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Sin is mentioned throughout the Bible. Jesus Christ and the prophets say that we should avoid sin, and they remind us of the consequences of sin. What exactly is sin? Look at what the Bible promises us:
What is sin?
Transgression of the commands and laws of God. X Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned; for I have transgressed the commandment of Yahweh, and your words, because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice. (2 Samuel 15:24 WEB)

X Everyone who sins also commits lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. (1 John 3:4 WEB)
Knowing good and not doing it.
X To him therefore who knows how to do good, and does it not, to him it is sin. (James 7:17 WEB)
Foolish schemes.
X The schemes of folly are sin. The mocker is detested by men.(Proverbs 24:9 WEB)
The fruit of our lust.
X But each one is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed. Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin; and the sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death. (James 1:14-15 WEB)
All unrighteousness.
X All unrighteousness is sin... (1 John 5:17 KJV)

Am I a sinner?
Yes!
X All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6 WEB)
Absolutely!
X for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23 ASV)
Positively!
X If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (1 John 1:8 ASV)
No doubt about it!
X If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:10 ASV)
Definitely!
X Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin? (Proverbs 20:9 ASV)

So what! Why should I care?
Sin results in death!
X For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23 WEB)

X The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. (1 Corinthians 15:56 WEB)
Even 1 sin has the same result.
X For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he has become guilty of all. (James 2:10 WEB)
Living without the Law changes nothing.
X For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without the law. As many as have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. (Romans 2:12 WEB)

I've sinned and I'm going to die. Is there any hope for me?
Yes.
X For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, (Romans 8:1-4 NIV)
Put your trust in Jesus Christ. X Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:1-4 NIV)
Confess your sins to God. X 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 KJV)
Walk in the light with God. X This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. (1 John 1:5-7 NIV)
Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. X Peter said to them, "Repent, and be baptized, everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38 WEB)

What happens when I repent? 
You are forgiven.
X He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor repaid us for our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, So far has he removed our transgressions from us. Like a father has compassion on his children, So Yahweh has compassion on those who fear him. (Psalm 103:10-13 WEB)
... and refreshed by the Lord.
X Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord (Acts 3:19 WEB)
You can receive the Holy Spirit.
X Peter said to them, "Repent, and be baptized, everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38 WEB)
There will be joy in heaven.
X I tell you that even so there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance. (Luke 15:7 WEB)
There will be joy in the presence of the angels.
X Even so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner repenting. (Luke 15:10 WEB)

What happens if I don't repent? 
Death.
X Jesus answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no, but, unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way. (Luke 13:2-3 WEB)
Your sins will lead to your downfall.
X Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye. (Ezekiel 18:30-32 KJV)
You will be unprepared for the judgment.
X The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked. But now he commands that all people everywhere should repent, because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead. (Acts 17:30-31 WEB)
You build up wrath for your judgment.
X But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath, revelation, and of the righteous judgment of God; who "will pay back to everyone according to their works:" (Romans 2:5-6 WEB)

How do I know if I repented?
Fruits.
X Therefore bring forth fruit worthy of repentance! (Matthew 3:8 WEB)
Works.
X Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to them of Damascus, at Jerusalem, and throughout all the country of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance. (Acts 26:19-20 WEB)
You will see sin for what it is.
X He isn't greater in this house than I, neither has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God? (Genesis 39:9 WEB)
Who cannot repent?
Profane people who reject God.
X Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. (Hebrews 12:14-17 KJV)
Those who have fallen away after partaking of the Holy Spirit.
X For concerning those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come, and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance; seeing they crucify the Son of God for themselves again, and put him to open shame. (Hebrews 6:4-6 WEB)

How should I treat someone who sins and repents?
Forgive them.
X "Be careful. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in the day, and seven times returns, saying, 'I repent,' you shall forgive him." (Luke 17:3-4 WEB)

Are there some good examples of repentance in the Bible?
    He [Jesus] said, "A certain man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of your property.' He divided his livelihood between them. Not many days after, the younger son gathered all of this together and traveled into a far country. There he wasted his property with riotous living. When he had spent all of it, there arose a severe famine in that country, and he began to be in need. He went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed pigs. He wanted to fill his belly with the husks that the pigs ate, but no one gave him any. But when he came to himself he said, 'How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough to spare, and I'm dying with hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and will tell him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight. I am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants."'
    "He arose, and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'
    "But the father said to his servants, 'Bring out the best robe, and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. Bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat, and celebrate; for this, my son, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.' They began to celebrate.
    "Now his elder son was in the field. As he came near to the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the servants to him, and asked what was going on. He said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and healthy.' But he was angry, and would not go in. Therefore his father came out, and begged him.
 29 But he answered his father, 'Behold, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed a commandment of yours, but you never gave me a goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this, your son, came, who has devoured your living with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.'
    "He said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But it was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for this, your brother, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.'" (Luke 15:11-32 WEB)

    Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. He came into all the region around the Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for remission of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,
"The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
 'Make ready the way of the Lord.
Make his paths straight.
Every valley will be filled.
Every mountain and hill will be brought low.
The crooked will become straight,
And the rough ways smooth.
All flesh will see God's salvation.'"
    He said therefore to the multitudes who went out to be baptized by him, "You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and don't begin to say among yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father;' for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones! Even now the axe also lies at the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that doesn't bring forth good fruit is cut down, and thrown into the fire." The multitudes asked him, "What then must we do?"
    He answered them, "He who has two coats, let him give to him who has none. He who has food, let him do likewise."
    Tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, "Teacher, what must we do?"
    He said to them, "Collect no more than that which is appointed to you."
    Soldiers also asked him, saying, "What about us? What must we do?" He said to them, "Extort from no one by violence, neither accuse anyone wrongfully. Be content with your wages."
    As the people were in expectation, and all men reasoned in their hearts concerning John, whether perhaps he was the Christ, John answered them all, "I indeed baptize you with water, but he comes who is mightier than I, the latchet of whose sandals I am not worthy to loosen. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire, whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor, and will gather the wheat into his barn; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
    Then with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people, but Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias, his brother's wife, and for all the evil things which Herod had done, added this also to them all, that he shut up John in prison. (Luke 3:1-20 WEB)

    He [Jesus] told them this parable. "Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep, and lost one of them, wouldn't leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one that was lost, until he found it? When he has found it, he carries it on his shoulders, rejoicing. When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!' I tell you that even so there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance. Or what woman, if she had ten drachma coins, if she lost one drachma coin, wouldn't light a lamp, sweep the house, and seek diligently until she found it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma which I had lost.' Even so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner repenting." (Luke 15:3-10 WEB)

   And in those days cometh John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, saying, Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of through Isaiah the prophet, saying,
The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
Make ye ready the way of the Lord,
 Make his paths straight.
   Now John himself had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then went out unto him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about the Jordan; and they were baptized of him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said unto them, Ye offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of repentance: and think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And even now the axe lieth at the root of the trees: every tree therefore that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
    I indeed baptize you in water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire: whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing-floor; and he will gather his wheat into the garner, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire. (Matthew 3:1-12 ASV)