Salvation: Only Sinners Need Apply

Any attempt to remove the reality of sin from a presentation of the Gospel is absolutely misguided. The more I recognize and embrace my own sinfulness, the more I cling on to the Gospel of Christ. Yet, many evangelicals are discrediting sinfulness as the reason Jesus came to save. Instead of saving sinners from their sin, Jesus saves purposeless, hopeless people, uneducated people, those needing a hug or family or community or joy or happiness, or those with a hundred other felt needs. Salvation is, for them, a superficial solution to social problems.
Others reject sinfulness as being the issue, and insist instead that it's poverty, homelessness, injustice, abuse, slavery. Jesus is a social redeemer, accomplishing His mission of creating first-world conditions for third world souls in our neighbourhoods and in the nations.
Don't get me wrong, all of those things are good! Hugs, justice, education, joy, purpose, hope, prosperity and all the rest are implications of the Gospel.
But why do these issues exist? Why do we need to correct the wrong? What's wrong? When God created the world, He named it "Good". Right now, it's anything but "Good". And the Bible explains the discrepancy in this way: sin entered the world.
And it doesn't just exist out there. It exists in me. And the solution to sin isn't entry into a community. Jesus didn't die to give you a hug.

OK, I'll admit it, I make mistakes. I drive over the speed limit sometimes, breaking the law of Canada and therefore God's law. Oops. Sometimes if somebody pisses me off ill raise my voice, and say something I regret later. Oops. I might apologize later, it's cool. My mistakes are usually somebody else's fault anyway. Not really my issue. But can I admit that I sin? Do I ever intentionally ignore my wife's need to have a break from the kids and housework, because I'm choosing selfishness over love? Would I curse somebody under my breath, hoping they'll get what's coming to them? Do I neglect my duties while at work, hoping the boss won't notice? Do I steal time? A pen? Do I take credit for somebody else's contribution? Do I take glory away from God?
If I can't admit that I am intentionally, unintentionally, and in all other ways a "sinner" then I don't really need to be saved. Maybe everybody else needs to be saved from me, but I don't require salvation myself. What I need is for Jesus to give me sympathy, friends who understand me, a wife who puts up with me, and maybe some specific revelation (a "prophetic word") that I'm not really as bad as I feel about myself in quiet moments.

That's the message we believe. That's the message we preach, because it attracts far more people than the "repent from your sin' message we don't want to hear. If we want more people on Team Jesus, then Jesus needs new PR. He needs a makeover.
The problem is that the Jesus we've made over isn't a Jesus who can save. Mostly because we don't want Him to. We want a hug. We want Him to solve poverty. We don't want Him to put our sins to death on the cross... because we don't have any live sins anyway!
It looks like we've built up an idol. A false Jesus. Because the Jesus in the Bible has come to save sinners from their sins. It's right there in Genesis 3:15. The Bible is written in such a way that it gives a really clear description of the problem of sin and its effects. That's called the Old Testament. Then it gives the glorious solution in the New Testament. And it's not just a Jesus who hugs children. It's Jesus with a bloody sword defeating what? Oh right, sin.

So salvation is only for those who need to be saved, who know that they need to be saved. Before God can do a work of particular redemption, a soul must understand that it is particularly in need of redemption. That revelation is, itself, an act of God. Only sinners can be saved. Don't kid yourself.