There are a lot of people these days who think themselves to be good in God’s eyes and certainly better than most other people.  By their goodness, they feel that they deserve God’s forgiveness and gifts.  One poll reveals that 70% of adults interviewed believed that their good works will earn them heaven.
    Perhaps, you might feel the same way.  After all, about three out of four of the people around you believe that they can earn heaven by their goodness.  This attitude is called self righteousness.  And it infects all of us, because it comes from the sinful nature within us, the sinful nature which we all inherit from Adam. 
    In my years of ministry, I have listened to many people tell me about how good they think they are and that somehow their goodness has earned some kind of merit and blessing from God.  Even more, these same people love to point out the shortcomings of others to highlight their own piety!
    To the Pharisees, a group of religious leaders, who also thought themselves to be good especially when compared to those around them, Jesus spoke these  words,  “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”  (Matthew 9:12-13)
    Directed at the Pharisees and each of us, this gospel from Jesus had three parts: 1) that doctors are for the sick!  2) that God does show mercy!  and 3) that Jesus came for sinners!
    Knowing that doctors are for the sick is helpful only when we know that we are sick.  The Pharisees did not know that about themselves.  Most people, today, do not know that about themselves.  But when God’s law convicts of our sin, then we know that we are the spiritually sick and even more importantly that we have a doctor--Jesus Christ.  But Jesus is an unusual doctor in that He absorbed our spiritual sickness into Himself on the cross.
    Secondly, it is good news that God is the God of mercy and love.  So, He desires that we show mercy and love toward others. 1 John 4:11 tells us this, “since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
    Thirdly, it is gospel that Jesus came for sinners.  If Jesus had come only for the perfectly righteous, we all would be going to hell, because we all sin every day.  But Jesus came for you and for me.  Jesus came even for the self-righteous Pharisees!
    I read about an instant cake mix that was a big flop. The instructions said all you had to do was add water and bake. The company couldn't understand why it didn't sell --until their research discovered that the buying public felt uneasy about a mix that required only water. Apparently people thought it was too easy. So the company altered the formula and changed the directions to call for adding an egg to the mix in addition to the water. The idea worked and sales jumped dramatically.
    This is an illustration of how people doubt this gospel that Jesus Christ came for the sinner as simply being too easy.  God must want something from us! 
    The truth is that God demanded perfection from us--which is impossible for us.  So, He sent Jesus for sinners: to live the perfect life in our place, to die on the cross in our place for us sinners, to give us eternal life!  Jesus came not for the righteous but for the sinner!