42 Rules for Preaching a Sermon
1. Preach expositionally, mostly, book by book, text by text, verse by verse.
2. Preach topical exposition, sometimes, where you have a topic that a text explicitly deals with. Preach that topic by expositing that text.
3. Preach topically but systematically, sometimes, where you have a topic that many texts deal with. Preach each Scripture in context.
4. Preach the text, not so you’ll hear “Amen” from the crowd, but from the original human author and God.
5. As you prepare, tremble as a man who will give an account to God, because you will.
6. Prepare so that your hearers leave thinking on God, not you or an illustration you shared.
7. Use tone and voice inflection that fit the text not your hearers’ sensibilities.
8. Aim the content of your sermon at the most mature person in the room while using language that the most immature person in the room can understand.
9. Use illustrations to explain the text, not to entertain the goats.
10. Preach to be forgotten and for the Lord to be remembered.
11. Use facial expressions and movement that fit the text, not your hearers’ sensibilities.
12. If you’re uncertain about a text, preach the most probable interpretations (this should be rare).
13. Preach the text, not theories you’re wrestling with.
14. Warn your hearers of the heretical interpretations of the text from church history and today.
15. Apply the text to your hearers, but the Holy Spirit will do much more application than you if you preach the text.
16. Preach the law from the text. Do not soften it. Preach it as written. Cut the guilty with it.
17. Preach the gospel in line with the text. Do not add it. Those who are cut by the law will run to Jesus for healing, if they submit to the Holy Spirit.
18. Do not allegorize the text unless the text demands it or it can be built upon the text.
19. Use biblical retributive tone, not cultural retributive tone. Your tone should be stronger the more heinous the sin is according to the text, not the culture.
20. Do not let the Pharisees, Sadducees, or Herodians govern what you preach: beware the leaven of the Pharisees (legalism), the Sadducees (theological liberalism), the Herodians (political power). Preach so that the legalists, liberals, and political idolaters tremble. If they tremble today and repent, they won’t tremble for all eternity.
21. Use rhetoric that is easy to remember but say it in a way where you are easy to forget.
22. Preach so that hell is the most unthinkable terror known to man.
23. Preach so that heaven is the most unthinkable joy known to man.
24. Preach so that they know you believe the text. If you don’t believe it, resign.
25. Preach to win them to Jesus not yourself.
26. Magnify the beauty of God.
27. Magnify the beauty of God’s design/creation.
28. Expose the ugliness of sin.
29. Whatever the main points of the text are, make them the main points of your sermon.
30. Show them how your text fits with all the Scripture written before it.
31. Show them how your text fits with all the Scripture written after it.
32. Show them how your text fits in God’s plan of redemption.
33. Include the doctrine of the Trinity often: all things being from the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit. And how their worship and obedience must be by the Spirit through the Son to the Father.
34. Include the incarnation often: God the Son becoming flesh to redeem His church, those who repent and believe. Only the God-Man can reconcile us to God.
35. For illustrations, mostly use Scripture to illustrate Scripture.
36. For illustrations, use contemporary examples sparingly so that your hearers know how to live in this world for Jesus.
37. Use your introduction to draw your hearers to the text.
38. Preach your sermon as a fork in the road: your hearers can either follow Jesus or the devil.
39. Help your hearers see the beauty of God’s word, that He has spoken and is not silent.
40. Preach as long as the text demands, but don’t bite off more than you can preach.
41. Do not add to or take away from God’s word. Your job is to help your hearers see the beauty of God’s word. You are the garnish. Shine headlights from the beginning to end on the text.
42. Use your conclusion to reveal how God demands a response. “Now that you know God’s word, how will you respond to God? If you’re in sin, will you turn from it and live according to what God’s word says? If you’ve believed wrongly, will you submit to God’s word and believe rightly? If you’re an unbeliever, will you repent and believe in Jesus and be saved by His death in your place, and receive His righteousness credited to you through faith?”