The View from Heaven

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Speaker: Dave Royes
Scripture: Exodus 32:7-14

Sermon Notes

And the LORD said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.  They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them.  They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’“  And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people.  Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.”  But Moses implored the LORD his God and said, “O LORD, why does your wearh burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?  Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’?  Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people.  Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’“  And the LORD relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing to his people.

 Outline:

1. Introduction

       A. A post-salvation people with idolatrous hearts

       B. Hearing from the Person in charge

       C. God despises false worship yet raises up a mediator

2. God’s wrath stirred up

       A. A stiff-necked people quick to turn aside

       B. Beware of acting on intuition, while being passive to revelation

       C. God declares His wrath to get Moses to pray on the people’s behalf

3. God’s man raised up

       A. He exhibits God’s character

       B. He appeals to God’s glory

       C. He pleads God’s covenant

4. God’s forbearance lifted up

       A. God’s relenting is not an injustice

       B. The wrath-bearing sacrifice for those who believe

Make us gods!

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Speaker: Dave Royes
Scripture: Exodus 32:1-6

Sermon Notes

“These things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction.” - 1 Corinthians 10:11a

1. The Heartbeat of Idolatry

2. The Heartbreak of Idolatry

3. Take Heart against Idolatry

When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, 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 Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.”  So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.  And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf.  And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”  When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it.  And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.”  And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings.  And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.

Outline:

1. Introduction

       A. Every picture tells a story

       B. The sobering picture portrayed in Exodus 32

       C. The main idea

2. The heartbeat of idolatry

3. The heartbreak of idolatry

       A. It is with the gifts of God

       B. It is in the name of God

       C. It distorts the image of God

4. Take heart against idolatry

       A. God is faithful

       B. God came down

A Morning Meditation (in the midst of misery)

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Speaker: Dave Royes
Scripture: Psalm 3

Sermon Notes

2 Samuel 12: “Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own. This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you.’“

1. The Lament of Troubles Rising (vs. 1-2)

2. The Cry of the Psalmist Resting (vs. 3-6)

3. The Petition of the LORD Reigning (vs. 7-8)

• The crime: 2 Samuel 11

• The verdict: 2 Samuel 12:1-15

• The insurrection: 2 Samuel 15:13-23

Oh Lord, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me; many are saying of my soul, “There is no salvation for him in God.” But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hill. I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around. Arise, O Lord! Save me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked. Salvation belongs to the Lord; your blessing be on your people!

Outline:

1. Introduction

A. The “front door”

B. The structure

C. The main idea

2. The lament of troubles rising

A. The context

B. A prayer out of pain upon pain

C. Troubles can take the form of false narratives

3. The cry of the psalmist resting

A. God’s sovereign protection

B. God’s eternal significance

C. God’s attentive care

4. The petition to the Lord reigning

A. King David’s son problem

B. King David’s sin problem

C. King David’s Divine Descendant

D. Two questions

God Restores Job

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: Job 42:1-17

Sermon Notes

“Then Job replied to the LORD, “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”

After the LORD had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has. So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken the truth to me as your servant Job has.” So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite did what the LORD told them; and the LORD accepted Job’s prayer.

After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before. All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the LORD had brought on him, and each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring. The LORD blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. And he also had seven sons and three daughters. The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful and Job’s daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers. After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. And so Job died, an old man and full of years.”

Outline:

1. God will publicly forgive the sins and highlight the faithfulness of His devoted, suffering servants

A. How Job spoke rightly when trials first came

B. How Job spoke rightly during months of suffering and debates with friends

C. How Job spoke rightly after God appeared

D. Result: God forgave Job

E. An aside: What enabled Job to change so radically?

2. God did and will publicly oppose any who have wronged His devoted, suffering servants

A. God chastises Eliphaz and company

B. God requires of them a burnt-offering sacrifice

C. God has Job be their mediator

3. God did and will publicly shower his devoted, suffering servants with everything good

A. Restored his relationships

B. Replenished his finances

C. Replenished (in particular) his family

D. Gave him a very long life

4. Who is the Book of Job about?

A. God

B. Job

C. Jesus

D. Christians

5. Final words and Benediction: “He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.” — 1 Corinthians 1: 8-9

Behemoth and Leviathan: God Answers Job a Second Time

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: Job 40:6 - 42:6

Sermon Notes

Outline:

1. After God’s first reply to Job

A. God’s not done because Job hasn’t repented yet

B. God’s not done because Job is questioning God’s fairness

C. God invites Job to assume kingship over the universe

2. Behemoth, the super-beast

A. His identity

B. His strength

C. Yet God tames this fearsome beast

3. Leviathan, the twisting creature

A. Importance of Leviathan

B. Description

C. His identity

D. How ancients spoke of him

E. How the Bible speaks of him

4. Putting it all together

A. Creation

B. Rebellion

C. Sovereignty

5. How it ended

6. Applications

A. God knows what He’s doing

B. The Bible says more about evil than in the Book of Job

God Answers Job a First Time

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: Job 38-40:5

Sermon Notes

Outline:

1. Intro

2. God points to the inanimate universe

A. The earth itself

B. The sea

C. The dawn

D. Beneath the earth

E. Light and darkness

F. Precipitation

3. God points to the animal kingdom

A. Lions and ravens

B. Mountain goats

C. Auroch

D. Ostrich

E. War horse

F. Eagle and hawk

4. Job’s response

Truly God is Good

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Speaker: Dave Royes
Scripture: Psalm 73

Sermon Notes

Outline:

1. Psalm 73

A. Theme

B. Structure

C. Main idea

2. The slippery slope of jealousy

A. Observing prosperity can bring the feeling of vanity

3. The wise way of discernment

A. Prioritizing gathering

B. Discerning the ending

C. Instructing our longing

4. The real refuge of God’s nearness

Celebrating God's Faithfulness

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Speaker: Dave Royes
Scripture: Leviticus 23:33-44

Sermon Notes

Main Point: Holy people practice deliberate rejoicing

1. The fruit being recognized
   A. A safeguard against the sin of presumption
   B. A safeguard against the sin of self-sufficiency
   *Reflection: What fruit has grown up among us by God’s kindness to us?

2. The truths passed on
   A. God is mighty to save
   B. God graciously sustains
   C. God is passionate about His glory
   *Reflection: What sort of things should we appropriately remember to pass on?

3. The sacrifice in worship
   ”This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” — Luke 22, 1 Corinthians 11

Always Through Faith

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Speaker: David Royes
Scripture: Romans 4:1-12

Sermon Notes

What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wages are counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” (Psalm 32:1-2)

Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

Paul’s teaching style is to anticipate the Q+A; for example, “What about Abraham?”

The Old Testament does not offer a different means of salvation; the entire Bible offers one single means of salvation: By grace through faith in Christ.

Paul looks at Abraham as a test case: “If Abraham was justified by works, then you could expect boasting and entitlement. This is problematic because God is indebted to nobody.”

Abraham was justified by trusting God, who owns everything. Abraham’s faith was counted as righteousness.