Loading...
Loading...
26 illustrations for sermon preparation
All contingencies rest under the direction of God's providence.
Yet the mind claims a sovereignty over the body that the body can never assert in return.
First, the wicked man takes deliberate pains to devise evil, much as a miner searches for treasure in concealed depths.
Higher counsels than ours govern the issues of human conduct.
The subject—"a man's ways"—encompasses his entire carriage through life: thoughts, speeches, and actions combined.
Righteousness most effectually answers the end and design of government itself.
The distinction between these two gifts proves essential: instruction consists in the communication of right principles; counsel in the advice by which you may apply those principles practically.
In primitive times, merchants practiced fraud through inadequate measures, systematically shortchanging customers with each transaction.
The upright—those bent on fulfilling God's will and keeping His commandments—walk a highway characterized not merely by abstinence from evil, but by active *apochōreō* (departure, turning away).
Many theologians of Exell's era debated whether justice or mercy should prevail in law, education, and doctrine.
It is a corruption of self-love, a form of self-flattery.
The lowly afflicted bear a yoke of trial chosen by God—their particular crook in the lot.
First, some contend that Elohim created all things solely for His pleasure, without external motive.
Infinite Benevolence would have His saints to be happy.
The previous verse (Proverbs 16:14) describes a king's anger as *messengers of death* — swift, certain, and irreversible.
Every season of life carries distinct duties and temptations.
Joseph Exell identified five corrupted standards by which multitudes measure duty, each leading toward *thanatos* (death).
The ablest theologians have settled that good intention cannot sanctify an immoral act; yet an evil intention will certainly corrupt even the best performances.
— Proverbs 16:10 Moral and corporeal chastisement operate in distinct spheres, each legitimate within its domain.
This distinction matters profoundly: true wisdom must manifest in *phronesis* (practical wisdom) and conduct, not remain abstract knowledge.
Contention—reasoned argument between parties willing to hear—remains legitimate and often dutiful.
Exell's Victorian commentary unpacks the deceptive nature of rebellion: "Treason and rebellion are such horrid and loathsome crimes that if they should appear in their native visage and genuine deformity they could never form a party." Instead, they insinuate themselves...
Exell's 1887 analysis reveals pride's devastating universality: it spares neither age nor circumstance, neither the healthy nor the diseased, neither public nor private life.
Exell's Victorian exposition illuminates this distinction through precise categories.
SermonWise.ai generates complete sermon outlines for any passage across 17 theological traditions. Try it with Proverbs 16.
Generate a sermon →