The preacher recognizes that apart from Christ he can do nothing (John 15:5), and so he is a man of prayer, both as a part of his daily walk with the Lord (1 Thess. 5:17) and in particular as he prepares his soul and mind to preach. He prays as he studies (Ps. 119:18), he prays throughout the week leading up to his preaching, he prays the night before he preaches, he prays the morning he is scheduled to preach, and he prays as he walks up to preach. He is utterly dependent upon the Lord to provide the wisdom, the grace, and the strength to deliver God’s Word that day.

In the last chapter of Scripture he would ever write, the apostle Paul left one of his pastoral protégés, Timothy, with these words: “I solemnly 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; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction” (2 Tim. 4:1–2). With these words to Timothy as a foundation, what follows are ten essential commitments that every preacher ought to have as he prepares to faithfully preach the timeless and sufficient Word of God.

1. Preaching must be biblically-centered and biblically-grounded.

A preacher does not stand in the pulpit to make his point, to ride his hobby horse, or to showcase his oratorical skills. Instead, he is a mouthpiece for God, heralding His perfect Word to the flock before him. His commitment to proclaiming the truth of God’s Word is rooted in his commitment to the inerrancy, infallibility, clarity, and sufficiency of Scripture (“The sum of Your word is truth”, Ps. 119:160; “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”, Matt. 4:4 quoting Deut. 8:3; “For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction. . . .”, Rom. 15:4; and “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work”, 2 Tim. 3:16–17). Charles Simeon had it right when he said: “My endeavor is to bring out of Scripture what is there, and not to thrust in what I think might be there. I have a great jealousy on this head; never to speak more or less than I believe to be the mind of the Spirit in the passage I am expounding.”[1]

2. Preaching must be God-exalting.

Preaching is not about the man who lays the Bible atop the pulpit. Preaching is about the God whom that man is charged to proclaim. Preaching should leave its listeners in awe of the holy, majestic, regal, omnipotent, omniscient, unchanging, just, wrathful, patient, compassionate, and loving God revealed in Scripture.

The preacher should endeavor to bring glory to God by showcasing God and His greatness in his sermons, whether the sermon is based on a text that is explicitly about the greatness of God (Ps. 145:3; Rom. 11:33), or if it comes from a book that does not mention the name of God (Esther), that raises questions of God and His purposes (Job, Ecclesiastes), or that contains instructions on how Christians are to live in a world that is increasingly hostile to God (the Epistles).

3. Preaching must be Christward.

While we reject hyper-typological and allegorical methods which might find Jesus, say, in the sword Ehud thrust into Eglon’s belly (Judg. 3:21–22), we nevertheless take heed of Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 2:2: “For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” While we would not go as far as Charles Spurgeon in saying, “I take my text and make a beeline to the cross,” those who preach should, at some point in a sermon, focus the saints’ gaze on the glorious Son of God.

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