The Biblical Background for Expositional Preaching

The Biblical Primacy of Exposition

A Negative Example: Jeremiah 23:16,18, 21-22

Thus says the Lord of hosts, "Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility; They speak a vision of their own imagination, Not from the mouth of the Lord. But who has stood in the counsel of the Lord, that he should see and hear His word? Who has given heed to His word and listened? I did not send these prophets, but they ran. I did not speak to them, but they prophesied. But if they had stood in My council, then they would have announced My words to My people, and would have turned them back from their evil way and from the evil of their deeds" (Jer 23:16, 18, 21-22).
The content of their preaching is from their own imagination. Speaking primarily from our own anecdotes and illustrations displeases God. Expositional preaching disciplines us to constrain our words to the parameters of God's Word.
The method of their preaching involves a refusal to stand in God's council to hear and obey His word. An expositor's first task is to stand in God's counsel by bowing under God's Word.
The effect of their preaching fails to turn God's people back to God's ways, but rather lead them into futility. An expositor's goal is to speak God's Word to God's people so that they will walk in God's ways.