0:00

Coming to you live from the Morning

0:02

Star Mission sponsored studios.

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This is Carl and Crew mornings

0:07

on 90.1 FM Moody

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Radio. Well, welcome aboard on this

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beautiful Tuesday morning. Hope you enjoyed

0:14

a sunny afternoon. It was fantastic.

0:17

We're talking about common doubts

0:19

this week and what a great

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thing to do. What launched us into

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this boom cruise we asked you a couple of weeks ago?

0:27

What do you struggle with? Knowing

0:29

that doubting, as

0:32

we see in John 13 when

0:34

Thomas was just like,

0:36

yeah, man, I want to get him behind

0:38

him. But my goodness, are we all believe

0:41

in this. And Jesus said,

0:43

come on here, come on. Touch my

0:45

hands, touch my sides. And

0:48

I love, I love, I love messing

0:50

with this one because I know Thomas wasn't

0:52

the only one in the room. And don't

0:55

you know he got the rap for being Doubting

0:57

Thomas? But the rest of the dudes

0:59

are like, oh yes.

1:02

Glad he asked. Glad he.

1:03

Asked. So glad

1:06

for Thomas.

1:07

I know because they didn't have to be the one.

1:09

Yeah, who made those questions? But those questions are

1:11

legitimate.

1:12

They're legit guys.

1:14

And I think for us to not wrestle honestly

1:16

with the questions that we have about

1:19

God, about the scriptures,

1:22

about how the scriptures came to be,

1:25

about any number

1:27

of things, and we picked off some of the big ones. And what

1:29

are we going to tackle here today is a

1:31

big daddy. And

1:34

that is why in the world

1:36

did God, especially

1:38

with the taking of Canaan, Hazor,

1:42

Jericho? When

1:44

the people went into the land. Let's

1:47

just deal honestly with these. You're

1:50

going in to displace

1:52

and in some cases kill

1:54

every living thing. Of

1:56

people that had already been in the land.

1:59

Would this shake out well in the world

2:01

today, geopolitically? No,

2:04

no. No.

2:08

So what's going down here?

2:11

Michael Redlich is going to be with us

2:13

in just a couple of minutes. Guys, we're going

2:15

to break it down for you. This is gospel

2:17

song by Rhett Walker. Commandant's

2:20

week. Welcome to the show.

2:24

Your spiritual pitstop to keep

2:26

you going in the race where

2:28

Carl and crew mornings.

2:31

Doubts are common. Thomas

2:35

gets a bad rap. He

2:38

asked what others undoubtedly

2:41

would have wondered. Bring

2:44

your doubts before the Lord. Tackling

2:46

a big one here today. And

2:49

it is really the driving

2:51

out, by the way. Not the destroying, but

2:53

the driving out of the Canaanites

2:56

from the Promised Land.

2:59

With us right now is Doctor Michael Ray Melnick.

3:02

Good morning Michael.

3:03

Good morning. How are you?

3:05

It's good to have you with us. We're doing great.

3:07

Got a tough one for you here today. And this is a

3:09

tough one. This isn't easy, but

3:11

I want to set it up by reading

3:13

Deuteronomy nine verse five. Not because

3:16

of your righteousness or the uprightness

3:18

of your heart are you going to possess

3:20

the land, but because of the

3:22

wickedness of these nations, the Lord

3:24

your God is driving them out before

3:27

you, and that they may confirm

3:29

that he may confirm the word of

3:31

the Lord, sworn to your fathers,

3:33

to Abraham, to Isaac, and

3:36

to Jacob. But

3:38

it doesn't seem enough just to say we don't have

3:40

just good guys versus bad guys

3:42

here. What's going on? Why did

3:44

God allow Israel

3:46

to go in and displace?

3:49

Not utterly destroyed, by the way, but

3:51

displace all these people?

3:53

But, Karl, there are verses

3:55

of destruction. Yeah,

3:57

like the Seven Nations.

3:59

Yeah. Uh, the seven nations.

4:01

It says when you destroy these seven

4:03

nations, you must utterly destroy

4:06

them. Make no covenant with

4:08

them. Show them no favor. I

4:10

mean, that's in there, too. So,

4:13

uh, let's not soft pedal this, okay?

4:16

Let's go after it.

4:17

Okay? It's really serious. And it's

4:19

it's it's really,

4:22

uh, it's one of the toughest questions

4:24

in Scripture. And

4:27

the very first thing that

4:29

I would say about it is

4:31

that this is not a general principle.

4:34

It was not a general principle of warfare.

4:36

It was actually a very

4:38

isolated circumstance.

4:42

Uh, it wasn't Israel's

4:44

racism. It was a

4:46

divine judgment, just as Israel fell under

4:48

judgment under the Babylonians

4:50

later on. That's right. Uh.

4:54

But the thing that you mentioned

4:56

there is

4:58

it has to do not

5:00

with their ethnicity, but

5:03

with extreme wickedness.

5:05

It says in Genesis 15,

5:07

when when Abraham was

5:10

told that he's going to his people, his

5:12

descendants would go down to Egypt,

5:16

and he was told it would be 400 years, because

5:18

the iniquity of the Amorite

5:20

is not yet complete. Now

5:22

what does that mean? It's

5:24

saying that God was being extremely

5:26

patient. The

5:29

Canaanites were unbelievably

5:31

rebellious, morally depraved.

5:34

Uh, let's talk about what

5:36

they were all involved with. The licentious,

5:39

awful sexual practices.

5:42

Uh, slavery.

5:44

Slavery, human sacrifice,

5:47

baby sacrifice. Yeah.

5:50

When you when you think about how evil

5:52

they were and God wanted them to

5:54

repent. And there

5:56

were even in Genesis 14, there

5:58

was Melchizedek, who was a priest of

6:00

most High God. So there was someone

6:02

there in the land in

6:04

the city of Jerusalem that knew the

6:06

Lord. But God

6:09

wanted them to come to know him,

6:11

and they wouldn't. And so what

6:13

he was doing, he was patient

6:15

with them, and he

6:17

gave them time. Uh,

6:19

and it reminds me of Romans,

6:22

where it

6:24

describes paganism in

6:26

the early chapters of Romans. And

6:28

what does it say that God did instead

6:31

of forcing himself on them? God

6:33

gave them over to their desires

6:36

and their iniquity. Uh, and

6:38

that's what God did with the Canaanites. Uh,

6:41

you've been to Israel. You go to the Israel Museum,

6:43

to the archaeology wing, and you

6:45

see the little Canaanite gods and goddesses

6:48

and, uh, the Canaanite

6:50

gods are almost

6:53

entirely, uh, male,

6:56

uh, uh, personal.

6:59

Yeah. Bodily organs. You know, let's be

7:02

real.

7:02

Yeah, that's what it is.

7:03

Uh, and same thing with, with

7:05

the the females. They were so into

7:07

fertility. They're fertility goddesses.

7:09

And that led to all these depraved,

7:12

awful behaviors. And

7:14

so God was very patient,

7:17

and he allowed them. He gave

7:19

them over. This is what you want. Do this, do

7:21

this. And then finally, judgment came. And

7:23

I think it's really important that we recognize

7:25

that this wasn't an instantaneous oh, God's.

7:27

You know, he's a hot tempered, easily

7:29

angered God. And he just zapped him

7:32

long.

7:32

Period of time.

7:33

It was a long period of time. And he

7:35

gave them many opportunities to repent.

7:38

Uh, and then the other thing I would say

7:40

is that Israel was going into the land

7:43

and part of this driving

7:45

them out, or end of it, the Seven Nations.

7:48

Uh, if they wouldn't leave, then destruction, then

7:50

what would happen would be

7:53

a protection for Israel so

7:55

that they would not be corrupted when they

7:57

came into the land by this

7:59

evil. So, uh,

8:02

I think that that it is a

8:04

hard question, but I think those are

8:06

some of the things that helped me deal with it.

8:08

Doctor Michael Redlich, our guest this morning.

8:10

So a lot of people, because

8:12

of the when you read through the Old Testament,

8:14

the instances like you described

8:16

of wrath and judgment lead

8:19

a lot of people to think that there's somehow

8:21

a different God of the Old Testament versus

8:23

the God of the New Testament, where we see,

8:26

uh, mercy and kindness.

8:28

And how do you explain

8:30

how to reconcile that these two

8:32

what appear to be two very different pictures

8:35

of the same God?

8:36

Well, you look at Exodus,

8:39

uh, chapter 34, and this

8:41

is how God of the Old Testament described

8:43

the Lord. The Lord is

8:46

a compassionate and gracious God,

8:48

slow to anger and rich and faithful love,

8:50

maintaining faithful love to a thousand

8:52

generations, forgiving wrongdoing,

8:55

rebellion and sin. That

8:57

sounds like a pretty gracious God. Then you go

8:59

to the book of Revelation. And

9:02

you see how God

9:04

is described in the Sixth

9:07

Seal judgment. In

9:10

revelation chapter six, and

9:13

it says, uh,

9:15

that the people. Uh,

9:19

both, everyone, the whole world,

9:21

hidden the caves and among the rocks of the mountains,

9:23

they said to the mountains and to the rocks

9:25

fall on us and hide us from the face

9:28

of the one seated on the throne, and

9:30

from the wrath of the lamb.

9:33

Because the great day of their

9:35

wrath has come. And who is able

9:37

to stand? Sounds like the God of the

9:39

New Testament is also a

9:41

God of wrath. So what

9:44

I would say is the Old Testament describes

9:46

God as both being loving

9:48

and just forgiving,

9:50

and ultimately that he was the

9:52

God who will deal with sin,

9:55

uh, in an appropriate way. Uh,

9:57

in a harsh way, it would seem to us.

10:00

On the other hand, the New Testament God

10:02

is love, but the Lord Jesus when

10:04

he returns, and during that time when

10:06

he's judging the earth during the future tribulation

10:09

period, as revelation six describes,

10:11

he is also a God of wrath

10:13

and injustice. It's

10:17

the same God. Uh, what

10:19

we can't what we struggle with is reconciling.

10:22

Not the God of the Old Testament

10:24

versus the God of the New Testament. We

10:26

have trouble reconciling the that

10:29

the two aspects of God's attributes,

10:31

both his love and his justice.

10:33

It's a big insight there. I've been thinking here

10:35

lately. In fact, I want to ask you this. Coming up here in

10:37

a moment, Michael, how might it benefit

10:39

us as disciples of Christ to see?

10:43

The wrath of God and to see

10:45

the mercy of God juxtaposed.

10:49

And are we missing out on

10:51

something in discipleship by not

10:53

understanding that the fear of the

10:55

Lord is the beginning of wisdom,

10:57

let's break it down a little bit more. Coming up with Doctor

10:59

Michael Redlich, common doubts.

11:02

We're dealing with them straight up.

11:05

Coming up.

11:07

Going from believers of Jesus

11:09

to followers of Jesus. You're

11:12

listening to Carl and crew mornings.

11:14

Talking this week about common doubts and something

11:17

that can throw a doubt up in your mind,

11:19

and it's fair, is when you look

11:21

at the the

11:23

driving out of the Canaanites from

11:26

the Promised Land. We've already covered

11:28

some good ground here, boom crew. But

11:31

it's important for us to understand, I think,

11:33

two aspects of God at the same time. He's a

11:35

God of mercy and love and a God of wrath.

11:37

And Michael, before

11:40

I when I want to get back into some of the,

11:42

uh, conquests Jericho I

11:45

his or the burning of that incredible,

11:47

epic, uh, city. But

11:50

have we missed something in discipleship

11:53

by making. By

11:55

making God something that is not

11:57

almost to accommodate us,

12:00

and a healthy fear

12:02

of the Lord, I find, and I've been doing

12:04

a deep dive on this in the last week. I wonder

12:06

if we've stolen one

12:08

of the great aspects of discipleship when

12:10

we've forgotten that God is a God

12:13

of justice and wrath, and therefore

12:15

the fear of him is healthy.

12:17

Michael.

12:18

Yeah, let me just just take you back about

12:20

30 years ago. I don't know if you remember the story of Susan

12:22

Smith, who murdered her own two

12:25

children.

12:25

Yes, I remember that.

12:27

And if you remember, she looked like your

12:29

typical suburban mom.

12:31

She didn't look, uh, wicked.

12:34

Right? Right. Uh,

12:37

now she was. And can you imagine

12:39

if that judge who

12:41

had to censor to life imprisonment

12:45

had said, you know what? You look okay. You

12:47

look fine to me. Uh, I'm

12:49

just going to let you slide on this because

12:52

I want to be a loving judge.

12:55

That man would have been off the bench. He would have

12:57

been impeached. Uh, you

13:00

know what I mean? Oh, yes, Michael, because,

13:03

uh, a righteous judge has to

13:06

deal with that. And that's. I will go second

13:08

step. We all deserve that

13:10

judgment. And

13:12

it is only because God judged the Lord

13:14

Jesus, who took the punishment for

13:16

our sin, that we are not under

13:19

his wrathful judgment.

13:22

Uh, the Lord Jesus took that for us.

13:24

If we trust in him, uh, before

13:26

God, we are forgiven and

13:29

restored. So that said,

13:31

I do think we need to keep remembering the

13:33

fear of God that this is someone.

13:35

It's interesting. In first Peter one it says,

13:37

if you address this father, the one who judges

13:40

impartially based

13:42

on each one's work, you're to conduct yourselves

13:45

or live your life in fear

13:47

during the time of your stay on

13:49

earth. For you know that you were redeemed

13:51

from that empty way of life. But it says, conduct

13:53

yourself in fear. The verse before

13:55

that said, be holy because I am holy. Why

13:58

we need to fear God I remember

14:00

I was preaching through First Peter many moons

14:02

ago when my son was a little boy

14:04

and he heard me preach it and

14:07

he said, dad, I don't understand.

14:09

Uh, if God loves us, why should we fear him?

14:12

And I said, well, I love

14:14

you and you fear me. He said, I don't fear you,

14:16

dad. And I said,

14:18

yeah, what if you told a lie to me? And

14:21

he said, oh, dad, you'd

14:23

get me. So

14:26

he did fear me. Uh,

14:28

and, uh, how much more?

14:30

I think that sometimes we minimize

14:33

the the

14:35

righteous character of the Lord Jesus.

14:37

Yeah. Uh, he's the

14:40

judge that we're now. I am so grateful

14:42

that he took the punishment that I deserved.

14:44

Yes. And that's the great hope.

14:46

Yes. Uh, that people listening

14:49

to this. Because we don't want to fall

14:51

into his his hands

14:53

without experiencing

14:55

that forgiveness. So, uh, the

14:58

the point is that we still need to fear

15:00

him. He's a he's like a child

15:02

with a father, uh, you

15:04

know, a child. That's what that passage

15:06

in first Peter is saying.

15:07

Yeah, I love what you said there, because I

15:09

have and I think I've talked to you about this.

15:12

I had one of the best dads a man

15:14

could ever have. And yet,

15:16

Michael, the truth is, there

15:18

were times when I feared

15:20

my dad. Not because my

15:23

dad was mean

15:25

spirited, but my dad

15:27

was a just man, and

15:30

he had laid down some basic

15:32

house rules. And when I

15:34

got sideways with his wife,

15:37

and that's what he would call her when I got sideways

15:39

with my mom, um, there

15:41

was some consequences. And

15:43

so when I got sideways, I would have

15:46

a genuine fear. And I think that's

15:48

a little glimpse of what you've just

15:50

illustrated as well, with your own son preaching

15:52

through first Peter. And I think remembering

15:54

that is so important.

15:56

One thing that I often have

15:58

wondered about when you see God

16:00

deal with entire nations,

16:03

that nations were judged. And

16:05

yet when we talk about God, we often

16:07

we make it very personal. We have a personal

16:09

relationship with Jesus, and we

16:12

we want God to deal with us personally.

16:14

But there's this corporate aspect

16:16

as well. How do we make sense of that,

16:19

of the dealing with the nation as opposed

16:21

to the individual? It seemed like

16:23

certain individuals were swept up because

16:25

of the sins of the nation.

16:27

Well, first of all, I just look at Rahab.

16:30

Uh, she should have been swept up, but

16:33

because she she believed in

16:35

the God of Israel and she feared him.

16:37

Look how she was delivered. And her family.

16:39

Yeah. So, uh, there there are

16:42

instances of that. But, uh, listen, there were

16:44

believers, uh, Jewish believers,

16:47

uh, who? And

16:49

I don't believe that the Holocaust

16:51

was, uh, one of these judgments,

16:53

but there's a. Was a collective suffering

16:56

of the Jewish people, and that

16:58

caused Jewish believers, like

17:00

my mom to go to concentration camp. And

17:02

I asked her, I said, If God loved you and you knew

17:05

the Lord, why were you there? And

17:07

she says, I was there to talk about the love of God

17:09

and the love of Jesus. And

17:11

she said, I talk to people all the time when I

17:13

was in concentration camp. So

17:16

I use that as just as an illustration.

17:18

When there are judgments falling and things

17:20

like that, there are. God allows people

17:23

who know him to be in

17:25

that circumstance, like the righteous remnant

17:27

of Israel. When the Babylonian

17:29

captivity hit, some were delivered,

17:31

but others were there to proclaim

17:33

the truth, to proclaim repentance

17:36

to those who are encountering,

17:39

just like Rahab was there to

17:41

proclaim the truth about the God of Israel

17:44

to the other people of Jericho.

17:46

Yeah, a final word here. Michael, I want

17:48

you to comment on this. There were

17:50

many Canaanites speared. Joshua 1513

17:53

through 15 iterates that

17:55

there were many spared. Much like Rahab.

17:58

It's never too late for anyone. I'm thinking

18:00

of the person listening right now

18:02

who feels like maybe they've

18:04

run from God, or they've been living in

18:06

a way that they know is displeasing to God.

18:09

It's not too late, is it, Michael? We can turn

18:11

to our loving God today.

18:14

Uh, it's it's always. That's

18:16

what I was saying. You know, every one of us deserves

18:18

that kind of judgment. It's not if

18:21

you feel like, oh, man, I deserve judgment.

18:23

I'm. I'm. I've turned from God. Hey,

18:26

so do I. So does Carl. Carl.

18:28

Especially. Yeah, but here's the point.

18:31

Uh uh,

18:33

we can turn to him because. Because

18:35

God himself wants to

18:37

us to turn to him. He sent

18:40

his son, the Lord Jesus. God

18:42

became a man. God the son became a man

18:44

to take the punishment that

18:47

we deserve. When he died, it wasn't just

18:49

to show how angry God was at

18:51

sin, it was take. It was substitutionary.

18:54

He substituted for us

18:56

if if we would, if

18:59

God, if he took the punishment that

19:01

we deserved, then he was raised again to

19:03

prove that he was capable, that he was God

19:05

himself, and that he was able to do it. I

19:07

think that sometimes we we lose sight

19:09

of that we think is just a Bible story. Know

19:11

that that's our deliverance, that's our redemption.

19:14

That's what we need to trust in. Trust

19:16

in Jesus. And it doesn't matter.

19:19

It's never too late. Now's the

19:21

time to do it.

19:22

Yeah, now's the time. You know, you're

19:24

listening to this right now. And

19:27

the Holy Spirit is calling

19:29

you out of darkness.

19:32

The prospect of an eternity.

19:36

In the hands of God.

19:38

That you've not bowed and humbled

19:40

yourself before him. It's

19:43

okay, my friend. That's a healthy motivation.

19:47

The avoidance of God's wrath.

19:51

And the embrace of

19:53

God's love. That's a healthy motivation.

19:57

And God's Spirit may have convicted

20:00

you this morning. Here's what I want to tell

20:02

you Jesus spoke to.

20:05

A young man named Thomas, and

20:07

it's found in John 13. And

20:12

after he cleared some up some of his

20:14

own doubts and

20:16

Thomas was faced with the reality

20:18

of the life of Jesus,

20:20

this risen Savior, Jesus

20:23

said these words, I am the way, the truth,

20:25

and the life. So I just want to

20:27

ask you. This guy

20:29

to have you at a point this morning where you're willing

20:31

to say, I'm done going my

20:34

own way, I'm going the way of Jesus.

20:36

I am repenting of my sins.

20:38

I am turning around. If

20:40

that's you in your heart, maybe

20:43

with your voice, just lift it up

20:45

and say, today is the day, Carl.

20:47

I'm going a new way today.

20:53

Jesus said, I'm the way, the truth.

20:56

Meaning you gotta stop living a lie.

21:00

Are you ready to embrace the truth

21:02

that you're a sinner and you need

21:04

a Savior? In his name is Jesus.

21:07

And it's just like hi def picture

21:09

in front of you. You see it today.

21:13

Like you never have before.

21:15

Just say, God, I

21:17

embrace the truth that I'm a sinner,

21:20

that Jesus died for my sins.

21:23

And I'm ready to go your way.

21:25

Today I repent, I'm turning

21:27

around. And the third question.

21:31

Are you ready to embrace that?

21:33

He is the life that

21:35

the Son of God has been raised from. The

21:37

dead in you to can be raised

21:40

from the dead. You too can be

21:42

raised from the dead. Is that you?

21:47

And just cry out to Jesus right

21:49

now. Here's your prayer Jesus,

21:52

you're the way. I'm going your way.

21:55

You're the truth. I'm stopping

21:57

living a lie. I'm going to walk in the truth.

21:59

Today. You are the life.

22:02

You're alive today and I want your life

22:05

in me. Praise God that

22:07

this is your day. This

22:09

the fact that the the the

22:12

world is clearer. You see yourself

22:15

as honestly as you've ever

22:17

seen yourself as evidence of the Spirit of

22:19

God at work in you. And if today is your

22:21

day of salvation, welcome to the family,

22:23

my friend. We want to help

22:26

you right now, and I'm asking you

22:28

to grab your phone and do this.

22:30

Just text the word new to

22:32

(312) 274-9624.

22:36

This is going to trigger an auto reply that gives

22:38

you just some an article with some practical

22:40

steps. If you go through each one,

22:43

there's things that you can download. There's

22:45

a little freebie that we want you

22:47

to get. So text the word new

22:49

to (312) 274-9624.

22:54

We'll shout out the last four numbers of your telephone

22:56

number straight ahead. Welcome to the family.

22:59

Can God use the fear

23:01

of the Lord to motivate

23:03

you, to convict

23:05

you, to change you? Yes,

23:07

he can text new as soon as you can

23:10

to 31227496243122749624.

23:21

Boom crew, celebrate what God

23:23

is doing in you. This is Carl

23:25

and crew mornings.

23:26

We're talking about common doubts,

23:29

and we're clearing up one of those doubts today

23:31

with a with a bizarre

23:33

insight about the

23:35

love of God. I'm

23:37

absolutely certain you cannot understand

23:40

the depth of God's love unless

23:42

you understand the righteous

23:44

wrath of God. They're

23:48

stronger with each other. Otherwise,

23:50

you've just kind of got this patty cake love

23:53

from God. It's like, oh, God is a God of

23:55

love. He's God of love. And what makes his love

23:57

so powerful in that while we were yet

23:59

sinners, Christ died for

24:01

us. So he sees this

24:03

wicked world. It's

24:06

called an evil age in Galatians

24:08

chapter one, verse three. That's

24:10

how Paul kicks off. The first book

24:13

written in the New Testament, delivered

24:15

us from this evil age. So we've

24:18

got an evil age. That

24:20

is going to be eternally separated

24:23

from God if there's not repentance.

24:26

And it brings to light an interesting question

24:28

that we were just talking about with Doctor Michael Redlich.

24:30

And that is, how has the fear of the

24:32

Lord helped you follow God?

24:35

That's the question I have for you today. How is

24:37

the fear of the Lord helped

24:39

you follow God? I know that the love of

24:41

God is very compelling. But

24:44

we don't often hear these kind of questions. Do

24:46

we know?

24:47

And if you're reading along and the today

24:49

and the word devotional is this month

24:51

dedicated to the fear of the Lord, so

24:53

each day's reading is

24:55

helps you understand the fear of the Lord in a new

24:57

way. So that's a good devotional to check out, but

25:00

I love this question. If

25:02

you want to call in and answer this one. What?

25:04

How is the fear of the Lord helped

25:07

you follow him? (312) 274-9624.

25:13

Yeah. How has the

25:15

fear of God. Helped

25:18

you follow Jesus,

25:20

his son. (312) 274-9624.

25:25

Discipleship to start your day.

25:27

You're listening to Carl and Crew

25:30

mornings.

25:30

Okay, so let me give you an illustration of this.

25:33

Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

25:35

The fear of the Lord is an attribute

25:37

of God that actually makes

25:39

him more normal,

25:42

if you ask me. I mean, if we look

25:44

at the way things work and again,

25:46

the reason I love to state this is my dad

25:48

was not a dad. He wasn't mean,

25:51

but he put a

25:53

great household together and you

25:55

knew the boundaries. And when I got

25:57

out of those boundaries, and invariably

25:59

my sisters never did, but I did.

26:02

I don't know why that is, but I got outside

26:04

the boundaries. And don't be smirking. I

26:06

got my team in here just smirking at me.

26:10

But I got outside the boundaries and every time

26:12

I got outside the boundaries, I would.

26:14

There would be some healthy fear.

26:17

But the fear was based

26:19

on love as well. I

26:21

also was fearful

26:24

and sad because

26:26

I had let my dad down,

26:29

I think. Does that make sense?

26:30

Yeah, absolutely. Well, it's like, you know,

26:33

it's like you have that with a spouse too

26:35

sometimes where you really blow it. And

26:37

I know my spouse is going to meet me

26:39

with grace and love, but the

26:41

fact that I may have let my spouse down,

26:43

I hate that feeling. It's like the worst feeling

26:45

in the world. And so I totally understand

26:48

how fear and love can come

26:50

into a healthy relationship big

26:52

time.

26:53

I mean, do you guys have examples

26:55

where you feared the Lord and it's been a motivation for

26:57

your discipleship with Jesus?

26:59

Well, I think about, you know, some of my

27:01

earliest and of

27:03

understanding of the gospel,

27:06

as imperfect as it was

27:08

hell was presented pretty

27:10

the time that I grew up in Christian like

27:13

the Christian culture or Christian world,

27:15

uh, church world hell was

27:17

presented pretty vividly. And

27:20

not everything that was not

27:22

every way it was presented was healthy.

27:25

But what it did was

27:27

draw a clear distinction between

27:29

heaven and hell, in between the reality

27:32

that there was going to be

27:34

an eternal separation from God

27:37

if you didn't follow him. And

27:39

that's and.

27:40

I don't know that we're communicating that.

27:42

I don't know that we I mean, I

27:44

think the pendulum has swung kind of all

27:46

the way back the other way where it's like we

27:48

kind of make it seem like, oh,

27:50

well, God is God is love. But

27:53

that that means that he loves everything

27:55

at all times. He does love everybody.

27:58

But we've kind of extended that to everything

28:01

at all times. As long as

28:03

I'm just being me, God

28:05

is going to love everything that I do.

28:08

It's like, well, that's actually not biblical

28:11

and that distorts the gospel. You're right.

28:13

I mean, I'm just finishing up a chapter

28:15

and I finish it up about a week ago

28:17

in my new book. That's I'm

28:19

fired up about is probably hearing

28:22

that for the first time. But

28:25

the attribute of God that we sometimes forget

28:27

is that God hates some

28:29

things.

28:30

Yeah, yes.

28:31

He hates stuff.

28:35

We got to remember that. And

28:37

when it comes to killing sin in your life, understanding

28:40

that you are A-okay and thumbs

28:42

up for hating it is a powerful thing.

28:44

Let me give you one quick example of why the fear

28:46

of the Lord can help you be a better husband.

28:49

Men. You ready for this one, gentlemen?

28:51

Likewise, husbands, love your wives

28:54

and live with them in an understanding

28:56

way, showing honor to the woman

28:58

as a weaker vessel, since they

29:00

are heirs with you of the grace of life,

29:03

comma. So that your prayers

29:05

may not be hindered. A

29:08

healthy fear of the Lord is that you

29:10

don't want to be frozen out because

29:12

of the way you are talking with, interacting

29:15

with, and dealing with your wife. Some men

29:17

have told me before, I feel like my prayers are bouncing

29:19

off the ceiling, only for me to let them

29:21

know they probably are. That's

29:26

a tough one.

29:27

It's a hard thing to hear and a hard thing to say.

29:29

But once you understand that

29:31

God is a God of justice,

29:33

righteousness, and wrath,

29:36

there is a hell. There are

29:38

consequences for sin.

29:41

Love comes to life so much

29:43

more. It's not me

29:45

and B Pam B weird do

29:47

gooder hallmark card love.

29:49

It's so much richer.

29:52

Start your day moving closer to Jesus.

29:55

You're listening to Carl and crew mornings.

30:00

All right, guys, I got a question for you this morning.

30:02

How is the fear of the Lord

30:04

helped you follow him? (312) 274-9624.

30:10

Not a lot of response to this one, but I tell you what,

30:13

it's an important question.

30:14

You know, I remember taking a trip, a family trip a couple

30:16

of years ago and we went to Niagara

30:18

Falls. You ever been to Niagara Falls?

30:20

Yes, I.

30:20

Have, and there's a New York side. And

30:22

then you can cross over and you can go into Canada

30:25

and you can see another part of the falls. And so

30:27

we put on those big blue plastic

30:29

garbage bag looking things and stood in

30:31

line to get on the maid of the mist.

30:33

And that allows you to get on a boat that takes

30:36

you right up to the, to the falls.

30:38

And so I remember being on the boat,

30:40

and as you get closer to the falls, you

30:42

see it from a distance and it's really impressive.

30:44

But as you get closer, it's almost

30:47

deafening. And I had a moment

30:49

where it almost was scary

30:51

because the power of the

30:53

water flowing, you can't

30:55

really hear anything. And

30:57

the force of it, it could take

30:59

you out if you aren't careful. And

31:02

I remember that helped me to understand.

31:04

The fear of the Lord was really being

31:06

up that close to the falls, because

31:09

I was so aware of the power of that water.

31:11

It was beautiful from a distance. And then

31:13

the closer you got, the more you realized,

31:15

whoa, this isn't like a a

31:17

nice little gentle.

31:20

This isn't a waterfall.

31:22

Like.

31:23

Waterfall.

31:24

Waterfall. This isn't that, you know, the water.

31:26

You get it out like fall. The

31:28

little tree dripping, dripping water

31:31

that helps you sleep at night. No, this was.

31:33

A.

31:33

Rush and a roar. And the

31:35

power of it was not lost on

31:37

me being that close. I was like, this is.

31:40

This is the fear of the Lord. This

31:42

is getting that close to something and realizing

31:44

the power of what you're beholding.

31:46

Handle it carefully.

31:48

Boom!

31:49

What do you say, Young Thunder?

31:51

Yeah. So for me, when I

31:53

came to Christ, obviously

31:55

my salvation is is

31:58

like secure. So even when I make mistakes,

32:00

there's no fear of me going to hell

32:02

right anymore. But the

32:05

fear for me was,

32:07

you know, I had a lot of sin habits in my life

32:10

so that when I came to Christ at the beginning,

32:12

a lot of them were still there, that I had to continue

32:15

to work them out. And something that God used

32:17

was, let's take lying,

32:19

for instance. Lying was one of my sin habits.

32:21

I was very good at it. Uh, when

32:23

I came to Christ, there was still that

32:25

habit to tell lies.

32:28

Every now and then. And

32:30

when I would tell a lie, I

32:32

would feel this pain in my

32:35

heart that I was no longer right

32:37

with God. Um, he

32:39

would use that to have

32:42

me go and say, okay, I just told

32:44

a lie here, I lied, I lied, I would

32:46

I, you know, I wasn't being honest and here's the truth.

32:48

And and so he

32:50

used the truth of me

32:52

no longer being in the right with him

32:55

to make me want to get right with him.

32:57

I feared not being

32:59

right with God.

33:00

And that's awesome, young Thunder.

33:02

Even though I knew I wasn't going to hell, I knew

33:05

the relationship wasn't right and

33:07

I needed to get it right. And

33:09

and that was healthy fear.

33:11

It was a healthy place to live.

33:13

There are two strategies boom crew that

33:15

Satan has. One

33:18

is to keep us. In

33:21

that outgoing tide of sin, never

33:23

reaching out to the lifeline God has sent

33:25

us through His Son, Jesus Christ. Yes.

33:30

The other one is as we

33:32

are saved in Jesus Christ.

33:36

He is strategizing constantly

33:38

to keep us living independently

33:41

of him. Born again.

33:44

Yet not being fueled

33:46

by close proximity to Jesus.

33:48

John 15. And

33:51

not being filled with

33:53

the spirit. John 14.

33:55

In John 16, the

33:57

fear of the Lord is a great remedy

34:00

for both. And we don't talk

34:02

about it enough. Be great to spend

34:04

a whole week on the fear of the Lord.

34:06

Maybe we do it.

34:07

You get wisdom. Some get

34:09

salvation, some growing sanctification.

34:13

The fear of the Lord can break habits.

34:16

Can. I

34:18

benefited mightily from the fear of

34:20

the Lord. How

34:23

about you, boom crew?

34:26

Need a wake up call. We can

34:28

help with that. You're listening to Carl

34:30

and Crew morning's.

34:32

Simple question. Tough

34:35

answer.

34:36

How is the fear of the Lord helped

34:38

you to follow him? (312) 274-9624.

34:44

How about you, young Thunder?

34:45

For me, it was

34:47

shortly after I got saved.

34:49

You know, I had some sin habits in my life

34:52

still, because I just got saved.

34:54

And sanctification is a process.

34:56

I had to get rid of those things. And a

34:58

way that I got rid of those things was

35:01

the fear of the Lord. So

35:03

the prospect of hell was

35:05

no longer a thing for

35:07

me because my salvation is secure

35:09

in Jesus. But. I

35:13

could tell when there was a rift between him

35:15

and I. So, for example, one

35:17

of my sin habits was lying. I was pretty

35:20

good at it, and I'd gotten comfortable with

35:22

doing it over my life. Um, once

35:25

I was saved, I didn't want to do it anymore. But

35:27

I still had the habit. And

35:29

so self-protection, whatever it

35:31

may have been, kind of caused me to go

35:33

ahead and and lie. But

35:36

as soon as I did, I was

35:38

filled with the fear of the Lord. That

35:40

there was now a rift between

35:42

him and I. And we weren't connected. And you don't.

35:44

Want the consequences, and I.

35:46

Don't want the consequences. It hurt

35:48

my heart. It was like a pain in my chest

35:50

and in my stomach, letting me know

35:52

you and I aren't right right now.

35:55

And how are we going to get right?

35:58

It's about being honest. And. And

36:00

so I was.

36:00

Like a dead sitting you down.

36:02

Uhhuh. And so I would have to go back

36:04

and and get honest. And when I

36:06

did that, feeling

36:08

cleared up, because now

36:10

I was met with the. Okay, you and I are

36:12

right again. We're we're back in

36:14

it.

36:15

We have short sheeted ourselves

36:17

when it comes to discipleship by leaving

36:19

the fear of the Lord out as a,

36:21

I think, a central feature

36:23

of how disciples

36:25

walk with Jesus robustly. I

36:28

think we've left it out to our parallelly.

36:30

And you know, when you try to explore

36:33

reasons why I think, you know,

36:35

Christian culture or church culture

36:38

has different. There's different

36:40

seasons, different trends. And I remember growing

36:42

up in a, in a season in the church

36:45

where it were, conversations about

36:47

hell were prevalent. I remember

36:49

watching a graphic depiction of Heaven's

36:51

Gates, hell's flames. You remember that? Oh yeah,

36:53

that of it's a dramatic

36:56

presentation of, you

36:58

know, people and where they will

37:00

spend eternity. And I

37:02

remember being terrified

37:04

and saying, okay, I think I need to go up

37:06

to the altar because I don't want to go to hell. And I grabbed,

37:09

you know, this is this is funny. I

37:11

had two friends that went with

37:13

me. We were all in high school.

37:16

One of them I had a huge crush on,

37:18

and then the other one had a huge crush on

37:20

me. And so I'm sitting there.

37:23

Oh, this gets to

37:25

crazy.

37:26

Crazy.

37:26

It's the three of us watching this presentation.

37:29

And then when it comes to the end, I take them both by

37:31

the hand like, guys, here we go.

37:34

And we all.

37:35

Walk up to the altar. That's

37:37

one of the.

37:38

Funniest Ali stories I've ever.

37:39

Heard. It is a funny story.

37:41

Oh boy. And you know, I.

37:43

Look back and I think it was

37:45

it was.

37:46

Fear, but it

37:48

was I don't know if it was.

37:50

That wasn't the moment I became a Christian, I'll

37:52

put it that way. It wasn't.

37:57

It was fear. And it was a date all

37:59

in one.

38:00

It was a, I don't know, weird

38:02

deal. I don't know what it was. That's that

38:04

was the random side. Oh that's

38:06

hilarious.

38:07

This is the best.

38:08

But the fear of hell

38:10

was constantly being put before

38:12

us as young people. And so.

38:15

I thought a lot about it and I had a lot

38:17

of fear. And so

38:19

I think what we did to kind of move away

38:21

from that sort of fear tactics,

38:24

which can be a lot. I think it was

38:26

overwhelming. Yeah. And we've kind

38:28

of swung the opposite way where it's

38:30

like, we don't really talk about the wrath

38:33

of God don't. And we want to try to minimize

38:35

anything that might scare people

38:38

into coming to faith. But it's like

38:40

somewhere in the middle is a sweet

38:42

spot.

38:42

Hi, Ridge.

38:43

High Ridge Christianity that has a

38:45

healthy fear of the wrath

38:47

of God and yes, even of hell

38:50

without beating people over the head

38:52

with it. Boom!

38:53

This just came in. Whether

38:56

it's resisting, resisting, less

38:58

laziness, jealousy, or

39:00

selfishness, the fear of the Lord keeps me

39:02

walking in the spirit when I would

39:05

have otherwise given into the flesh.

39:07

Because I know that God is not mocked.

39:09

In what we reap, we

39:12

sow. Boom!

39:15

Boom. This is right on, guys.

39:18

So we're just asking you a quick question here.

39:22

How has the fear the Lord helped you follow

39:24

God? It has for me. It has for young

39:26

thunder. It has kind of for Ali when

39:28

she had date night at the altar. That's

39:33

the funniest story maybe you've ever told.

39:35

Here it is.

39:35

Well, she took him by the hand once,

39:38

once hoping against hope

39:40

that this is my day. And

39:44

Ali's hoping against hope that this is

39:46

my day. And they're all wanting to avoid

39:49

hell. Maybe. Or go on a date.

39:50

Oh, thanks for.

39:51

Sharing that, Ali.

39:52

I don't know. Good.

39:53

That's one of the best to ever.

39:56

Discipleship to start your day.

39:59

You're listening to Carl and crew

40:01

mornings.

40:02

Yep. It is. Uh.

40:05

It's a great day to day to really discuss

40:08

the fear of the Lord. And we've had a if

40:10

you haven't caught it. We had a phenomenal discussion

40:13

with Michael Ray. Just text the word

40:15

show to (312) 274-9624.

40:19

Text word show to (312) 274-9624.

40:23

To get our interview with him dealing

40:25

with a super important topic.

40:27

Yeah.

40:27

What do we do? How do we understand

40:29

the wrath of God, the God of the Old

40:32

Testament, the God of the New Testament,

40:34

same God, but it seems like

40:36

very different dealings with people.

40:38

Yeah. And sin.

40:39

Big time. So we're asking

40:41

you a question and it's an important

40:44

one. How's the

40:46

fear of the Lord helped you follow God? And you know

40:48

I don't even need you to call in. You

40:50

can or text in. But

40:52

think about this practically this

40:54

morning. How is the fear of the Lord

40:56

helped you follow God? And the benefit

40:59

of this is. I mean, just take for instance,

41:01

if we go to first Peter chapter

41:04

three, verse seven, listen to this. Likewise,

41:06

husbands, live with your wives in an understanding

41:08

way, showing honor to the woman as the

41:10

weaker vessels, since they are heirs

41:12

with you of the grace of life, so that

41:15

your prayers may not be hindered.

41:18

Think about this. Fearing

41:21

God that he freezes

41:23

men out. Who don't live with their wives in

41:25

an understanding way, is a healthy

41:27

perspective of

41:29

why your prayers are going nowhere,

41:32

and the fear of having a

41:34

prolonged time when your prayers

41:36

are being heard by God is healthy.

41:38

Motivation to get things squared away at

41:40

home.

41:42

Yeah, I agree. I mean, I think it's easy

41:44

to say, well, fear isn't a healthy motivation

41:47

to do anything. I mean, it certainly

41:49

is. If you take my oven

41:51

and you turn it on or the stovetop,

41:54

you turn it on and you see the fire there

41:56

from the gas lit stove. Yeah. And you say,

41:59

well, man, I don't want to slam my hand

42:01

on that thing because I'm going to burn my hand.

42:03

Well, then you say, well, if the only reason

42:05

I'm afraid of it, it's the only reason to not do

42:07

it, is because I'm afraid of it. Then I should probably do

42:09

it. Well, that would be dumb, because

42:12

fear in that area

42:14

is a very healthy motivation to not slam

42:17

your hand down on the stovetop. Yeah,

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it can be the same way in our relationship with

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the Lord. We can understand,

42:23

hey, if I do this, I'm

42:25

not going to be in right standing with him and

42:27

I want to be in right standing with him.

42:29

It's healthy. Yes. Okay.

42:32

We got a resource for you guys.

42:33

If you follow along, the today and

42:35

the word devotional is devoting their

42:37

entire month content to the fear of the

42:40

Lord. If you are not following along, this

42:42

is available in print, email

42:44

and a handy app on your phone, which

42:46

is how I read it. We'll get you linked up. Just

42:48

text the word today to 312274962

42:53

for short daily devotionals this month.

42:55

All talking about the fear of the Lord.

42:57

Text today to (312) 274-9624.

43:08

Hey, this is Carl with Carl and crew, and I'm so

43:10

grateful that you listen to this show cast.

43:13

Thank you mostly for being part of the boom

43:15

crew. As we help you take your next

43:17

step with Jesus, you're a huge encouragement

43:19

to us. We'll be here again live every

43:22

weekday morning from 5 to 9

43:24

a.m.. Godspeed.