POWER IN EXPOSITORY PREACHING
by Faris D. Whitesell
www.fotbc.org
Chapter 6: Power Through ILLUSTRATION 
A sermon is virtually worthless without good illustrations. We live in an increasingly visual-minded generation. If an article in a magazine or newspaper is not accompanied by photographs or drawings, many readers will not notice it, let alone read it. This carries over into preaching. 
Illustrations are the photographs or pictures that go along with abstract ideas. Donald G. Smith claims that illustrations in a sermon may serve any one or more of the following purposes: gain interest, throw light on the subject, clarify the subject, make truth vivid, strengthen argument, bring conviction, aid persuasion, make for lasting impressions, give the sermon splendor, allow for the injection of humor, lend itself to variety, stimulate the imagination of the audience, permit the speaker to speak indirectly, appeal to all classes of people, help to make a good conclusion.1 
Psychology claims that we learn about eighty-five per cent through sight, about ten per cent through hearing, about two per cent through touch, about one and one half per cent through smell, and about one and one half per cent through taste. This would certainly argue strongly for making sermonic material as vivid or picturesque as reasonably possible.
Expository preaching must embody a large amount of explanation and application. These two elements tend to be abstract. Therefore, we need illustrations. On the other hand, the expository sermon will probably not have as much space to give to illustrations as topical and textual sermons do. If expository sermons deal with narrative and action events in the Scriptures, and if the preacher uses his imagination to build up and present his material, the outside illustrations can be very few. But if he is dealing with doctrinal and didactic Biblical matter, he should use more illustrations. 
In our questionnaire survey, ninety-four out of 223 pastors had a major problem finding good illustrations for expository sermons. This may have included most of those who claimed to be expository preachers, for only one hundred out of the 223 said that expository preaching predominated in their preaching programs. Sources of illustrations for the pastors reporting were: 
1. The Bible: 181
2. Experience: 180
3. Observation: 117
4. Newspapers and magazines: 102
5. Conversations: 54
6. Imagination: 53 	7. Biographies: 51
8. Their files: 43
9. Radio and TV: 32
10. Books of illustrations: 20
11. Literature and history: 5	
Let us consider some of these sources and give some examples. The Bible rightly stands first as a contributor of expository sermon illustrations. In the foreword to his book, Evangelistic Illustrations from the Bible, this author wrote in part as follows:
Evangelicals commonly agree that illustrations from the Bible are the best and that we should all use more of them than we do. Biblical illustrations have many advantages over others: they teach the Word; they honor the God of the Bible; they enlist the presence and power of the Holy Spirit; they open the hearts and mind of hearers in unexpected ways; they give the speaker added authority; they never wear out; and they never arouse adverse criticism…. The author does not claim that all illustrations should come from the Bible, or that biblical illustrations are the only good ones…. Out of the total number of illustrations used in a message, perhaps half or more may profitably come from the Scriptures. For greatest effectiveness, Bible illustrations should be thoroughly studied and carefully fitted into the message. The historical imagination ought to be used freely in order to put life and freshness into biblical events.2
Each Biblical illustration can be used to shed light upon a number of truths. For example, take the story of Abraham offering his son Isaac at Mount Moriah, Genesis 22. This event illustrates faith, love, self-sacrifice, obedience, the way of salvation, the mercy of God, and God’s attitude toward human sacrifice.
Personal experience rates almost as high as the Bible as a source of expository sermon illustrations. There can be no doubt the power of personal experience illustrations. The speaker has participated, and his authority can hardly be questioned; he speaks with confidence and vividness. He must be careful not to use too many illustrations of this category in a single sermon or a single series, else he seems a braggart; and he must be watchful of his facts, so that he does not exaggerate and thus lose the confidence of his hearers. Notice how great expositors do it.
Harry A. Ironside had a vast fund of personal experiences and used them freely in his expository preaching. Hardly anyone could match him as a master user of personal experiences. Speaking on I Corinthians 6:11, "And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God," he used this illustration: 
I went into a mission in San Francisco years ago and sat for perhaps half-an-hour listening to marvelous testimonies of redeeming grace. One after another rose and painted a dreadful picture of his past life and then told how God had saved him. I had come to that meeting with a little sermon all made up, but as I sat listening to these testimonies, I said, "O dear, my stupid little sermon! To think I imagined I could go into my study and develop a little discourse that would suit a congregation like this, when I had no idea of the kind of people I was going to address." So I just "canned" my sermon; I put it out of my mind, and when I rose to speak, I took this text: "And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." It was easy to preach to them then without a lot of study. These sermons that you get up are so hard to preach, but those that come down are so much easier. At the close a dignified personage came to me and said,
"Do you know, you got your theology terribly mixed tonight?"
"Did I?" I said. "Straighten me out."
"You put sanctification before justification. You have to be justified and then you get the second blessing."
"Pardon me, but you are mistaken," I said. "I did not put sanctification before justification."
"You most certainly did."
"I most certainly did not; it was the apostle Paul who did."
"Why, you cannot blame your wrong theology on him."
"I was simply quoting Scripture."
"You misquoted it. It reads, ‘Ye are justified, ye are sanctified.’ "
"No, no," I said; "read it."
And he began to read, "But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified," and then he said, 
"Why, there is a misprint there. Wait a minute; I will get a Revised Bible."
He got it and looked at it, and read, "Washed, sanctified, justified."
"Why," he said, "I never saw that before; but all I have got to say is the apostle Paul was not clear on the holiness question when he wrote that!"3 
Let us not hesitate to use personal experience illustrations if they are modest and will do the job better than others. And, let us not feel that we have to beg pardon or apologize for using them. People do not feel embarrassed to use illustrations from personal experience in private conversation. Why should they in public proclamation? 
Illustrations from observation can often be used. These have not been experienced but have been seen in nature or the experience of others. They stand next to personal experiences in effectiveness. J. H. Jowett, commenting on Philippians 1:12 about the furtherance of the gospel, wrote: "Some time ago, I saw a railway embankment on fire, and the mercilessly invading flames were, inch by inch, consuming every blade of grass upon the slope, until a great area was black in unrelieved destruction. Some weeks later I passed by the same place, but instead of the scarred and blackened ruins there was a wide patch of fresh and most winsome green. Where the fire had burnt most fiercely the recreated slope was the most attractive. ‘The things that happened’ unto it, ‘had fallen out rather unto the progress’ of vegetation. ‘God is love,’ and therefore He is ‘a consuming fire.’ "4
Note the choice use of words and the accurate application of this illustration from observation.
While we are thinking of Jowett, let us learn from him that illustrations can be very short. Here are some others from his volume on Philippians:
He (Paul) had a fine eye for the lineaments of grace, and he could discern the sproutings of holy desire, even when they were buried beneath the refuse of sin and long-continued negligence.5
He nourishes the tender sapling into the majestic oak, and the one gracious sunshine is showered upon both.6
We are always optimistic about the people who dwell in our hearts. When they only dwell in the suburbs of our regards we soon lose hope concerning them….7
There is love which is as candle-light; there is love which is as steady starlight; and there is love which is as the glorious splendour of the noonday sun.8
Picnic weather does not reveal the sea-going powers of a liner; these are tested and made manifest by the tempest.9
Our prayers cut channels for the river of God’s gracious Spirit.10
Marcus Dods uses historical imagination well in an illustrative capacity. He is discussing Jesus washing the feet of His disciples: 
Instead of unmasking him (Judas), Jesus makes no difference between him and the others, kneels by his couch, takes his feet in His hands, washes and gently dries them.11
Shame and astonishment shut the mouths of the disciples, and not a sound broke the stillness of the room but the tinkle and splash of the water in the basin as Jesus went from couch to couch. But the silence was broken when He came to Peter.12
Jesus could very well have eaten with men who were unwashed; but He could not eat with men hating one another, glaring fiercely across the table, declining to answer or to pass what they were asked for, showing in every way malice and bitterness of spirit.13 
Every expository sermon should draw illustrations from several sources. In W. B. Riley’s sermon on I Thessalonians 5:1-20, "Preparation for the Second Appearance," he uses twelve brief pages, for seven major illustrations and one minor one. The major illustrations are: W. L. Pettingill—one page; a motorist picking up a hitchhiker—nearly one page; Moses—half a page; the Duke of Wellington—one third of a page; John Bradford—half a page; James Gilmour, half a page; Benjamin Franklin—half a page. The minor illustration is in the conclusion, about Emperor Tiberius, and uses five lines.14
It is often possible to get illustrations from the use of Greek or Hebrew words. A. T. Robertson’s set on Word Pictures in the New Testament gives many examples.
J. D. Jones, speaking of tears of Jesus, John 11:34-35, says: "The verb he used to describe the weeping of Mary is the word klaio, the verb he uses to describe the weeping of Jesus is the verb dakriuo. Now, the difference between the two verbs is something like this: klaio suggests loud and convulsive lamentation, sobbing, and wailing; dakriuo suggests the silent shedding of tears. Mary wailed. But of Jesus, the Evangelist only says that tears fell from him."15
Alexander Maclaren used quite a few very short illustrations, and hardly any long ones. Looking casually through his volume on Luke, chapters 13-24, we notice these: 
…when wealth has flung its golden chains round so many professing Christians.16
Peter shoves his oar in, after his fashion.17
The Cross was flinging its shadow over him. He was bracing himself up for the last struggle.18
He would have trodden down all such flimsy obstacles as a lion "from the thickets of Jordan" crashes through the bulrushes, but this cry stopped Him, "Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me."19
But when blind Bartimaeus cried, Jesus smiled down upon him—though his sightless eyeballs could not see the smile, there would be a smile in the cadence of His words….20
If any poor, blind Bartimaeus remembers that, and asks accordingly, he has the key to the royal treasury in his possession, and he many go in and plunge his hand up to the wrist in jewels and diamonds, and carry away bars of gold, and it will all be his.21 
G. Campbell Morgan seldom used stories and personal experiences for illustrations. He knew how to weigh and balance words and turn his Scripture material into illustrations. In his sermon on "The Unchanging One," Hebrews 13:8, we see these brief illustrations: "We need a center of permanence, not an anchorage. An anchorage means limitation and monotony. An anchorage belongs to a ship and is a hindrance to the ship. The tug of the ship to be away from the shore and out upon the sea is of its very nature and being, and the anchor holds it back. We are not asking for an anchorage."22
"We look to our friends, and the story is tragic. The air is full of farewells to the dying. We look to circumstances, and there is neither anchorage that holds nor freshness that satisfies the soul. Where are we? Great God! Where are we? We must find anchorage in that broader sense of the word somewhere. Where shall we turn?"23
In Morgan’s sermon on "The Madness of Jesus," Mark 3:21, we find these vivid passages: 
If you journey with Him imaginatively through the fields, and the walled-in town, and the country towns, and the great cities, you are impressed with the quiet self-possession of this Man; there seems to be no touch of insanity about Him.24
A sparrow falls and sickens and dies, and has as Comrade in its dying, God. When that man bending to his toil, overwhelmed with it, bearing the burden and heat of the day, wipes from his brow the sweat and dust of toil, and with it some hair of his head, God has numbered that hair!25
The Pope of Rome said the Luther ought to be in bedlam. The men of his own church said Xavier was mad. All England laughed at the unutterable folly of John Wesley. Many people thought William Booth was not quite sane! It has run through the centuries.26 
That little bit of work you did this afternoon does seem rather old-fashioned and out of date; that class of children that fidgeted all the while is just a little behind the times, is it not? A thousand times No! That is building for eternity and hastening the coming of the Kingdom of God. That call you made that no one knows about save you and the sick one, the flowers you took, the word of cheer, the tender approach to a soul that asked how it was between that soul and God; all that is Christly work.27 
But let us not undervalue the foolish, simple, wandering, restless methods; the method that does things as they come and never draws up a program. That is the whole story of the life and ministry of Jesus. He did things as He went, as He passed by, as He went out, as He was by the sea. In the midst of preaching somebody disturbed Him, and He halted His preaching and went after Jairus; and on the way with Jairus a woman touched Him, and He left Jairus on one side to attend to the woman that went on again. He did the next thing that came, because of those eyes the Kingdom was ever present. That touch of the hand, that glance of the eye, and that tone of the voice, all spoke of it and brought its power nearer. He was content to wait, as He still is waiting, till His enemies be made the footstool of His feet.28
Pictorial preaching such as this does not need to be bolstered up by anecdotes, stories and personal experiences. There is such vividness, movement, color, and dramatic power about it that it holds interest and challenges thought without further illustrative material. But Morgan did sometimes use a poem, or a pointed story such as this one: "He received sinners; sat down at the table and ate with them. He was the friend of publicans and sinners. Let me tell you what so eminent a scholar as Dr. Bruce once said about this. Speaking to Mr. Samuel Chadwick, he said, ‘You know, Chadwick, that word "friend" is not good enough; it does not really catch the meaning of the word behind it.’ Mr. Chadwick looked at him and said, ‘What would you put there?’ ‘Well,’ he said, ‘the fact of the matter is, the only word that catches it is the word the boys use—"chum." ‘ He is the chum of publicans and sinners. I tell you who said that as you might object to it if I said it."29
F. B. Meyer created illustrations by the use of his historical imagination. Speaking of Moses’ mother, he paints this picture: 
She was not always on the qui vive for the step of officer or midwife. She would take all ordinary precaution; but she would never give way to excessive fear. Sometimes when her heart grew sick she would betake herself to her knees, and plead the Divine promise on which she had been caused to hope. The whole family lived on that woman’s faith, as men live on bread; and God’s angels bent over the unconscious babe, shielding it with their tenderest care, and whispering their love-words into its ear. Finally, the mother was led by the good Spirit of God to weave the papyrus rushes into a little ark, or boat, coating it with bitumen, to make it impervious to wet. There she put the child with many a kiss, closed the lid upon its sweet face, with her own hands bore it to the water’s edge, and placed it tenderly among the flags that grew there.30
It all befell according to the mother’s faith. The princess, accompanied by a train of maidens, came to the river bank to bathe. She saw the ark among the flags, and sent her maid to fetch it. In the midst of the little group the lid was carefully uplifted; and their eyes were charmed with the sight of the beautiful face, whilst their hearts were touched with the whimper of the babe, who missed its mother, and was frightened by its unwonted surroundings and the many strange faces.31
A beautiful example of building up an event, in its own geographical setting, into a vivid illustration is this one from Meyer concerning Moses and the burning bush, Exodus 3: 
Quite ordinary was that morning as it broke. The sun rose as usual in a dull haze over the expanse of sand, or above the gaunt forms of the mountains, seamed and scarred. As the young day opened, it began to shine in a cloudless sky, casting long shadows over the plains; and presently, climbing to the zenith, threw a searching, scorching light into every aperture of the landscape beneath. The sheep browsed as usual on the scant herbage, or lay panting beneath the shadow of a great rock; but there was nothing in their behaviour to excite the thought that God was nigh. The giant forms of the mountains, the spreading heavens, the awful silence unbroken by the song of bird or hum of insect life, the acacia bushes drooping in the shadeless glare—these things were as they had been for forty years, and as they threatened to be, after Moses had sunk into an obscure and forgotten grave. Then, all suddenly, a common bush began to shine with the emblem of Deity; and from its heart of fire the voice of God broke the silence of the ages in words that fell on the shepherd’s ear like a double-knock: "Moses, Moses."32
On the expository preaching scene today is Harold J. Ockenga. He uses variety in his sermon illustrations, including personal experiences, for which he does not apologize. In his sermon on "The Growth of a Church," based on I Thessalonians 1:2-4, he uses the thesis, "What were the factors in this growth in grace?" This is followed by a simple, alliterative, three-point outline: 
Prayer
Progress
Predestination
We find him using these illustrations: 
The concept of grace was the predominant thought in the ministry of John Henry Jowett. His biographer, Arthur Porritt, says, "To Jowett redeeming grace was the fulcrum of the evangelical message…. In a hundred sermons he proclaimed it. All his wealth of imagery and illustration was lavished upon this theme."33 
I have often felt, as a pastor, that I made a mistake in so abruptly breaking off relationships to my previous church, which I had served for five and one-half years. Under the mistaken notion that I ought to leave the field free for my successor, I refused to have much intercourse with the members and friends of the church by means of mail and personal visit. Had I to do it over again, I would not have pursued that course any more than St. Paul withdrew all interest in the Thessalonian Church when he left that community.34 
From time to time God has privileged me to be used in sending young men into the ministry. Recently a letter came stating the source and strength and comfort which my own evangelical position has been to a young man now in a pulpit of great prominence. I pray God that stability and strength will always be mine so that those who have been led into the ministry because of my own influence will find comfort and courage in it.35 
I count as my personal friends many of the greatest living leaders of the church, who are likewise loyal to the faith of Jesus Christ.36 
Here was a helpless church without teachers, without written Bible, without past experience, and without knowledge. No wonder Paul was concerned about their continuance in the faith. No wonder he prayed for them constantly.37
Several such experiences I too have known under the blessing and grace of God. One was the Mid-Century Evangelistic Campaign when the Lord did so graciously a great work in Massachusetts and in New England. Another was at St. John, New Brunswick, where a whole series of churches could not contain the people who wanted to hear the gospel and where scores and scores accepted Christ in a few days. What God has done once, He can do again.38 
Let past blessings excite faith for future ones. This is the value of keeping a prayer list. As you mark the answers to your previous prayers, you have faith to ask God for greater things to come.39 
Some men of prayer found it essential to pray while they were kneeling, others while they were lying on their faces, but talk to Him they did. I know a man of God who also is well known to you all who usually begins on his knees and before he finishes in prayer will have walked up and down the room and finally have fallen on his face before God.40
At Wesley’s home on City Road, London, one may see the room where he slept for the last eighteen years of his life. Opening off that room to the east is a little closet with a fireplace and a window. In it is a table and a chair and a candlestick. Here is where John Wesley prayed an hour each morning for his churches, his local preachers, his converts, his sermons, and all the phases of the Wesleyan Revival. When the sun came up in the east, John Wesley was on his knees in prayer.41 
Everyone wants to be remembered and memory is a wonderful aid to prayer and good works. When an aged parent becomes feebleminded and irresponsible, many a child who has locked up the closet of memory puts such a parent away, whereas he who will remember the works of love, of provision, of faith, and of sacrifice made by that parent will be led into good works in caring for him.42 
The tree must not only have the trunk and branches, but a root system which compares in size to the trunk and the branches. Faith is the root; works are the fruit.43 
Christians have been noted for taking upon themselves such redemptive labors which are exhausting. Probably two of the best illustrations of this who are known to any of us are Mrs. Julia Lake Kellersberger and her husband, Dr. Eugene Kellersberger, who have the responsibility of the American Leprosy Mission which is attempting to reach over 10,000,000 lepers with the gospel of Jesus Christ.44 
Can we know "I am of the elect"? James Denney said, "Election has often been taught as if the one thing that could never be known about anybody was whether he was or was not elect." Paul’s knowledge of their election came from what he had seen among them and what he had heard about them.45 
Here are thirteen illustrations lifted out of one expository sermon. They represent quotations, personal experiences, historical references, the Bible, friendships, imagination, and the natural world. The creative imagination can supply illustrations. See Chapter 8 on imagination. In concluding this chapter, then, we can say that the expository preacher should draw illustrations from all refined sources, beginning with the Bible. He can well avoid books of "canned" illustrations or any illustrations long worn out by overuse. 
Chapter 7: Power Through APPLICATION 
A discourse without application would not be a sermon