Forgiveness

John 20:23
If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.

Luke 5:21
And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, "Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?"

Did Jesus grant us His exclusive power to forgive sins? Yes, He did. We see in several places in scripture where Jesus delegates His authority to believers. He had sent them out 2 by 2 to heal the sick and cast out demons. The fact that He explicitly told us He is also delegating His power of forgiveness to us should come as no great surprise.

2 Corinthians 5:18
Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation

Matthew 6:14-15
For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Matthew 18:35
So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.

So you see... the reason God holds us accountable for unforgiveness is because our job is to be His agents of grace. If we refuse to free others from their sins, then it's as if we are becoming guilty of those sins ourselves. Reference the story of the prophet Jonah. When Jonah was told by God to go and preach to Nineveh, but Jonah refused because he did not like the Ninevites (hey; they were sinners!) So Jonah had to suffer the consequences, not only because he disobeyed God, but because it was as if the sins of Nineveh were imputed to him until He preached to them and gave them the choice to repent or not to repent.

Examples of forgiveness releasing people from their bondage so they were free to choose to listen to God's voice...

Luke 23:34
Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”

Jesus's whole purpose for dying was to provide forgiveness. And we see that the very men who put Him to death immediately became Christians...

Matthew 27:54 So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, "Truly this was the Son of God!"

Acts 7:60
Then he (Stephen) knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin." And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Who was present at the stoning of Stephen?

Acts 8:1 Now Saul was consenting to his death.

Saul was released from his sin by Stephen. Saul later became Paul, who went on to write 2/3rds of the New Testament.

Now, as we pay attention to current events and political news, we are of course tempted to hold politicians in contempt, to foster hatred in our hearts. But we also know that demons are in charge of regional and world politics. I won't take up too much time pointing out the Biblical references to this, as I wrote my longest sermon ever on this topic ("Love Not The World"). My point is this: demons attach themselves to people and influence them because they have the RIGHT to do so. The sins of people invite demons and give demons permission to operate.

So! If we want to CHANGE THE WORLD, we can only do so by RELEASING the sins of the bad actors, which will recind the invitation to the demons that control those people. We forgive them, first of all, and then we pray for them that the blood of Jesus would cleanse them of all sin and unrighteousness and that the Holy Spirit would open their eyes to see, open their ears to hear, and open their hearts to receive God's truth.

We shouldn't just pray for the destruction of evil men, because that rains condemnation down on our own heads. Plus those evil men, if they go away, will just be replaced by other evil men.

We can't pray that demons will stop doing evil things. Demons do not and will not change their ways. We pray that the human beings being manipulated by demons will be freed from their corruption and liberated from their demonic oppression. Then those people will become agents of light instead of darkness.

John 3:20
For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.

Ephesians 5:11
And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.

Ephesians 5:13
But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light.

Matthew 5:44
But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you

1 Timothy 2:1-4
Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Acts 26:17-18
"I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me."