6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
3 If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? 4 But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared.
13 “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, 14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
10 All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant. 11 For the sake of your name, O LORD, forgive my iniquity, though it is great.
34 “No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
14 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
1 Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. 2 Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits-- 3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, 5 who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.
“If you are reading this because you count yourself a good person and good people read religious books, let me give you a warning; you are dancing on the edge of a cliff. One day, maybe soon, you’re going to fall off. Not only that, but when you fall off, it’s going to hurt really bad. I just wanted you know, and I didn’t want you to say that nobody ever told you. I just told you....Feeling ashamed and knowing Christ far surpasses being good and never thirsting for mercy and forgiveness.” Steve Brown
“Christianity simply does not make sense until you face the sort of facts I have been describing. Christianity tells people to repent and promises them forgiveness. It therefore has nothing (as far as I know) to say to people who do not know that they have anything to repent of and who do not feel that they need any forgiveness. It is after you have realized that there is a real moral law and a power behind the law and that you have broken that law and put yourself wrong with that power - It is after all this, and not a moment sooner, that Christianity begins to talk...(Christianity) tells you how the demands of this law, which you and I cannot meet, have been met on our behalf. How God himself becomes a man to save man from the disapproval of God. It is an old story...All I am doing is to ask people to face the facts - to understand the questions which Christianity claims to answer. And they are very terrifying facts. I wish it was possible to say something more agreeable. But I must say what I think true. Of course, I quite agree that the Christian religion is, in the long run a thing of unspeakable comfort. But it does not begin in comfort; it begins in the dismay I am describing and it is no use at all to go on to that comfort without first going through that dismay. In religion, as in war and everything else comfort is the one thing you cannot get by looking for it. If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end: If you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth. - only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin with and, in the end despair.” CS Lewis
“God not only offers forgiveness, reconciliation, and healing, but wants to lift up these gifts as a source of joy for all who witness them.” Henri Nouwen
“You know to what extent You have already changed me, You who first healed me of the lust of vindicating myself, so that You might forgive all my remaining iniquities, and heal my diseases, and redeem my life from corruption, and crown me with loving-kindness and tender mercies, and satisfy my desire with good things.” St. Augustine
“The only ground on which God can forgive our sin and reinstate us to His favor is through the Cross of Christ. There is no other way! Forgiveness, which is so easy for us to accept, cost the agony at Calvary. We should never take the forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and our sanctification in simple faith, and then forget the enormous cost to God that made all of this ours. Forgiveness is the divine miracle of grace. The cost to God was the Cross of Christ. To forgive sin, while remaining a holy God, this price had to be paid. Never accept a view of the fatherhood of God if it blots out the atonement. The revealed truth of God is that without the atonement He cannot forgive – He would contradict His nature if He did. The only way we can be forgiven is by being brought back to God through the atonement of the Cross. God’s forgiveness is possible only in the supernatural realm......Once you realize all that it cost God to forgive you, you will be held as in a vise, constrained by the love of God.” Oswald Chambers
“God no longer holds you responsible for the smallest sin. Every single sin is forgiven. When faith is said to be credited for righteousness, it is because of what your faith receives: when you believe, Christ’s righteousness is credited to your account, and your sins are credited to his account. If both of these things do not happen, you cannot consider yourself forgiven. Sin would be charged to your account. In the gospel, two things happen: first, God removes the charge of sin against your account. Second, God gives you the gift of righteousness from Christ. You receive this double gift when you receive Christ’s redemption through the shedding of his blood.” Walter Marshall
“The glory of Christianity is to conquer by forgiveness.” William Blake
“When we as Christians sin, we can react in one of three ways: 1) We can become hardened to our sin. 2) We can sink into utter despair and say, ‘Its all over.’ I’ve known Christians who have spent twenty years despairing over one sin....the only right course of action for us as Christians is to 3) become increasingly sensitive to our sin, but also increasingly to know the forgiveness that is ours on the basis of the blood of Christ—to have the assurance that, if Jesus died for me in the state I was in before my salvation, how much more He must love me now!” Francis Schaeffer
“The more willing you are to own up to your sin, the more willing God is to forgive you. When you come clean, God will clean your record. If you are willing to use your lips for confession, you will find your Father willing to use His lips to kiss you". Paraphrased, Charles Spurgeon
“Hast thou, O my soul, felt the weight of thy own guilt and misery, and been enabled, in reality and truth, to lay hold by faith of the blood of Christ for thy redemption, and faithfully to devote thyself to him in heart and life? Then hast thou a sure foundation to go upon: let it be thy constant care firmly to depend upon these and such like blessed declarations; for every blessing thou standest in need of. Has Christ brought life and immortality to light? Then look unto him and live. Is there redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins? Then throw all thy guilt upon his atonement. Has he blotted out the hand-writing of ordinances that was against thee? Then shake off self-righteous dependences, and legal fears also. Did he die for thy sins? Then let his goodness and love lead thee to unfeigned repentance; let the sense of thy sins break thine heart, but encourage thy hope in the gospel.” K.H. Von Bogatzky
“God’s forgiveness forgets.” Oswald Chambers
“Christ comes with a blessing in each hand; forgiveness in one, holiness in the other.” A. W. Pink
“The man who is truly forgiven and knows it is a man who forgives.” Martyn Lloyd-Jones