Introduction: The Roots and Scope of Expository Exultation

Part 1: A Setting for Preaching:
God’s People Gathered for Worship

1. The Essence of Corporate Worship

2. Corporate Worship: Biblical and Beautifully Fitting

Part 2: Why Is Expository Exultation Integral to Corporate Worship?
Heralding, History, and Trinity

3. How Paul Brought Heralding into the House of God

4. Four Roots of the Beautiful Fitness of Expository Exultation in Worship

5. The Trinitarian Roots of Expository Exultation

Part 3: How Does Preaching Become a Means of the Miracle of Worship—Supernaturally? 
Expository Exultation in the Power of the Holy Spirit

6. Expository Exultation: A Humanly Impossible Act with a Humanly Impossible Effect

7. Expository Exultation by Faith: How I Pursued the Miracle in My Preaching

Part 4: How Does Preaching Become a Means of the Miracle of Worship—Naturally? 
Expository Exultation and the Use of All Our Natural Powers

8. Expository Exultation: Loving People with Clear Thinking and Valid Logic

9. “Lest the Cross Be Emptied of Its Power”: The Perils of Christian Eloquence

Part 5: Rigorous Attention to the Text for the Sake of Radical Penetration into Reality 
Making Connection Manifest between Text and Reality

10. Text, Reality, and Sermon: Making the Connections Clear

11. Showing How Reality Shines through the Words of the Passage: Three Examples

Part 6: What Reality Shall We Preach?
Three Pervasive Emphases of All Expository Exultation

12. Preaching in the Light of an Author’s All-Encompassing Vision of Reality 

13. Expository Exultation and the Glory of God, Part 1: As the Ultimate Goal of All Things

14. Expository Exultation and the Glory of God, Part 2: How It Shapes Every Sermon

15. Expository Exultation and Christ Crucified, Part 1: Boasting Only in the Cross in Every Sermon

16. Expository Exultation and Christ Crucified, Part 2: “That We Might Live to Righteousness”

17. Expository Exultation and the Obedience of Faith, Part 1: The Path of Love That Leads to Life

18. Expository Exultation and the Obedience of Faith, Part 2: The Pursuit of Joy, Love, and Eternal Life

Part 7: Expository Exultation and the Old Testament
The Glory of God, the Cross of Christ, and the Obedience of Faith

19. Expository Exultation and the Old Testament, Part 1: Preaching the Glory of God

20. Expository Exultation and the Old Testament, Part 2: Preaching Christ Crucified

21. Expository Exultation and the Old Testament, Part 3: Preaching the Obedience of Faith

Concluding Thoughts: A Dangerous and Glorious Calling
General Index
Scripture Index
Note on Desiring God Resources

“Piper shows how true preaching and true worship go hand in hand in the most natural way. This takes place when the preacher works carefully to exegete the text through the anointing of the Spirit and comes to the pulpit under the same influence. The goal is to bring out the spiritual reality behind each text of the Scriptures to honor the intention of the human writer, but especially to exalt the glory of the divine author who inspired the text. This is what this book is all about. Read it slowly, digest its content carefully, and then bring its principles into practice piously.”
Miguel Núñez, Senior Pastor, International Baptist Church of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

“John Piper writes with the expository conviction we expect, encouraging preachers not only to say what is true but also to show how the Bible establishes that truth. He writes beyond our expectations, however, when putting his pastoral finger on the chief expository errors within our ranks: the moralistic error (‘Just do it!’) and the replacement error (‘You can’t do it, so merely enjoy justification by imputed righteousness’). Finally, he advocates for the preaching we need, urging that in all our expositions ‘we would make a beeline from the cross to the resurrection to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to the giving of Scripture to the blood-bought miracle of new birth to the mystery of Christ in you, the hope of glory, to the beauties of Christ-permeating, Christ-exalting self-control and sober-mindedness and love.’ This is great writing to exult the glorious power of the gospel that pervades all of Scripture.”
Bryan Chapell, Stated Clerk, Presbyterian Church in America

“John Piper’s new book on preaching is a dream come true. I have personally been waiting for this book for nearly twenty years. Piper’s first book on preaching was monumental. This book is even better. It was worth the wait.”
Jason C. Meyer, Lead Pastor, Urban Refuge Church, Minneapolis

“Piper has written more than fifty books, so there is something a bit outrageous in suggesting that Expository Exultation is his best. But such a case can be made. Perhaps that is because I, like John, am a preacher, and was profoundly instructed, rebuked, encouraged, and given even greater hope for my ministry through the insights he provides in this book. I trust John has many more volumes to come, but for my money, this is the culmination of his contribution to pastoral ministry. If you’re not a pastor or preacher, read it anyway. If you are in full-time ministry, dig deeply into this immense treasure trove of homiletical insight. I’m confident that if you do, it will radically transform your approach to God’s Word and the passion with which you preach it.”
Sam Storms, Founder and President, Enjoying God Ministries

“John Piper’s Expository Exultation is fittingly dedicated to Martyn Lloyd-Jones, because it may well do for the present generation what Preaching and Preachers did uniquely for previous ones—instruct, humble, challenge, and inspire. Here are heat and light combined—what Lloyd-Jones called ‘logic on fire.’ All the emphases we have come to expect from Piper are here: God-centered, Christ-focused, Spirit-imbued, with rigorous attention to the text of Scripture and passionate theological conviction. Piper displays a take-you-by-the-throat honesty and a sense of the weight of glory that marks true worship. Here is a book about preaching in which God himself takes center stage. Expository Exultation is a stunning utterance, a leave-you-wanting-more kind of book. It prostrates us in the dust, then sets us on our feet, and thus makes us want to be and do better for God. It is simply a must-read for every preacher of the gospel.”
Sinclair B. Ferguson, Chancellor’s Professor of Systematic Theology, Reformed Theological Seminary; Teaching Fellow, Ligonier Ministries

“It is a refreshing change to read a book on preaching that contains almost nothing about technique but rather focuses on the Bible’s teaching about the nature and awesome privilege of the task—and, above all, on the majesty of God, whose servants we are and whose glories we are called to proclaim. Many preachers will be spurred on by these pages, as I have been, to keep giving themselves to the solemn and joyful tasks of explaining Scripture and exulting in God.”
Vaughan Roberts, Rector, St Ebbe’s, Oxford, United Kingdom