How do I receive forgiveness from God?

How then can I, a hell-deserving guilty sinner, stand in God’s favour? God points me to His beloved Son, and bids me trust in Him. Do I need forgiveness? “To HIM give all the prophets witness that through HIS NAME whosoever believes IN HIM shall receive forgiveness of sins” (Acts 10:43). When does the believer in Jesus receive the forgiveness of sins? The moment he or she believes on the Lord Jesus.

Upon what, then, does forgiveness depend? Evidently upon simple faith in Christ. "Whosoever believes in Him shall receive remission of sins" is what Scripture says (Acts 10:43).

The reader, however, may say, Is there no condition whatever annexed to such a gift? The words of Scripture are plain — "Through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins." This much will be noticed by all, that no one will be disposed to accept the gift unless he first believes that he needs forgiveness. The announcement is made to sinners; that lies on the surface. Does my reader therefore, if he should be one who knows nothing of this blessed gift, place himself before God amongst this class as a sinner? Does he acknowledge that he is verily one that needs forgiveness? If he can answer these questions in the affirmative, there remains but one other, and it is this, Does he believe God's testimony to the death and resurrection of Christ? Does he receive the truth that God preaches forgiveness by the mouth of His servants through the risen and glorified Saviour? If he does there remains nothing more, nothing whatever; for as the apostle Peter also says, "To Him give all the prophets witness, that through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins." This is God's own word, and on it we may rest both for time and eternity. Forgiveness of sins is thus freely presented to every poor sinner who comes to God as a sinner in and through the lord Jesus Christ.

How can God's forgiveness be obtained? By simply bowing to the One through whom God sends it. "Christ died for the ungodly" and it is because of what He has done, and through Him, that God can save and bless poor sinners; but those who want the blessing must, trusting in this Saviour, bow heart and knee to Him.

First, we must face our sins as our own personal guilt, if we are to be forgiven. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). This guilt must be removed before we can begin to understand how God deals with our sinful nature. The sinful nature is not our responsibility, but our guilt is. It is guilt on account of the sinful acts we have committed and which only the blood of Christ, shed on Calvary, is sufficient to remove before God. Personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, as the great sacrifice for our sins, is absolutely essential for this forgiveness and justification. For God offers this "unto all," but it is applicable only to "all them that believe" on His Son (Rom. 3:22).

We are now occupied with the commission itself; and in it we see those two divinely settled facts, repentance and remission of sins. The holy apostles of our Lord and Saviour were charged to preach among all nations — to declare in the ears of every creature under heaven, "repentance and remission of sins." Every man, be he Jew or Gentile, is absolutely commanded by God to repent; and every repentant soul is privileged to receive, on the spot, the full and everlasting remission of sins. And we may add, the deeper and more abiding the work of repentance, the deeper and more abiding will be the enjoyment of remission of sins. The contrite soul lives in the very atmosphere of divine forgiveness; and as it inhales that atmosphere, it shrinks with ever increasing horror from sin in every shape and form.

The mission of the disciples was simple. It was that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. They were, moreover, to be witnesses of the things which they had seen and heard. Before we speak of the power which was necessary for the execution of their mission, we would call attention to its terms. They were to preach repentance and remission of sins in the name of the Risen Christ not, be it observed, remission of sins only, but also repentance, without which remission of sins could not be received. For repentance leads to self-judgment and confession, and thus produces the state of soul in which forgiveness of sins can be received and enjoyed. In like manner the apostle Paul testified both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21), and likewise he proclaimed at Athens that God now commandeth all men everywhere to repent. It is not that repentance is a condition of forgiveness, for God announces forgiveness to every one who will receive it; but it is, as we have said, that repentance brings the soul into that blessed state in which it is enabled thankfully to receive the divine gift.

But, then, "if any man sin," what is to be done? The inspired apostle furnishes a full and most blessed answer: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9) Confession is the mode in which the conscience is to be kept free. The apostle does not say, "If we pray for pardon, he is gracious and merciful to forgive us." No doubt, it is ever happy for a child to breathe the sense of need into his father's ear — to tell him of feebleness, to confess folly, infirmity, and failure. All this is most true; and, moreover, it is equally true that our Father is most gracious and merciful to meet His children in all their weakness and ignorance; but, while all this is true, the Holy Ghost declares, by the apostle, that, "if we confess," God is "faithful and just to forgive." confession, therefore, is the divine mode. A Christian, having erred, in thought, word, or deed, might pray for pardon, for days and months together, and not have any assurance, from 1 John 1:9, that he was forgiven; whereas the moment he truly confesses his sin, before God, it is a simple matter of faith to know that he is perfectly forgiven and perfectly cleansed.

Peter goes on, and tells how Jesus "went about doing good," how the Jews slew Him, how God raised Him, and how He was seen, after His resurrection, by many witnesses. He concludes his testimony by saying, "To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name, whosoever believes in him shall receive remission of sins. While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word." What had they heard? Ah! this is wonderful news for you and me, for we are Gentiles. "To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name, whosoever believes in him shall receive remission of sins." Do you wish the remission of your sins? You are welcome to it. "To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name, whosoever believes in him shall receive remission of sins." Ah! but you may say, what about repentance? God says nothing about it here. I doubt not they had repented. There was no need to press it on those who were so deeply anxious. What they needed was the simple, beautiful Gospel of Jesus. "To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name, whosoever believes in him shall receive remission of sins." If you are here in your sins, and desirous to have them remitted, i.e. forgiven, let me tell you this good news of the Saviour of sinners, "through his name, whosoever believes in him SHALL RECEIVE REMISSION OF SINS."

Forgiveness of sins is now preached to every creature, Jew or Gentile, bond or free, through the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. By the work which He has accomplished, sins are put away from before God, and whosoever believes in Him receives forgiveness thereof. But who does he mean by "whosoever"? Does he not mean you? Yes, surely it means you as well as me. If you can truly say, I believe in Him, you receive remission of sins. But I do not feel it, you may argue. It does not say, "Whosoever believes in him shall feel the remission of sins." No, it says, "Whosoever believes in him shall receive remission of sins." I forgive, says God, the soul that cleaves to My Son. It is due to Christ that God should pardon and bless the soul that believes in Him.

With regard to unsaved sinners the case is, of course, different. But even such are never told to pray for forgiveness. God is revealed as the One who offers it to all freely through Christ (Acts 13:38), and sinners are exhorted to receive it.