Biblical Preaching Quotes

“Be clear! Be clear! Be clear!” Clarity does not come easily. When we train to be expositors, we probably spend three or four years in seminary. While that training prepares us to be theologians, it sometimes gets in our way as communicators. Theological jargon, abstract thinking, or scholars’ questions become part of the intellectual baggage that hinders preachers from speaking clearly to ordinary men and women.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“people need to be reminded as much as they need to be informed.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“The purpose behind each individual sermon is to secure some moral action. We need to know what that action is.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“There is something else to remember: each point should be a declarative sentence, not a question. Questions do not show relationships because they are not ideas. The points in your outline should answer questions, not raise them.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“Restatement is like marching in place. It does not have forward movement, but it is part of the parade. It is saying the same thing in different words.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“The purpose behind all doctrine is to secure moral action.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“Christians are Christ’s body, the organism through which He works. Every addition to that body enables Him to do more. If you want to help those outside, you must add your own little cell to the body of Christ who alone can help them.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“I have a conviction that no sermon is ready for preaching, not ready for writing out, until we can express its theme in a short, pregnant sentence as clear as a crystal.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“Every sermon should have a theme, and that theme should be the theme of the portion of Scripture on which it is based.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“First, what is the vision of God in this particular text? Second, where precisely do I find that in the passage? (The vision of God is always in the specific words and the life situation of the writer or the readers.) Third, what is the function of this vision of God? What implications for belief or behavior did the author draw from the image?”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“While it takes three years or more to get through seminary, it can take you ten years to get over it.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“Thinking is difficult, but it stands as our essential work. Make no mistake about the difficulty of the task. It is often slow, discouraging, overwhelming. But when God calls us to preach, he calls us to love him with our minds. God deserves that kind of love and so do the people to whom we minister.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“Bad ideas offer explanations of experience that do not reflect reality. They read into life what is not there. Often we embrace invalid ideas because they have not been clearly stated and therefore cannot be evaluated. In our culture, influenced as it is by mass media, we are bombarded by ridiculous concepts that are deliberately left vague so we will act without thinking.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“An effective introduction should accomplish three objectives. It gets attention, it surfaces a need, and it orients the audience to the body of the sermon. I tried to do that. (You can judge whether I was successful.)”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“If you start into a sentence without pinning down what you want to emphasize, you may end up stressing insignificant details. If you add too many dependent clauses, you complicate your sentences, and that makes them harder to understand and remember. Generally, style will be clearer if you package one thought in one sentence. For two thoughts use two sentences. Arthur Schopenhauer scolded the Germans, “If . . . it is an impertinent thing to interrupt another person when he is speaking, it is no less impertinent to interrupt oneself.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“In your sermon manuscript short sentences keep your thoughts from tangling and therefore are easier for you to remember. When you deliver your sermon, you will not concern yourself at all with sentence length, just as you do not think about commas, periods, or exclamation points. As you preach, your words tumble out in long, short, or even broken sentences, punctuated by pauses, vocal slides, and variations in pitch, rate, and force. Short sentences in your manuscript serve your mind; they have little to do with your delivery.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“Poorly prepared conclusions that wander about looking for an exit line leave a congregation looking toward the exit.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“More thought is demanded but more accomplished if we set them up: “Written boldly into the Bible is this phrase . . .” “Paul felt keenly that . . .” “This is what Charles Dickens was trying to tell us when he observed . . .” “You can see the significance of those words embedded in verse 10 . . .”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“Is there someone with whom you have a broken relationship? A spouse, a parent, a friend? As a follower of Jesus Christ, you need to take the first step today to make it right. Is there a letter you should write? Is there a phone call you should make? Is there a visit you should make or a conversation you should have? Then will you ask God for the courage to make that contact and take that step to get that matter settled?” “Your job is the will of God for you. Tomorrow when you go to your work, take out a Post-it note and write ‘God has put me here to serve him today’ and then place it on your desk or in your locker—someplace where you can see it easily. Whenever you look at that note, breathe a prayer, ‘Lord, I’m working this job for you. Help me to do it to please you.’ In that way you can remember the workday to keep it holy.” You may change the conclusion later in your preparation, but you have determined where you purpose to go. You concentrate your thought with greater efficiency if when you begin, you know what you intend to accomplish.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“An essay looks at ideas, but a sermon looks at people.”2 A purpose differs from the sermon idea, therefore, in the same way that a target differs from the arrow; as taking a trip differs from studying a map; as baking a pie differs from reading a recipe. Whereas the idea states the truth, the purpose defines what that truth should accomplish. Henry Ward Beecher appreciated the importance of purpose when he declared: “A sermon is not like a Chinese firecracker to be fired off for the noise it makes. It is a hunter’s gun, and at every discharge he should look to see his game fall.” That presupposes, of course, that the hunter knows what he is hunting.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“State the idea so that it focuses on response. How do you want your listeners to respond? Instead of “You can rejoice in trials because they lead to maturity,” try “Rejoice when hard times come.” If you know what your listeners should do, tell them. State the idea so that your listeners sense you are talking to them about them.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“Is this true? Do I really believe it?” What needs to be proved? Is the author arguing, proving, or defending at length some concept that your hearers would probably accept—for example, that Jesus was human, or that Christians don’t have to be circumcised? Is the author arguing, proving, or defending a concept that your listeners may not readily accept, and therefore they need to understand the argument of the passage—for instance, that slaves were to be obedient to their masters? Is the author assuming the validity of an idea that your listeners may not accept right away? Do they need to be convinced that what the passage asserts is actually the case—for instance, that Jesus is the only way to God, or that demons actually exist?”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“So what? What difference does it make?” How should this concept be applied? Is the biblical writer applying his idea? Where does he develop it? Exhortations in the Scriptures grow out of the context. Some sermons resemble cut flowers: the admonition of the author is cut off from the truth that produced it. The imperatives are always connected to the indicative. The effect should be traced to its cause. Is the author presenting an idea that he doesn’t apply directly but will apply later in his letter? Where does he do that? How do you apply this truth to your listeners now? Does the biblical writer assume that the reader will see the application of an assertion? The writers of the Gospels often assume that the readers will see the implication of a parable or a miracle. In narrative literature especially, ask yourself, “Why did the author include this incident?”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“What does this mean?” What has to be explained so that my listeners will understand the passage? Does the biblical writer explain his statements or define his terms? Does he assume that the original readers understood him and needed no explanation? Are there concepts, terms, or connections that modern listeners might not understand that you need to explain to them?”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“To apply a passage, therefore, you need to see what your passage reveals about God and the way people responded and lived before God. Look for those same factors in contemporary life. How does the condition of people today reflect the sins, fears, hopes, frustrations, anxieties, and confusion of women and men centuries ago? What vision of God do they need? How do they respond or not respond to that vision? In this way, you can move with integrity from the biblical text to the modern situation.16”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“Merely to ask, “Is that true? Do I and my hearers believe that?” does not produce instant answers. But failing to contend with those basic questions means we will speak only to those who are already committed.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“Here is another thing that used to puzzle me. Is it not frightfully unfair that this new life should be confined to people who have heard of Christ and been able to believe in Him? But the truth is God has not told us what His arrangements about the other people are. We do know that no man can be saved except through Christ; we do not know that only those who know about Him can be saved through Him. But in the meantime, if you worried about the people outside, the most unreasonable thing you can do is to remain outside yourself. Christians are Christ’s body, the organism through which He works. Every addition to that body enables Him to do more. If you want to help those outside, you must add your own little cell to the body of Christ who alone can help them. Cutting off a man’s fingers would be an odd way of getting him to do more work.5”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“A series of different questions must be raised when trying to understand a story. A sampling of those questions might be the following: Who are the characters in the story and why did the author include them? Do the characters contrast with one another? How do these characters develop as the story develops? What does the setting contribute to the story? What structure holds the story together and provides its unity? How do the individual episodes fit into the total framework? What conflicts develop and how are they resolved? Why did the writer bother telling the story? What ideas lie behind the story that may be implied but not stated? Can those ideas be stated through a subject and complement?”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“Remember that you’re looking for the author’s ideas. Begin by stating in rough fashion what you think the writer is talking about—that is, his subject. Then try to determine what major assertion(s) the biblical writer is making about the subject, that is, the complement(s). If you cannot state a subject at this point, what is hindering you from doing so? Is there a verse that doesn’t seem to fit? Is the writer assuming a connection between his assertions that you need to state? Is it that you can’t figure out how this paragraph relates to what precedes or follows it? Is there an image the author uses that you don’t understand?”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“Expository preaching is the communication of a biblical concept, derived from and transmitted through a historical, grammatical, and literary study of a passage in its context, which the Holy Spirit first applies to the personality and experience of the preacher, then through the preacher, applies to the hearers.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages