The first thing you have to do [in sermon preparation] is to deal with the meaning of your text. At this point there is one golden rule, one absolute demand— honesty. You have got to be honest with your text. I mean by that, that you do not go to a text just to pick out an idea which interests you and then deal with that idea yourself. That is to be dishonest with a text.
Lloyd-Jones on the Golden Rule of Biblical Interpretation
