The Indispensibility of Expository Preaching

Recently I came across an apt quote by John MacArthur which reminds us of how important faithful, expository preaching is for the health and life of the church:

• Expository preaching - expressing exactly the will of the glorious Sovereign - allows God to speak, not man.
• Expository preaching - retaining the thoughts of the Spirit - brings the preacher into direct and continual contact with the mind of the Holy Spirit who authored Scripture.
• Expository preaching frees the preacher to proclaim all the revelation of God, producing a ministry of wholeness and integrity.
• Expository preaching promotes biblical literacy, yielding rich knowledge of redemptive truths.
• Expository preaching carries ultimate divine authority, rendering the very voice of God.
• Expository preaching transforms the preacher, leading to transformed congregations.

- John MacArthur Jr., Rediscovering Expository Preaching, p. xv.

Consider also these words on preaching from John Piper:

People are starving for the greatness of God. But most of them would not give this diagnosis of their troubled lives. The majesty of God is an unknown cure. There are far more popular prescriptions on the market, but the benefit of any other remedy is brief and shallow. Preaching that does not have the aroma of God's greatness may entertain for a season, but it will not touch the hidden cry of the soul: "Show me Thy glory!"

- John Piper, The Supremacy of God in Preaching, p. 9.