Facing Execution Today's Three-minute Bible Study Print, Study and Apply Title: Facing Execution------------------------- Date: 11/17/2001 Keywords: "judgment" "punishment" Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual temptation. Passage: Psalm 7:1-12* 1. O LORD my God, in You I have taken refuge; save me from all those who pursue me, and deliver me, 2. Or he will tear my soul like a lion, dragging me away, while there is none to deliver. 3. O LORD my God, if I have done this, if there is injustice in my hands, 4. If I have rewarded evil to my friend, or have plundered him who without cause was my adversary, 5. Let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it; and let him trample my life down to the ground and lay my glory in the dust. Selah. 6. Arise, O LORD, in Your anger; lift up Yourself against the rage of my adversaries, and arouse Yourself for me; You have appointed judgment. 7. Let the assembly of the peoples encompass You, and over them return on high. 8. The LORD judges the peoples; vindicate me, O LORD, according to my righteousness and my integrity that is in me. 9. O let the evil of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous; for the righteous God tries the hearts and minds. 10. My shield is with God, Who saves the upright in heart. 11. God is a righteous judge, and a God who has indignation every day. 12. If a man does not repent, He will sharpen His sword; He has bent His bow and made it ready. Questions 1. Verses 10 to 12 have to do with God executing judgment. Look at His weaponry and compare verse 10 with 12. List the items and ask yourself where you want to be standing when He starts swinging His sword.   2. What does it mean to repent? What, according to verse 12, is awaiting an unrepentant person?   Practical help This is the fifth study in Psalm 7. Yesterday we discussed the idea that God is the Great Judge we will all one day face. Go back to yesterday’s study to review the one great escape clause of you have jumped into the middle of this series. Today, we see that God will also execute His judgment. He isn’t squeamish. As verse 12 says, if we do not repent (which simply means change directions and give up those things we are doing we discover are wrong in God’s eyes) we face His sharp sword and arrow. How do you feel about the idea He may have an arrow aimed at you? It moves me to want to be sure God and I are on the same side of the war. Some people think God will never punish because He is love. May I suggest to you that this is exactly why He will follow through with delivering just punishment to those who deserve it. Matthew 10:28* gives this warning: "Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Pornography has nothing to do with love. There is no sacrifice in lust. It does not call you to be a better person. Just the opposite. Porn calls you to disrespect others, yourself, and ultimately the God who created the human body and soul. He doesn’t take this activity lightly and His arrow is on the string. Don’t be in the wrong place when He lets it go. eXXit homepage Index of three-minute studies Copyright 2001 by eXXit *"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission."