Matthew 9:9-13
The Calling of Matthew
9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Acts 4:12
Jesus is Our Savior
12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.
Matthew 18:21-22
Jesus on Forgiveness
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"
22 Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
1 Peter 2:24
Jesus Bore Himself on the Cross for Us
24 He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. "By His stripes you are healed.
Luke 18:9-14
The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector
9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10 "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'
13 "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'
14 "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
I sometimes wonder why God did not give Adam and Eve a second chance, or let them stay in the Garden of Eden...After all, they only sinned one time and then are expelled from their Paradise...But I suspect that God knew they would sin again, and again...I do not know anyone who has sinned only one time...We need a Savior for our sinning ways...And He tells us He came to earth for sinners...
I myself have sinned multiple times, but I know Jesus teaches that we are to forgive those who sin against us, multiple times...So I know that He is watching and forgiving me when I sin again and again...I regularly must confess to Him and His Father because of my sinful nature, that I am a sinner -and ask Them to have mercy on me...