrifice may seem like a contradiction in terms, Paul has been making sense of it though out the book of Romans:

• Romans 6 and Galatians 2 — We were identified with Christ, both his death and his resurrection though the waters of baptism.

• 1 Peter 1 — We’re owned by him because of the ransom paid.

• Romans 8 — By the power of the Spirit we both put to death and are raised to new life.

3. The offering of our bodies reflects Christ’s sacrifices in two ways but is distinct from his in one very important way.

   • Like Christ, we are the ones offering the sacrifice.

   • Like Christ, we are offering ourselves.

   • Unlike Christ, our offering is in no way an atonement.

     • It is a reasonable act of service in response to the atonement already made — worship.

     • Like Aaron the high priest, we are made holy to the Lord by a sacrifice made on our behalf.

4. If we are offering our bodies (of which our minds are a part) it is a forgone conclusion that our minds will be transformed.

5. A transformed mind can discern God’s perfect will because a transformed mind is the mind of Christ.

Covenant Breaking

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Speaker: Dave Royes
Scripture: Exodus 32:15-20
July 27, 2025

Exodus 32:15-20: Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides; on the front and on the back they were written. The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a noise of war in the camp.” But he said, “It is not the sound of shouting for victory, or the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear.” And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’ anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the people of Israel drink it.

Sermon Outline

1. Intro

• The famous first half and the not-so-famous second half of Exodus

• Acquiring a taste for worshiping God

2. A covenant-making God

• God’s man is coming to God’s people with God’s gift

• God lovingly calls people into an exclusive relationship with him

3. A covenant-breaking people

• Sin as lawlessness

• Sin as spiritual adultery

4. A gracious covenant advocate

• Moses

• Jesus