Mark 2:17, 22: And when Jesus heard it, He said to them, Those who are strong and well have no need of a physician, but those who are weak and sick; I came not to call the righteous ones to repentance, but sinners (the erring ones and all those not free from sin). ²² And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the bottles destroyed; but new wine is to be put in new (fresh) wineskins.

Guy Richard, Ligonier Website wrote: Jesus is not talking about “sinners” generally or universally. All people are sinners in this general or universal sense, as Paul tells us quite clearly. Jesus is talking about a specific group of sinners, namely, those who acknowledge their sin and long to be healed and to turn away from their sin. We know that, because in the context of Mark 2, Jesus is responding to the Pharisees, who “grumbled” that He and His disciples were eating and drinking with “tax collectors and sinners” (v. 30) instead of associating with more respectable kinds of people (like themselves). Their question (and their grumbling) indicates that they did not consider themselves to be sinners. They were “righteous.” Even though they were sinners every bit as much as were the “tax collectors and sinners” and needed the healing of the Great Physician every bit as much as those other sinners did, the Pharisees did not believe it. They were uninterested in healing and repentance precisely because they saw no need for them. And Jesus’ point is that He did not come to call this kind of “righteous” person. He came to call those “sinners” who know that they are sick and need to be healed by the doctor.

The Self-Righteous have a Do-It-Yourself Righteousness, a Substitute Righteousness – that displaces being Rightly Related to God. Self-Righteousness keeps you from hungering, thirsting and desiring more of God – because it’s so FULL of its SELF. Substitute Righteousness never allows you to see this because that would require humility, teachability, and meekness. The Wine of the Holy Spirit only inhabits the new wineskins of those who know they are sick and need a physician. Insert the Holy Spirit into a self-religious, self-righteous person and He will explode their faulty mental scaffolding. But sinners in need of Grace discover that not only does He fill, He expands into the farthest recesses of their life and living. They heed the call of the Rejected Jesus Who stands outside the door of His own church knocking – and they open the DOOR to Jesus, not religious repetition, and routine. They make room for His gold of faith refined in fires of testing – opening the door to fire, filled faith. They make room for being rightly related to Him, and others, so their nakedness can be covered with His Robes of Righteousness. They open the door to His Righteousness. They make room to see through applying His medicine to their blindness. They open the door for spiritual sight. Those in these categories have no confusion about Jesus’ verdict on their lives: poor, naked, blind and wretched. Some people get confused when you state such things. They want to live in the denial of self-righteousness. They forget that Jesus addressed His letter to Christians who prayed the sinners prayer, gathered for church, prayed, took communion, read the word, gave their offerings, sang their songs, and possibly even witnessed. But their love for Jesus was only lukewarm, and Jesus called them wretched. Wretched means they are in a pitiable, spiritual condition. Unfortunately for the Laodiceans, it appears they had been attending the same “church” as the Pharisees – failing to realize Jesus keeps company with the very ones that recognize their need.

So, if Jesus came knocking on the door of our church, what diagnosis would He pronounce? If He came knocking on the door to your life what diagnosis would He pronounce?