Jess Hall Jr. Properly illustrating a sermon is a difficult time-consuming task. While a preacher can preach the Word without using illustrations, he cannot omit illustrations and follow the Word's examples of preaching.
Scripture abounds with illustrations, e.g. parables, similes, and metaphors.
Parables comprise approximately 52 percent of Luke. Parables comprise approximately 75 percent of Jesus' recorded teaching. Scripture's use of illustrations should be instructive. Very little of Jesus' public teaching consisted of syllogistic reasoning or definition of terms. Jesus is himself the living illustration.