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“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word” (2 Tim 4:1-2). 

Expository preaching may sound like an evangelical buzzword, but once a Christian knows what it is, he or she usually grows more and more committed to it. That goes for both preachers and listeners. 

Mark Dever once defined expository preaching like this: “the point of the text is the point of the sermon” (personal notes from an in-person seminar). While much more elaborate definitions exist, I think Dever’s gets right at it. The text of Scripture is in the driver’s seat. The text of Scripture has an objective meaning. A point. A big idea. A timeless truth. An authoritative argument. And the preacher must rightly grasp that point and communicate it to be understood and embraced by his listeners. 

A well-studied and prepared preacher has spent hours steeping in the text. The text is the tea bag, and we preachers are the hot water – leaching its truth bit-by-bit, little-by-little, until we’re colored by it and saturated in its truth. We must know what God meant by what He said! We live by every word that proceeds from God’s mouth. A preacher has no confidence except when he can say with a clear conscience, “Thus says the Lord.”  

The text of Scripture also shapes the form of the sermon. Our preaching outlines ought to be easily followed by listeners as they work with us through our text / passage. We don’t want listeners wondering where in the world we derived our main point and sub-points from. Again, in expository preaching, the text has the authority. It’s running the show. Changing our own hearts by the Spirit’s grace, and, Lord willing, changing the hearts of listeners too. 

If you wonder why all the emphasis upon a Bible passage or text, see my first entry in this blog series, titled “Why Do We Begin our Worship by Standing and Holding Our Bibles Over our Heads?” 

Most expository preaching progresses verse-by-verse, passage-by-passage through books of the Bible. While an occasional sermon might break this stride, this is our bread and butter. And even if we do break stride, the sermon itself will still be an exposition of a text. At CBC, our pastors are doggedly committed to this model of preaching and teaching the Bible. If one wonders why, we typically answer, “Because that’s how God gave us His Word – verse-by-verse, passage-by-passage, book-by-book.” 

This method is commended and modeled in the Scripture itself (Neh 8; Jesus’ ministry; Acts 2). But it is not my intent here to go into a detailed defense of it or a lengthy demonstration of it. Rather, I simply want to remind us of some benefits of sitting under faithful Bible exposition for many years. Here are a few:

• Your own ability to faithfully interpret various texts of Scripture will improve. As you see and hear the expository method week after week, you will intuitively begin to follow that model in your own Bible reading and study. 
• Your grasp of the importance of context will intensify. As you benefit from the preacher’s study of the grammar, history and literary contexts of his text each week, your own knowledge of these things will grow. You will find yourself asking good contextual questions of a text, which will make you a better Bible learner. 
• Your comprehension of biblical theology will grow, by God’s grace. As you hear how each text fits into the overall thrust or flow of a Bible book, as well as see it in light of the over-arching redemptive storyline of the entire Bible, your love of God’s self-revelation and your appreciation for its cohesion and coherency will surely blossom. 
• Your understanding of the chronology of the Bible will increase, for reasons already stated above. 
• Your fleshly tendency to twist a Scripture to fit your own ideas or preferences will diminish, as you hear faithful preaching that insists on studying a text in its context, and ensuring a systematic approach to theology that embraces the Law of Non-Contradiction. God is always consistent! God does not double-talk! God is true. Scripture must interpret Scripture. Clear texts interpret less clear texts. 
• Your appreciation and adoration of Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of all God’s promises will flourish. Every text stands in a relation to Jesus (John 5:39). Expository preaching is unapologetically Christ-centered and God-exalting (Luke 24:44-49; Acts 8:35; Col 1:28). 
• Your preachers will not be able to avoid difficult doctrines or less clear passages. And neither will you! A commitment to preach and to listen to exposition through books of the Bible will inevitably force us to wrestle with the whole counsel of God. 
• Theological pet peeves or hobby horses cannot become your preacher’s obsession! He must preach the text before him faithfully. A myriad of themes and topics will arise, making everyone more well-rounded and balanced in our Christian living. 
• Your trust in the Holy Spirit’s power and providence to feed the church what she needs will flower. It is uncanny how often a church comes to a text as a pastor preaches passage-by-passage through a Book, and the text addresses a “felt need” or a present situation or difficulty with precision. And, this makes it very difficult for church members to say a preacher is picking on them as individuals! 
• If the Lord graces you with the tenacity and forbearance to remain under the preaching of the same pastor for many years, if not decades, you will see the man of God’s progress, and get to grow in Christ with him (1 Tim 4:11-16). This is a sweet grace that is almost too good to explain in words. The Word preached, heard, and lived, however imperfectly, binds shepherds and sheep together in a unity of gospel purpose (Ps 133). 

Of course, nothing a pastor or teacher does in the church has any lasting affect apart from the blessing of the Holy Spirit, who convicts of sin and illuminates minds to the truth revealed in the Word (1 Cor 2). But we also know the Spirit works in and through the Word-written down to exalt the Word-made-flesh (John 14-17). 

So, we preach the Word. Verse-by-verse. Passage-by-passage. Book-by-Book. Praying in dependance upon the Spirit. And proclaiming the gospel which is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes (Rom 1:16-17; 1 Cor 1:18).  

by Keith McWhorter