Forgiveness of Sins
By being born again, one has forgiveness of sin and passes from the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God. When you have made peace with God, been born again spiritually, you are made alive (quickened), and your sins are forgiven. Our sins are removed as far as the east is from the west, Colossians 2:13; 1 John 2:12; Psalm 103:12.
Adam's sin has been imputed to all. However, the act of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross not only paid for Adam's sin that was imputed to us, it paid for all our sins. Jesus not only paid the penalty of our sin, but He gave us power over sin, and, in the end we will be removed from the presence of sin, Romans 6:11, 14; 5:12-21.
The bible tells us that sin earns wages, Romans 6:23, and the death it is speaking of is the second death, which is eternal separation from God in a lake of fire. But Christ paid for our sins, the reason why he died on the cross. By one man, Adam, we all inherit sin, sin is imputed to our account and by one man, Jesus Christ, we all have our sin debt paid. The righteousness of Christ is imputed to our account, and we can now enter into the kingdom of God by grace through faith.
The most common thought in the New Testament concerning forgiveness, is the separation of the sinner from his sins, the sending away or the sending off of his/her sins. This is accomplished by grace (the unmerited favor of God), through the sacrifice of Christ.
In the Old Testament, in the Day of Atonement ritual, two goats were taken, one goat was for a sin-offering, and the other was a scapegoat. The High Priest went into the Holy of Holies with the blood of the goat for a sin-offering to make atonement. This satisfied the divine justice and holiness of God. Then the High Priest took the other goat, the scape goat, and with his hands on its head he confessed the sins of the people. After this, the High Priest sent the sin laden scape goat into the wilderness, to an uninhabited place. Their sins were remitted because of the sacrificial blood and the sins of the people were sent, or lifted away, Leviticus 16:16.
Similarly, in the New Testament, we have Jesus Christ as our sacrifice for today, bearing our sins in His body on the cross. He was crucified, and our sins were thus lifted up and away from us, no longer resting upon us. Our sins were placed upon Christ and taken away forever. He suffered our penalty for sins, He Himself being the sin offering. Thus, the sacrifice of Christ met every claim of God's justice and holiness, forever removing our sins. We must understand that we are sinners, but our sins were paid for by Christ. When we repent (have a change of mind about sin and God) and believe in what Christ has done for us, we will have forgiveness of sins and eternal life, Hebrews 9:12; 1 Peter 2:24; John 3:14-17.
However, we must be careful. Many say they believe in God but if we don't believe in our hearts we are still lost and sinners. When we believe with our heart we are trusting, Romans 10:9. The one thing that will send anyone to hell is unbelief, John 3:18; 1 John 5:10. We are not sent to hell just because we have done bad things but also because of our unbelief. One must believe in Jesus Christ and what he did for us. Jesus is the only person that can save us, John 14:6; Acts 4:12.
