What constitutes preaching the Gospel? The Apostle Paul who said he dare not stand before men without preaching the Gospel summarized his preaching as "repentance toward God, and faith toward our the Lord Jesus Christ." He wrote that in the Gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed (Rom. 1:17). God's Word is the standard of what is and what is not the Gospel. Preaching the Gospel, then, is not simply telling some truths. I remember a message I heard years ago preached by Pastor Henry Mahan entitled "A Gospel or The Gospel." It had a profound effect upon me and my preaching. In that message, Pastor Mahan showed how a man can, for example, that God is sovereign and not preach the Gospel. He can preach that man is totally depraved and not preach the Gospel. He can even preach the right view of Christ's particular atonement and not preach the Gospel.
We must understand that preaching the Gospel is not simply defining a few terms. We can even define imputed righteousness and not preach the Gospel. What is it then to preach the Gospel? The Gospel is preached when Christ and His righteousness is defined so as to show that His righteousness, in and of itself, demands the eternal salvation and final glory of every sinner for whom He lived and died, and so as to exclude every other ground that men plead for salvation. The Gospel message must both reveal Christ as the One sent of the Father to obey, suffer, bleed, and die to pay the sin-debt in full and establish a righteousness that enables God to be both a just God and a Savior. The Gospel reveals not just any Christ but the one and only sovereign Savior in whom all power is given. The Gospel reveals not just any righteousness, but Christ's righteousness which alone entitles believers to all of salvation before they take the first step in persevering in the faith or serving the Lord. The Gospel is aimed at promoting perseverance and obedience, but not in order to attain, maintain, or entitle sinners to any part of salvation. The Gospel glorifies God, exalt Christ's, and excludes boasting in sinners. The Gospel seeks to motivate sinners in obedience motivated by comfort, peace, and assurance of salvation in Christ.
The Gospel message must also expose the sin that deceives all men by nature, the sin of seeking to establish a righteousness of their own. This is the evil and wickedness exposes by the Gospel light (John 3:19-20). Gospel preaching should certainly be aimed in opposition to morality, but if it goes no further than this, there will be no Gospel repentance. The Gospel is the message which leads unto repentance from former idolatry and dead works which is repentance towards God. This is a radical change of mind concerning the character of God and the ground of salvation. It is more than sorrow over sin, but it includes this. Repentance is the goal and faith in Christ is the way to arrive at this goal as the Gospel leaves us open to no hope of salvation but Christ and His righteousness. It demands that we repent of every effort at religion and morality aimed at saving ourselves, keeping ourselves saved or recommending ourselves unto God. O that men would preach THE GOSPEL, Christ crucified, and call sinners to faith and repentance! This is the only hope for sinners.