Seasoned pastor Alistair Begg observes that much of what is said from today’s pulpits cannot be counted as Bible based, God glorifying, and life changing. Rather than preparing a steady diet of spiritual meat, pastors are mistakenly serving up a self-focused snack―ultimately leaving congregations malnourished and ill prepared to stand firm when their faith is challenged. Recognizing the need for a return to biblical preaching, Begg has written this practical book, outlining the nature of power-filled, expository preaching and demonstrating its importance in the life of the church. Alistair Begg is the Bible teacher on Truth For Life , a daily and weekend program that brings the exposition of Scripture to a global audience through radio, podcast, and a wide range of digital and streaming platforms. Since its launch in 1995, Truth For Life has featured teaching drawn from Alistair’s decades of faithful preaching at Parkside Church, where he served as senior pastor from 1983 until 2025. Alistair and his wife, Susan, have been married since 1975. They have three grown children and eight grandchildren. Senior Pastor, Parkside Church, Chagrin Falls, Ohio Preaching for God's Glory By Alistair Begg Good News Publishers Copyright © 2010 Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-4335-2253-6 Contents Preface, 7, 1 The Eclipse of Expository Preaching, 11, 2 What Happened to Expository Preaching?, 23, 3 The Nature of Expository Preaching, 33, 4 The Benefits of Expository Preaching, 41, 5 Practical Pointers, 51, 6 "Who Is Equal to Such a Task?", 59, For Further Reading, 61, CHAPTER 1 THE ECLIPSE OF EXPOSITORY PREACHING I have a vivid recollection as a small boy of sitting in St. George's Tron Church in Glasgow waiting for the commencement of morning worship. At about three minutes to 11 the beadle (parish official) would climb the pulpit stairs and place a large Bible on the lectern. Having opened it to the appropriate passage, he would descend, and the minister would in turn ascend the stairs and sit in the cone-shaped pulpit. The beadle would complete his responsibilities by climbing the stairs a second time to close the pulpit door and leave the pastor to his task. There was no doubt in my young mind that each part of that procedure was marked with significance. There was clearly no reason for the pastor to be in the pulpit apart from the Bible upon which he looked down as he read. I understood that, in contrast to his physical posture, the preacher was standing under Scripture, not over it. Similarly, we were listening not so much for his message but for its message. We were discovering, as J. I. Packer has suggested, that preaching is "letting texts talk." The right preaching of the Word of God is powerful! Although D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones voiced his concerns about a certain literary style of Scottish preaching, he would not have disputed the following observation by James W. Alexander: "Among the Scottish Presbyterians every man and every woman, nay, almost every child, carried his pocket-Bible to church, and not only looked out the text, but verified each citation; and as the preaching was in great part of the expository kind, the necessary consequence was, that the whole population became intimately acquainted with the structure of every book in the Bible, and were able to recall every passage with its appropriate accompanying truths" ( Thoughts on Preaching [Edinburgh and Carlisle, Pa.: Banner of Truth, reprint 1975], p. 240). Long ago the godly Richard Baxter reminded his fellow pastors of the central place of preaching in the fulfillment of their duties: We must be serious, earnest, and zealous in every part of our work. Our work requireth greater skill, and especially greater life and zeal, than any of us bring to it. It is no small matter to stand up in the face of the congregation, and to deliver a message of salvation or damnation, as from the living God, in the name of the Redeemer. It is no easy matter to speak so plain, that the most ignorant may understand us; and so seriously that the deadest heart may feel us; and so convincingly, that the contradicting cavillers may be silenced. ( The Reformed Pastor [Edinburgh and Carlisle, Pa.: Banner of Truth, reprint 1974], p. 117) IN THE SHADOWS Unfortunately, Baxter's challenge seems to be beyond the skill and will of most contemporary preachers with the result that true expository preaching has fallen on hard times. About fifty years ago W. E. Sangster, a great Methodist preacher in Britain, began a volume on preaching with the words, "Preaching is in the shadows. The world does not believe in it" ( The Craft of the Sermon [Harrisburg, Pa.: Epworth Press, 1954], p. 1). Today, at the beginning of a new millennium, the situation is graver still. Preaching is still in the shadows, but this time much of the church does not believe in it. Much of what now emanates from contemporary pulp