Receiving Forgiveness

God is forgiving, but he punishes those who rebel against him.
The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, yet by no means clearing the guilty. Exodus 34:6-7

We have sinned against God, and so owe him a debt.
Father, forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. Matthew 6:12

Unless we reconcile with God, we will be thrown into prison for our debt and punished eternally.
Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny. Matthew 5:25-26

Because of our debt, Satan has a contract out on us to kill us.
The wages of sin is death… Romans 6:23

Through his death, Jesus delivered us from the satanic contract of death.
You were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of flesh. He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Colossians 2:13-14

We gain forgiveness by becoming unified with Christ.
You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. I Corinthians 6:11

We maintain forgiveness by confessing our sins.
If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I John 1:9

We show that we have received forgiveness by loving God Greatly.
I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little. Luke 7:47

Expectant Hope

God promised those who follow Jesus a future of wholeness.
For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. I Thessalonians 5:8

God promised those who follow Jesus to be raised from the dead.
Christ the first fruits was raised, then at his coming those who belong to Christ will be raised. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. I Corinthians 15:23, 26

We live in expectation that God will give this to us.
We hope for what we do not see—the redemption of our bodies—and we wait for it with patience. Romans 8:23,25

We know that we will receive this because God has given us the Holy Spirit.
When you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, you were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God's own people, to the praise of his glory. Ephesians 1:13-14

If we suffer for Christ, we rejoice, for we know that we will receive God’s good in the end.
Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven. Luke 6:22-23

Like the saints of old, we expect this promise to be fulfilled, even if we do not experience it in our lives.
All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Hebrews 11:12, 15-16

Those who mock our hope will be judged on the last day.
In the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and indulging their own lusts and saying, "Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since our ancestors died, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation!" The present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the godless. II Peter 3:3,4,7