Luke 17:3 – 4 (NLT)

³So watch yourselves!

“If another believer sins, rebuke that person; then if there is repentance, forgive.

⁴Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, you must forgive.”

Luke 17:3 KJV

1. Review (relax) – “Take heed to yourselves:” This means examine your own heart before accusing another person.

Matthew 7:3-5 (NLT)

³“And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?

⁴How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’when you can’t see past the log in your own eye?

⁵Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.

2. Resist responding to non-sin–“Ifthy brother trespass(sin) against thee”

A trespass is an actual violation of God’s moral will by which one believer sins against, harms, defrauds, dishonors, or wrongs another person.

James 4:17 KJV

“Tohim that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”

3. Rebuke (real sin)–“rebuke him;”= confront in love/truth

A rebuke is a clear, serious, loving correction that identifies sin and calls the person to repent and change.

Galatians 6:1-3 (NLT)

¹Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer^£is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself.

²Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.

³If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important.

4. Repent (turn from sin/turn to God)–“ifhe repents”

Repentance is a God-produced change of mind and heart about sin that turns a person from sin toward God and produces changed conduct.

Acts 26:20 (NLT)

²⁰I preached first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that all must repent of their sins and turn to God—and prove they have changed by the good things they do.

Acts 3:19 (NLT)

¹⁹Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away.

5. Release (forgive)–“forgive him”

Forgiveness is the gracious release of a real personal debt, avoiding revenge and refusing to keep using the offense against the offender.

Ephesians 4:32 KJV

“And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”

Colossians 3:13 KJV

“Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel againstany…”

Monday Morning Moment: 2 Timothy 4:2 KJV “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”