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SOFT PREACHING AND CHEAP GRACE __________________ A Paper Presented toDr. Tim McAlhaneyThe College at Southwestern __________________ In Partial Fulfillmentof the Requirements for IDE 3101-C __________________  byWes TerryOctober 23, 2008
 
SOFT PREACHING AND CHEAP GRACEA growing number of preachers today could be defined as those who have beenaccumulated by men with “itching ears.” Those who have disassociated themselves withsound doctrine and have instead aligned with the proclamation that satisfies their own passions.
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 However, “all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may becompetent, equipped for every good work.”
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Those who preach are called to preach thewhole counsel of God’s Word. John Wesley believed similarly. Wesley wanted a wholisticapproach to preaching that would couple the precious content of the gospel with theconvicting nature of the law. A study of Wesley’s reasons will show how and why preaching should consist of both law and gospel and the disastrous results of elevatingone above the other.
Setting the Stage
Before establishing why one should preach the gospel coupled with the law, itis necessary to define the terms as Wesley used them. For Wesley, the gospel was“preaching the love of God to sinners, preaching the life, death, resurrection andintercession of Christ, with all the blessings which in consequence thereof are freelygiven to true believers.” By preaching the law Wesley meant “explaining and enforcingthe commands of Christ briefly comprised in the Sermon on the Mount.”
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It should be
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2 Timothy 4:3-4
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2 Timothy 3:16-17. All Scripture quotations will be taken from the EnglishStandard Version unless otherwise noted by the author.2
 
3noted that although Wesley used the Sermon on the Mount as an example
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, that does notmean by necessity that Old Testament passages were to be excluded.
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Wesley was plagued with many of the same questions that the reformers beforehim had been preoccupied with. What was the relationship between faith and works?How does regeneration and justification work together for salvation? Is there aconnection between sanctification and assurance? These questions all revolve around twowords: law and gospel.
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 What captured Wesley’s attention was how salvation in Christ should shapeindividual people. He searched for how one should preach and live so that more peoplemight receive salvation in Christ. He wrestled with the following questions. What is therole of the believer and what is the role of God in the process of salvation?
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How can onewalk wisely and make the best use of time in these evil days?
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These questions helped to
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Albert C. Outley, ed.,
 John Wesley
(New York: Oxford University Press,1964), 232.
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For Wesley, the beatitudes were a summary of the Christian religion. Headmired the balanced and interrelated presentation of "happiness" and "holiness" in the beatitudes. Experienced religion will have outward consequences due to the likeness withChrist. In short, the beatitudes reveal the complete way of salvation. Tore Meistad,
Martin Luther and John Wesley on the Sermon on the Mount 
(Lanham: The ScarecrowPress, 1999), 94.
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For example, when Jesus uses the phrase, "You have heard it said" he isusually referencing an Old Testament passage (for example Mt. 5:21 cf. Ex. 20:13, Deut.5:17; Mt. 5:27 cf. Ex. 20:14, Deut. 5:18; Mt. 5:31 cf. Deut 24:1.) It would be beneficialwhen explaining these words of Jesus to use the Old Testament references in one's preaching.
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Jr. Cobb, John B,
Grace and Responsibility: A Wesleyan Theology for Today
(Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995), 22.
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Harald Lindstrom gives an extensive treatment of these questions by Wesley.However, due to space, they will not be explored now. Harald Lindstrom,
Wesley and Sanctification: A study in the Doctrine of Salvation
(Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1980), 83.
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Ephesians 5:15
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