when you’ve fallen into sin

FACING THE GRAVITY OF YOUR SIN

O my God, I am too ashamed and disgraced to lift up my face to you, my God, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens.

EZRA 9:6, NIV

O loving and kind God, have mercy. Have pity upon me and take away the awful stain of my transgressions. Oh, wash me, cleanse me from this guilt. Let me be pure again. For I admit my shameful deed—it haunts me day and night. It is against you and you alone I sinned, and did this terrible thing. You saw it all, and your sentence against me is just. But I was born a sinner, yes, from the moment my mother conceived me. You deserve honesty from the heart; yes, utter sincerity and truthfulness. Oh, give me this wisdom.

Sprinkle me with the cleansing blood and I shall be clean again. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. And after you have punished me, give me back my joy again. Don’t keep looking at my sins—erase them from your sight. Create in me a new, clean heart, O God, filled with clean thoughts and right desires. Don’t toss me aside, banished forever from your presence. Don’t take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me again the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.

PSALM 51:1–12, TLB

If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.

1 JOHN 1:8–10, NASB

God doesn’t listen to the prayers of men who flout the law.

PROVERBS 28:9, TLB

For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

JAMES 2:10–11, NASB

YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE A SLAVE TO SIN

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

and recovering of sight to the blind,

to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

LUKE 4:18–19, RSV

Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you keep obeying my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

“But we are descendants of Abraham,” they said. “We have never been slaves to anyone on earth. What do you mean, ‘set free’?”

Jesus replied, “I assure you that everyone who sins is a slave of sin. A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will indeed be free.”

JOHN 8:31–36, NLT

Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.

ROMANS 6:6–7, NASB

Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

2 CORINTHIANS 3:17, NKJV

Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

GALATIANS 5:1, NKJV

This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

ROMANS 3:22–24, NIV

But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

GALATIANS 3:22, NASB

And do not enter into judgment with Your servant, For in Your sight no man living is righteous.

PSALM 143:2, NASB

That is why he is the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, so that all who are invited can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.

HEBREWS 9:15, NLT

FORGIVENESS IS JUST A PRAYER AWAY

If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.

1 JOHN 1:8–10, NASB

Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!

You have relieved me in my distress;

Be gracious to me and hear my prayer.

PSALM 4:1, NASB

For this is what the high and lofty One says—

he who lives forever, whose name is holy:

“I live in a high and holy place,

but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit,

to revive the spirit of the lowly

and to revive the heart of the contrite.

I will not accuse forever,

nor will I always be angry,

for then the spirit of man would grow faint before me—

the breath of man that I have created.”

ISAIAH 57:15–16, NIV

But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity,

And did not destroy them.

Yes, many a time He turned His anger away,

And did not stir up all His wrath.

PSALM 78:38, NKJV

Come, let us return to the LORD;

for he has torn, that he may heal us;

he has stricken, and he will bind us up.

After two days he will revive us;

on the third day he will raise us up,

that we may live before him.

Let us know, let us press on to know the LORD;

his going forth is sure as the dawn;

he will come to us as the showers,

as the spring rains that water the earth.

HOSEA 6:1–3, RSV

Finally, I confessed all my sins to you

and stopped trying to hide them.

I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the LORD.”

PSALM 32:5, NLT

A man who refuses to admit his mistakes can never be successful. But if he confesses and forsakes them, he gets another chance.

PROVERBS 28:13, TLB

GOD IS EAGER TO GIVE YOU A FRESH START

As far as the east is from the west,

So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

PSALM 103:12, NASB

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.

ISAIAH 55:7, NKJV

Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has taken away your sin; you shall not die.”

2 SAMUEL 12:13, NASB

Yes, it was good for me to suffer this anguish, for you have rescued me from death and have forgiven all my sins.

ISAIAH 38:17, NLT

For behold, upon the stone which I have set before Joshua, upon a single stone with seven facets, I will engrave its inscription, says the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the guilt of this land in a single day.

ZECHARIAH 3:9, RSV

“But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day,” says the LORD. “I will put my laws in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their family, saying, ‘You should know the LORD.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will already know me,” says the LORD. “And I will forgive their wickedness and will never again remember their sins.”

JEREMIAH 31:33–34, NLT

If that had been necessary, he would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But no! He came once for all time, at the end of the age, to remove the power of sin forever by his sacrificial death for us.

HEBREWS 9:26, NLT

For I will be merciful and gracious toward their sins and I will remember their deeds of unrighteousness no more.

HEBREWS 8:12, AMP

WHEN YOU THINK GOD IS ANGRY WITH YOU

He passed in front of Moses and said, “I am the LORD, I am the LORD, the merciful and gracious God. I am slow to anger and rich in unfailing love and faithfulness.”

EXODUS 34:6, NLT

The LORD is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression.

NUMBERS 14:18, NASB

For the LORD your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.

DEUTERONOMY 4:31, NASB

For His anger is but for a moment,

His favor is for life;

Weeping may endure for a night,

But joy comes in the morning.

PSALM 30:5, NKJV

But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,

Slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.

PSALM 86:15, NASB

The LORD is compassionate and gracious,

Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.

He will not always strive with us,

Nor will He keep His anger forever.

He has not dealt with us according to our sins,

Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.

As far as the east is from the west,

So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

Just as a father has compassion on his children,

So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.

For He Himself knows our frame;

He is mindful that we are but dust.

PSALM 103:8–14, NASB

The LORD is kind and merciful,

slow to get angry, full of unfailing love.

PSALM 145:8, NLT

They refused to listen,

And did not remember Your wondrous deeds which You

had performed among them;

So they became stubborn and appointed a leader to return

to their slavery in Egypt.

But You are a God of forgiveness,

Gracious and compassionate,

Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness;

And You did not forsake them.

NEHEMIAH 9:17, NASB

For I [know] you [are] a gracious God, merciful, slow to get angry, and full of kindness; I [know] how easily you could cancel your plans for destroying these people.

JONAH 4:2, TLB

This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

ROMANS 3:22–24, NIV

And God has actually given us his Spirit (not the world’s spirit) so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.

1 CORINTHIANS 2:12, NLT

Long ago, even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.

So we praise God for the wonderful kindness he has poured out on us because we belong to his dearly loved Son.

EPHESIANS 1:4–6, NLT

WHEN YOU THINK YOU’RE BEYOND HELP

Before we experience victory over sexual sin, we’re hurting and confused. Why can’t I win at this? we think. As the fight wears on, and the losses pile higher, we begin to doubt everything about ourselves, even our salvation. At best, we think that we’re deeply flawed, or worse, evil persons.

—Every Young Man’s Battle

Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort, according to thy word unto thy servant.

PSALM 119:76, KJV

For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.

1 PETER 2:25, RSV

I will search for my lost ones who strayed away, and I will bring them safely home again. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak. But I will destroy those who are fat and powerful. I will feed them, yes—feed them justice!

EZEKIEL 34:16, NLT

Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.

COLOSSIANS 1:21–22, NIV

Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled by others and became slaves to many wicked desires and evil pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy. We hated others, and they hated us.

But then God our Savior showed us his kindness and love. He saved us, not because of the good things we did, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins and gave us a new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us because of what Jesus Christ our Savior did. He declared us not guilty because of his great kindness. And now we know that we will inherit eternal life.

TITUS 3:3–7, NLT

Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

1 THESSALONIANS 5:16–18, RSV