How forgiving is God? Does he show mercy to even the biggest sinners or is there a limit to how bad you can sin?

You are absolutely correct - you cannot earn God's forgiveness. Nobody can. Every last one of us would die unforgiven, no matter how hard we might try to merit God's approval, because He has told us, "There is no-one righteous, not even one... there is no-one that does good, not one" Romans 3:9-12. Also, "All our righteous acts are as filthy rags [in the sight of the holy God]; we all fade as a leaf and, like the wind our sins sweep us away" Isaiah 64:6.Further, "No-one can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him. For the redemption of their soul is precious, no payment is ever enough, that he should live on for ever and not see decay" Psalm 49:7-9.

Which is why God arranged the redemption price to be paid for by Another - His sinless Son. So verse 15 adds, "But God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself." As an act of pure love and grace, God has done for us sinners what we could never do to be totally forgiven. The price is paid. The work is done. By Jesus Christ. God asks us to repentantly put faith in the finished work of Christ and to stop striving to pay for salvation ourselves. That is an affront to the grace of God. "Oh, thanks, God! Yes I'll gladly accept your mercy, and here's my contribution towards it."

The only hope for ANY sinner (even one who doesn't appear to have sinned nearly as much as we have) is to stop trying to earn God's approval, to agree with His verdict on us and repentantly receive by faith the merits of what Christ did on our behalf.

Read.....


Matthew 12:31-33 KJV — Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.

God says: “I shall forgive their error, and their sin I shall remember no more.” (Jer. 31:34)

God assures us that once he forgives, he will never in the future act against us because of those sins.

He does not rehash our sins in order to accuse us or punish us again and again. Rather, God forgives those sins and puts them behind him permanently. (Rom. 4:7, 8)

The truth is no one is ever Out Of Reach  of God's mercy 

Blasphemy against God is the only unforgivable sin. This does not mean a person can willfully sin knowingly and repeatedly and expect forgiveness 1 John 3; 6-9

You can't "earn" God's forgiveness (otherwise you would brag about it).

The only unforgivable sin is refusing the offer of God's forgiveness; it's a gift... and it's a choice to receive the gift. Can a beggar brag that they had their hand open to receive?


Why sit there until you die?  
If you remain where you are, you must perish.  
If you go to Jesus you will live. If you sit in sullen dispair no one can pity you when your ruin comes; but if you were to die SEEKING MERCY (as IF that were possible) you would be the object of universal sympathy.  

You know others who were saved by believing in Him (your own friends and neighbors); so why not you? Why not taste and see that the Lord is merciful?  

To perish is awful. We assure that if you seek Him, you will find Him, for He casts out none who come to Him. You shall not perish if you trust Him. On the contrary; you shall find treasure; eternal treasure, that will be stored up for you beyond this life.  

We preach to the living even where the vultures gather because we must. Because we know the truth, and the truth will set you free. Because we too were about to perish when we got up and sought mercy for ourselves. We preach because God has ordained us to do just that.  A sacred responsibility.

so Hitler, Stalin, Mao , Jeffery Domer, son of sam, the green river killer all sit next to god?

The "One Sin" for which there is no forgiveness is clearly recorded in [Matthew 12:31-33] "All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men."  

Why then does the sinner end up in Hell? Because he himself forfeited his chances of being saved. You see, excuses for disobedience are as old as Adam, and we are not here to obtain a Masters in Adam's sin(s), but to Follow and Obey the Last Adam, Jesus.  

The parallel Paul wants us to see and rejoice in is that just as Adam's sin is imputed to us because we were in him, so Christ's righteousness is imputed to us because we are in Him [1 Corinthians 15:45-49].  

The Bible says that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, "but hearing FROM God" requires obedience. So, one could say that faith comes when we exhibit obedience to the Word of God. [James 1:22] "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." 

But, how do we get into Christ? [Galatians 3:26-28] "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ."  

Let's compare it to what Jesus Himself said in [Mark 16:16] "He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned." 

See YOU in Heaven.

EDIT: This is for the anonymous coward (who has me blocked, btw) who began by saying that, "You can't "earn" God's forgiveness (otherwise you would brag about it)." 

While Grace is unmerited and undeserved, such Grace is also conditional---by Grace through Faith. We also know from the Word of God that 'baptism'  stands between one and the grace of God, OR between one and salvation. Thus we are not saved only by Grace as many would prefer...  

By 'Faith' is attached obedience. Because Faith by itself has never saved anyone. Jesus, equally attached conditions to salvation, and so  did the apostles.  [Mark 16:16];  [Luke 24:47];  [John 12:42-43];  [Acts 2:38];  [1 Peter 3:21].   

No one is automatically and unconditionally saved. [Titus 2:11-12];  [Matthew 7:13-14].    

Faith includes repentance, obedience and baptism. It also includes a "life of faithfulness" following the initial conversion experience [2 Timothy 2:11-13];  [Acts 2:38];  [Acts 22:16]. 

The way it was taught to me is that God will forgive ANY transgression.  But being all-knowing you have to be really and TRULY sorry and take action to repent and not repeat the sin.  

So the old thing about 'Well, I can just murder someone and then confess and i'll be forgiven' wouldn't work because the idea is that God is all-knowing and therefore knows you aren't serious about it.

The Bible tells us that  God is also merciful, kind, forgiving, generous, , and patient.

Remember, he forgive David when he made adultery.