What would happen when you are a sinner if you kill someone or commit some other horrible crime and go to jail, and then repent and accept Jesus Christ as your savior? Would you go to Heaven or Hell?
When we accept Christ as our savior, before God we become brand new (2 Cor. 5:17 – “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new”), in fact we are made the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21 – “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”) …no matter what we have done in the past. Psalms 103:12 says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” Micah 7:19 says, “…thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” We are assured that we are free from God’s judgment in Romans 8:1, which says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
With that being said, there are still physical, emotional, and governmental consequences for our actions, whether we are saved or not (Gal. 6:7-8 – “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”) If a man in prison for murder or any other crime becomes a believer in the Lord Jesus, he must still serve the sentence for his crime. While he is made new in Christ Jesus, and his slate is clean before the Lord, he is still guilty in the eyes of the world for the crimes he has committed. So, to remain in prison, or to suffer consequences for our past sins after we are saved is not an indication of the judgment of God. It is simply the natural consequences for the things we have done.