Creating A Sermon Outline From A Small Old Testament Text In The Law of Moses
/One of the verses my wife and I have been meditating on and which has brought us encouragement during our sojourn in the land of waiting is Deut. 33:26-27. It is a text that describes who God is, why He is unique, and how He helps and delivers those who are His. Let’s say you were going to preach on Deut. 33:26-27. Here is how you would derive an outline from that text for an expository sermon. The text reads:
26 “There is none like the God of Jeshurun, Who rides the heavens to your help, And through the skies in His majesty. 27 “The eternal God is a dwelling place, And underneath are the everlasting arms; And He drove out the enemy from before you, And said, ‘Destroy!’
Like most texts, at first glance it appears to be nothing but a block of words. However, the Holy Spirit inspired the human author, Moses, to not only communicate truth, but also to communicate truth with specific inspired emphasis, so that everything in part and whole is the Word of God. Inspiration includes the sentence structure. What separates expository preachers from those who look at a text and "suck up bits and pieces to attach to their outline” (John MacArthur, Shepherd’s Conference 2015) is that the expository preacher has been trained to see more than just a block of words and ideas. He sees the inspired structure of a text. He knows what the main idea of the text is and what speaks about the main idea. He knows this because he sees it in the inspired grammar and syntax of the text he is going to preach.
If you were at the Shepherd’s Conference (2015) last week you listened to two great examples of expository preaching in the sermons of Ligon Duncan and Alistair Begg. If you weren’t there I would recommend downloading those two sermons and listening to them. Both preachers constructed their outlines precisely from the inspired structure of the texts they preached. Once trained to see the structure of a passage you can listen to those two sermons and see that these men had done their homework. But I digress, back to our text—Deut. 33:26-27.
Below is a screen shot of a quick diagram I made using Logos Bible Software. I put the verbs in red and God in blue for fun and to help me see the actions words and the references to God. Below the diagram I will talk you through the process of creating a sermon title, sermon outline, and plural noun proposition from the inspired text so that you can do it yourself. No, you don’t have to do a diagram every time you preach a sermon, but you must be able to see what the main point of a text is and what things are talking about the main point of a text. This is what separates the men from the boys when it comes to preaching. Don’t let the terms grammar, syntax, or proposition scare you. I will explain everything and give examples.
There are some preachers who read a text, see a block of words, see good words, good doctrines, make keen observations, but can’t pinpoint the main point of the text. They don’t know what parts of the text are speaking about other parts. In the words of John MacArthur, they suck up random bits of information from a text and attach those random bits of information to their random outline i.e., the outline they have constructed from their own thoughts, rather than by submitting to the Holy Spirit inspired Word. Many preachers get by with a pick and choose approach to creating their sermon outlines, but it hardly meets the requirements of “handling accurately or with precision the Word of truth” (II Tim. 2:15). The Bible is too important to guess at. If you are not certain what a text is saying then you can’t really preach it with boldness because you aren’t quite sure what the text says and means by what it says. This leads to other ill affects on your congregation, which I will avoid for this post.
Below a quick informal diagram of our text:
In a text like Deut. 33:26-27, which is a shorter text, an outline based on the grammar and syntax usually works well. Larger texts require other approaches, but a small text like this can be preached well from an outline derived from the sentence structure. Again, don’t let the words “syntax” and “grammar” scare you. There are only three rules you need to know starting out in order to get a good outline from most texts:
1. Rule one—Know what is being talked about (the subject).
2. Rule two—Know what the thing being talked about “is” or “is doing” (the verb). There are two major categories of verbs. Some verbs speak of existence and are called “being verbs” and describe the subject or thing being talked about as “being” or “existing.” These are verbs such as is, are, was, were, etc. They basically tell us that the thing being talked about exists. Then there are other kinds of verbs that describe action and these kinds of verbs can be categorized into various subgroups, but for now, don’t worry about it. All “non-being” verbs describe some sort of action. Words such as run, hit, pray, eat, etc. The verb tells you what the thing being talked about is doing.
3. Rule three—Know that everything else in the sentence speaks about the first two things, either the thing being talked about or what that thing is or is doing. There you have it!
Yes, there is a lot of jargon in the grammar and syntax world, and these words can be scary to those who forgot everything they ever learned or never learned about grammar in school. These strange terms can intimidate you, but don’t worry about that for now. If you are starting out and learning to be a Bible expositor, stick to the three simple rules at first. Over time you will learn what some of those other scary sounding words mean, but the most important thing is to not get discouraged or bogged down in the details of things unfamiliar. Just stick to your three basic grammar rules: 1. What is being talked about; 2. What the thing being talked about is, or is doing; 3. Remembering that everything else in a sentence speaks of the first two things. Wa-la!
Okay back to our text and our diagram.
First, ask yourself “what is the main thing being talked about” in this text? And you will see that it is “the God of Jeshurun.” There are other things mentioned, but notice how they all relate to the main thing, the God of Jeshurun. The three phrases below the title “God of Jeshurun” tell us about God. They all point back to God and describe God. This is why I indented them. Remember everything in the sentence speaks of the subject or what the subject is doing. In this case we have three things the subject “God” is doing.
A. He rides the heavens to our help
B. He rides through the skies in majesty
C. He is an eternal God who is a dwelling place
Notice also that vs. 26 has a “being verb” “is” and makes a declaration, "There is none like. . .” We are being directed to consider that there is no one like our God. The rest of our text explains why.
The three modifying phrases that describe what God is or does prove the declaration. Is there any other God who rides the heavens to our help, rides through the skies in majesty, is eternal, and an everlasting dwelling place? No! Which means our God is the biggest, baddest, and best God.
Also notice how all three of those modifying phrases relate to how God helps us. He rides to our help; He is majestic, which speaks of His sovereignty and ability to help us; and He is an eternal dwelling place, a refuge for those who seek Him.
Below the first three phrases that speak of "the God of Jeshurun" are three more modifying phrases that speak of God being an eternal dwelling. These last three phrases, which are indented to the right a bit further, give us more specific detail about how God helps us.
1. For those who take shelter in the eternal dwelling of God’s being, there are everlasting arms to support, protect, and provide for them.
2. For those who take shelter in the eternal dwelling of God’s being, He drives out the enemy for them.
3. For those who take shelter in the eternal dwelling of God’s being, He destroys their enemies.
We are making good progress. We know God is being talked about, that He exists, and that there are three phrases that talk about God being our help. The last of those three phrases gives us more detail about how God is an eternal dwelling place for those who seek Him. This is our text and once you see the inspired structure you can then preach it with all authority because you know what the main point of the text is and what is talking about the main point.
Now it is time to create an outline. Since there is one main point of text then one main point will be used to construct our sermon title. The main point will also be a theme in each of the major outline points. The entire sermon is about God because God is the main person, place, or thing being talked about.
So we start with any sermon title that works and represents the main point of our text. We can refine it later.
Sermon title: “THERE IS NO ONE LIKE THE GOD OF JESHURUN”
Isn’t that what the whole text is about? Yes, it starts with a declaration that is proved by the rest of our text. There is no one like the God of Jeshurun. We have a working sermon title that matches the inspired emphasis of our text.
Next we need to construct our main points. We will derive our major outline points from the three phrases that speak of the God of Jeshurun.
I. YOU HAVE HELP FROM THE GOD OF JESHURUN
II. YOU HAVE SOVEREIGN HELP FROM THE GOD OF JESHURUN
III. YOU HAVE AN ETERNAL DWELLING IN THE GOD OF JESHURUN
Notice how I constructed each of the outline points from the individual phrases that modify or speak about the God of Jeshurun. Let’s talk about each of these points individually to make sure we have a good understanding of what we have done up to this point. Constructing a good outline from the text is critical to expository preaching.
The first point is derived the phrase, “Who rides the heavens to your help.” Does the wording of the first point do a good job at communicating that God, the main subject, is a heavenly help? Yes, I think so.
The second point is derived from the phrase, “And through the skies in His majesty.” The phrase “who rides” is implied from the preceding phrase and Moses, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is saying God also “rides through the skies in His majesty.” Majesty implies God’s sovereignty, royalty, power, and the ability to help those who are His subjects. Do you think Point Two accurately represents the fact that God is a sovereign helper? Yes, I think it does.
The third point is derived from the phrase in the text, “The eternal God is a dwelling place.” Since God is eternal, and since He is a dwelling place, this means He is an eternal dwelling place living forever to shelter those who seek Him. Does our third outline point represent the emphasis of the inspired text? Yes it does.
You can fiddle with the main points of the outline to your heart’s content as long as whatever changes you make don’t disturb your outline’s integrity to the inspired emphasis and meaning of the text.
Then you come to the last three sub, sub points or phrases that follow God being an eternal dwelling place—the third major point in our outline. As you preach the third point you would include three sub points under the third point. You would first discuss the main point, God’s eternality, that He is a dwelling place, and then discuss your three sub points as examples of how God is an eternal dwelling and place of refuge.
1. God’s arms of support are everlasting.
2. God drives away our enemies before us.
3. God destroys are enemies.
We now have almost everything we need to construct a sermon. Remember the text of the sermon is like the foundation of a house. The outline points of a sermon are like the walls of a house that rest on the foundation. The foundation must be the Word of God and the walls (outline points) must rest on the foundation. If they do not, you are not preaching an expository sermon. You are merely “sucking up bits of information from the text to attach to your outline.”
Here is the previous outline from above now refined and condensed:
Sermon Title: “NO ONE IS LIKE YOUR GOD”
Outline:
I. GOD IS YOUR HELP FROM HEAVEN
II. GOD IS YOUR SOVEREIGN DELIVERER
III. GOD IS YOUR ETERNAL DWELLING
a. God Is Your Eternal Refuge
b. God Is Your Power Over Enemies
c. God Is Your Destroyer Of Foes
I reworded the outline points above, refined them so that they focused on God, who is the main point of our text. All of the outline points include second person “you,” or “your,” or “yourselves.” Why? Because I want the entire sermon to be direct, pointed at each person. Second person is direct address and makes people feel as if you are talking to them directly, and you are or at least you should be! Notice I even included second person in the sermon title. Why? Because I want them to know the entire sermon is going to be about their God. I am not talking about a distant God, but their specific God, the God they worship, pray to, and serve, if they know the Lord.
If you don’t want to put second person in your outline points but still want to make them direct and personal, use a command. The command “pray without ceasing” really means, “You need to pray without ceasing.” All commands imply second person. They are all direct forms of address. If I wanted to rewrite the major outline points in command form they might look like this:
I. BELIEVE GOD WILL HELP FROM HEAVEN
II. BELIEVE GOD IS A SOVEREIGN DELIVERER
III. BELIEVE GOD IS AN ETERNAL DWELLING
The commands to “believe” mean “You need to believe . . .” Other commands might be used, but whatever command you use, it implies second person "you."
One more step is left, writing the propositional statement. After the proposition is done we will have the walls of our house all built, resting on the foundation, and ready to finish. What is a propositional statement? It comes after you read the text and pray, right before you start into your outline. The proposition summarizes in one sentence what you are going to tell your people in your sermon. There are various ways to do this, but I will tell you what I like to do. I like to create a second person, plural noun proposition with a “so that” statement. Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. I will explain. Let’s take that description apart.
Second person means that I want to have “you,” “your,” “yourselves,” a command, or even an all-inclusive statement such as “anyone,” “everyone,” “all who,” or “whosoever” included in my proposition. I want my proposition to be direct also, like my sermon title and main outline points. I don’t want people to think I am giving them a lecture about a dead book and dead people who lived in another time. No! I want them to know I am speaking directly to them, individually, from God, through the text of the Bible.
Plural noun means more than one person, place, or thing. It means you count how many major outline points you have, in our case three, and you make sure your proposition has “three keys,” “three facts,” “three person, places, or things.” The "three" matches the number of your outline points. The noun is whatever you think will fit well with the text. If the sermon is about how to do something you might have “three steps,” “three paths,” or “three ways.” If the sermon is about knowing something you might have “three facts,” “three aspects,” or “three truths.” Thus the nouns you use should match what the text is saying.
Finally there is a "so that" statement which comes at the end of your proposition. Why do this? Because sermons are for living, not merely for knowing. If there isn’t a practical reason for the text, then why preach it? The entire Bible is “profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be adequately equipped for every good work” (II Tim. 3:16-17). By putting a “so that” statement at the end of your propositional statement, you force yourself to consider how the text applies to your life and the lives of your hearers.
Here are a few examples of propositional statements that might be used with our outline below:
I. GOD IS YOUR HELP FROM HEAVEN
II. GOD IS YOUR SOVEREIGN DELIVERER
III. GOD IS YOUR ETERNAL DWELLING
First example: “From Deut. 33:26-27 you will learn three facts about how God is a helper to all who seek Him so that you can find comfort, encouragement, and hope in the Lord.”
Second example: “Deut. 33:26-27 declares three ways God is your helper so that you can have encouragement and hope in the face of trial.”
Third example: “Our text provides you with three anchors of hope in God so that you don’t get discouraged and grow weary living for the glory of God.”
I bolded all the second persons, plural nouns, and so that statements to make them stand out. Once you get to this point in your sermon preparation you are ready to create an expository sermon from a solid sermon title, proposition, and outline that is based on the inspired text of the Word of God. Notice my example below:
Sermon Title: “NO ONE IS LIKE YOUR GOD”
Sermon Text: Deut. 33:26-27—26 “There is none like the God of Jeshurun, Who rides the heavens to your help, And through the skies in His majesty. 27 “The eternal God is a dwelling place, And underneath are the everlasting arms; And He drove out the enemy from before you, And said, ‘Destroy!’
Sermon Proposition: “From Deut. 33:26-27 you will learn three facts about how God is a helper to all who seek Him so that you can find comfort, encouragement, and hope in the Lord.”
Sermon Outline:
I. GOD IS YOUR HELP FROM HEAVEN
II. GOD IS YOUR SOVEREIGN DELIVERER
III. GOD IS YOUR ETERNAL DWELLING
a. God Is Your Eternal Refuge
b. God Is Your Power Over Enemies
c. God Is Your Destroyer Of Foes
Now you are ready to do some work and write out your sermon being guided by the outline you have derived from the text of Scripture. You will do word studies, interpret, read commentaries, illustrate, apply, and refine, refine, refine! And always make sure you preach the gospel!
