Every true preacher of the gospel ought to long for their preaching to be in the power of the Holy Spirit. If we genuinely love God and our people then we won’t settle for powerless or casual preaching. If we long for souls to be saved and sanctified we will greatly yearn for the Holy Spirit to powerfully persuade people of the gospel of grace.
So, what does Scripture say about truly powerful preaching?
The gospel is words and therefore gives content, explanation, and theological definitions (Rom. 1:16-17; 1 Thess. 1:5).
The gospel is preached as the central power which to transform lives (Rom. 1:16-17; Col. 2:6-8; 1 Thess. 1:5).
The gospel is preached with derived authority (Matt. 7:28-29; 10:5-15; Acts 4:33; 1 Thess. 1:5, 13).
The gospel is preached with conviction that it is true and confidence in its power (1 Thess. 1:5).
The Word is trusted as sharp, living, discerning, enlivening, inerrant, inspired, authoritative, sufficient, efficacious (Ps. 19; 119; Jn. 10:35; 17:17; Rom. 10:13-17; 2 Tim. 3:16-4:2; Heb. 4:12-13; 2 Pet. 1:3, 21).
The preaching is aimed first to please God and because of that it benefits man; it is not to please man and be “seeker-sensitive” (Acts 17; Gal. 1; 1 Thess. 2:2-6).
The preaching happens with love for the people like Christ (1 Thess. 2:6-11).
The preaching, when faithful to Scripture in content and proper emphases, is received as the Word of God (1 Thess. 2:13).
The preaching sees God’s grace in Christ—which grace presupposes sin, talks about sin, and powerfully rebukes sin—as the power for conversion and change. This type of preaching preaches grace as truly, freely, and sovereignly gracious even to the worst of sinners (Luke 18:9-14; Eph. 2:1-10; Titus 2:11-12).
The preaching preaches the Law in all its uses and the Gospel in all its power (Rom. 1:16-17; 3:9-31).
The preaching scandalizes the self-righteous as to the freeness of grace to sinners and rebukes the lawless of their presumption (Luke 7:36-50).
The preaching greatly emphasizes the fact that the gospel of free grace in Christ is not only for conversion but for every season of the Christian life and that it is the more we are convinced of God’s free grace to us that we are mightily transformed (Lk. 15:11-32; 16:19-31; 18:1-30; 2 Cor. 3:1-4:18).
The preaching shows that gospel grace, not Law in itself, is God’s motivation and power for holiness and will produce holiness in us as we receive the means of grace by faith and use the Law as a guide for our love for God (Luke 7:36-50; Rom. 7:13-8:3; Gal. 2:15-3:14; 1 Peter 1:3-16).
The preaching does talk about hell (Matt. 5:22; 8:12; 13:41-42; 25:41).
The preaching does talk about the infinite beauty and joy of heaven (John 3:16; 14:1-7; 2 Cor. 5).
The preaching is not only indicatives and statements about God’s grace but also gives imperatives to unbelievers to believe and to believers to continue by God’s grace to believe and put on holiness (Matt. 11:28-30; John 6:25-40; James 2:14-26; 1 John 1:8-2:6).
The preaching is full of sovereign grace and evangelistic appeal (John 6:25-40).
The preaching is full of boldness and willingness to say something that is honest and straightforward while risking potential danger in response (Acts 4:13; 28:31).
The preaching has been greatly prayed for (Acts 2:1-13, 42-47; 3:1-2; 4:23-31).
The preacher has been much with Jesus and communion with the Triune God (Acts 4:13b).
The preaching proclaims both Old and New Testaments as being full of Christ (Acts—literally all of it).
The preaching is appropriate (i.e. preaching to the particular people in front of you at that moment) and based on their level understanding, current sins, worldview, and other factors—even appropriateness that might cause an adverse effect (Acts 17, 18, 19).
The preaching sees the gospel of Christ as central, powerful, heavenly wisdom, converting, sanctifying, and equipping (1 Cor. 1:18-31).
The preaching is not lacking clarity, structure, and rhetoric but it does not rely on those things as such for the power and does not have the goal of the sermon to make the outline, rhetorical skills, or personality of the preacher shine most (1 Cor. 2:1-5).
The preaching is intentionally searching, revealing, convicting, and exposing of sins and the sinful heart (Acts 2:37-41).
The preaching is greatly emphasized with the goal of knowing Christ (John 17:3, 17).
The preaching explains the realistic process of the Christian life and what growth is (Romans 6, 7, 8; Hebrews; 1 John).
The preaching is regularly about the central aspects of the gospel: Scripture, God, Man, sin, Cross, Resurrection, active obedience of Christ, ascension, coming again, the work of the Holy Spirit, sovereign grace, and heaven (just read the New Testament).
The preaching is integrally connected with the life of the preacher—it is powerful to others after it is powerful to him (1 Cor. 2:3; 2 Cor. 12:7-10; 13:5; 1 Thess. 2:2).1
The preaching is often seen in the freedom of words coming to the mind from the heart and out of the mouth to the ears of the people (Acts—all of it).
The preaching is for the evangelism of the lost and the building up of the saints—not either/or (Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 17; Rom. 10:13-17; Eph. 4:7-16).
The preaching is filled with a “voice inside a voice” as one hears that Jesus Himself has showed up to preach through the preacher (Rom. 10:14; Eph. 2:17).
The preaching lifts up one’s voice and often pleads with people—it is not merely teaching; it is not lecturing; it is certainly not passion-less (Jer. 20:9; Acts 2:14; Rom. 1:16).
To be sure, not all of this is all in one sermon—yet many of them are. The goal is to have these are continual themes in our preaching ministry. Our sermons should be most full of our Triune God and sovereign grace all the time.
This is not to say that God is dependent upon the preacher. That would contradict the Aseity (self-sufficiency) of God (Acts 17:24-28; Rom. 11:33-36). Unfortunately, even in Reformed circles at times, some can make it appear this way. It is best to remember what John Owen said. “I think, truly,” Owen says, “that no man preaches that sermon well to others that doth not first preach it to his own heart.” God works through the preacher’s personality and uses his ethos but is in no way dependent upon the preacher for its success. God is in no way dependent on us but He has sovereignly ordained to use us in the ministry of the Word. The preacher is wholly dependent upon God—not the other way around. At the same time, it would only make sense that the most powerful preaching happens when the preacher feels the very power of the Word. In communication from one man to several men, God has filled a man with the Holy Spirit and that man is seen to be greatly affected by the message that he is currently preaching. It is a testimony but not the testimony. After all, there are some conversions that have happened through the mouths of unbelievers merely quoting Scripture. The ultimate testimony is the inward work of the Holy Spirit as He brings to us the Word of God.