Forgiveness and Acceptance

If we sin, we can go to Jesus, our Advocate

1 John 2:1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. and if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

Jesus forgives us when we confess to Him

 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Jesus is our High Priest and He understands our every struggle

Hebrews 4:14-16 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Jesus is our only mediator between us and God

1 Timothy 2:5 

For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus

Jesus will never cast you away

John 6:37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.

In Christ we no longer stand condemned

Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

1 John 3:19-20 And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.

Jesus takes our sin and gives us His righteousness

2 Corinthians 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

We are justified (made righteous) by faith

Romans 1:17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”

Romans 5:1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ

God accepts all who come with a broken heart

Psalm 34:18 The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit.

Psalm 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise.

Luke 18:10-14 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Let go of old ways of thinking

Isaiah 55:7-9 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; and to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.

Think about God's thoughts toward you

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you," says the Lord, "thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope."

God can cleanse and remove your sins

Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.

Isaiah 44:22 I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions, and like a cloud, your sins. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.”

Psalm 103:12-14 As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.

Micah 7:18-19  Who is a God like You, Pardoning iniquity And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins Into the depths of the sea.

God never remembers your sin again

Isaiah 43:25 “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins.