Yes, only God knows because He has so ordained which sinners will be given to know of their guilt and sin. One does not 'decide to become' a "self-sinner" as you have phrased it, but rather it is a natural realization of one having been born anew (regeneration) by the secret, silent and sovereign work of the Holy Spirit. It is all of sovereign free grace.
Absolutely correct, of course. My point was that, "sinners" is a Gospel term. In one sense, absolutely everyone is a sinner, a transgressor of God's law, for there is not a man who sinneth not, yet there are also "sinners" who are made aware of their woeful condition by the Spirit of God. Am referring of course to the regenerate elect, who are denoted in Scripture by various definitives, such as "poor [in spirit]", "hungering and thirsting for [Christ's] righteousness", those that mourn over their sin, those that "labor" under the weight of their guilt and are "heavy laden" with the sense of their sins, etc. The Gospel, the Good News is for such - it is for self-sinners. But there is no gospel of peace for the self-righteous, self-conceited reprobate, for there is no peace for the wicked.
So the sense is that one cannot say to everyone that 'God saves sinners such you an me', for one cannot know whether his or her interlocutor is such, for they may well be a self-righteous "whole" who have no need of the Physician (that is Christ) and whom Christ is not calling for He calls His sheep ONLY, since He calls them BY NAME, that is by their spiritual designation, i.e., the "poor in spirit", "hungering and thirsting after righteousness", "mourners in Zion", etc, etc, for Christ was anointed to preach the gospel to such: The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel
to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised(Luke 4:18). There is NO gospel for the [spiritually] 'rich', but only woes: "But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation. Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep"(Luke 6:24,25).
The main point being, the Gospel is for certain folks, scripturally defined, just as its foundation (Christ's reconciliation) is for a definite group of people. It is not for all indiscriminately. It is for the poor [in spirit]: "Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and
the poor have the gospel preached to them".
(Matthew 11:4,5) And though the message of the Gospel is to be declared and published to all persons promiscuously, yet it's calling and the promise are to be scripturally and spiritually addressed ONLY to those for whom it is intended, i.e., to Christ's [as yet lost] sheep, who must hear in the gospel summons the voice of the Shepherd calling them BY NAME: "To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice:
and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out" (John 10:3)
