Todd Friel Interview

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the

Apostle Paul said, But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you.

By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her

King. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry.

My name is Mike Abendroth, and I'm your host today. We have a theme around here, and that theme is always biblical, always provocative, always in that order.

And keeping with the theme today, we have a special guest online, and his name is Todd Friel, Wretched Radio, Wretched TV.

Todd, always biblical, always provocative, always in that order. Friel, would that work for you? It's a little long.

It doesn't fit on a business card. It might cause confusion with the police when you get pulled over for not wearing your seat belt.

I got pulled over for rolling through a stop sign the other day. Well, that was a few weeks ago. And I thought, and I was in a part of Atlanta.

Honestly, Mike, I could have rolled down my window and yelled out, Crack! Does anybody have any crack?

And 17 guys would have come running. There's bad dealings and bad dudes everywhere.

But I got pulled over for rolling through a stop sign. It's not that I'm bitter. Well, Todd, whenever I get pulled over,

I just say to myself, I'm going to be honest. And I'll look at the officer and say the words that they never hear,

Officer, I am completely guilty. Guilty as charged. Did you say that?

No. Would you like to know what a sinner I can still be? Let's talk about that, because that'll roll into Wretched Radio in the title.

No, I'm just telling you how prone I am to weakness. I was,

I was, I don't remember why I got pulled over, but the officer was reading me the riot act.

And it was just going on and on. And in my brain, I started to think, you know, I'm I'm actually looking forward to the ticket so that I just I can stop with the with the lecturing that I'm receiving.

And all of a sudden he looked down and he goes, what's that? It was on the front seat of my car. And I said, wait, it's a Bible. Do you read it?

Yes, sir. I do. Do you go to church? I do. But on Sunday, put an extra hundred dollars in the offering plate because that's what this would have cost you.

And he walked away and that was it. And it was all done. OK, so now cut to while I'm starting to sound like a criminal.

Several months later, I got pulled over again. And you know what I did in my brain? I thought, where's my

Bible so I can put it on the front seat and get out of it again? That is how prone I am to sin.

Well, I think the unbelievers, they just put a bumper sticker on their back, the back of their car. We support the police union or something.

Sure. That's never a bad idea. It's better than putting, you know, I wouldn't call it a sin. It's definitely adiaphora.

But putting a fish bumper sticker, you know, the little symbol on the back indicating that apparently the car is saved.

Each and every one of us is very capable of driving like a bonehead. And if we do, with the

Christian symbol on the back and a heathen sees that, we are actually blaspheming

God because that's how we can blaspheme God, with mouth and with actions. And I think it can be something as simple.

A bad witness could be driving poorly when we identify that we're a Christian. So what I'm trying to say is think twice about putting the fish on the back of your car.

Well, and if you put it on the back of your car, make sure it's put on properly because there's only one thing worse than a bad

Christian driver, and that's one who puts the bumper sticker on the car upside down or wrong side over.

Yikes. We're talking to Todd Friel today on No Compromise Radio. Todd, you have a ministry called

Wretched Radio. It's at wretchedradio .com. I have my Bible open right now to Romans chapter 7.

Tell me a little bit about Wretched Radio, how you got the name, what you focus on in your ministry.

I guess we should just take one at a time. But why Romans 7 and Wretched? And that will get us going today.

I wish I could say that it was initially based on Romans 7. I walked into a guy that I work with,

James, had us sitting on his chair, a t -shirt that said, I am the wretch the song refers to.

And I went, whoa, that's really, really, really good. And it just stuck with me.

And so when we were working on this concept, I kept thinking of the word, you know, wretch, wretch, wretch.

And I wretched something. So I called up my buddy Ray Comfort. I said, Ray, something with the word wretch in it.

And Ray in his brain, I don't know if you know Ray Comfort, but he's just his mind goes about 800 miles an hour.

He said, well, OK, well, if you want to,

I guess that would be all right. And he was just being gracious because he thought I was naming it after the sound a cat makes when he has a fur ball.

So then with his clever brain, he went, no, no, not wretch. Everybody will be confused about that.

Wretched. So really, it was Ray who came up with wretched. And I like it because it's simply a reminder that that is the issue on which salvation swings, understanding who we are, what we deserve.

That's really, I think, the fundamental issue in salvation. And if somebody doesn't agree with God that they're wretched, he's not going to save them.

So I like the idea because if you tell somebody who's not saved, hey,

I was watching this show called Wretched, you are in a witness encounter because they are inevitably going to ask,

Wretched, what's that all about? And you could be right at the core of the issue of the gospel, which is

Jesus saving wretched men and women. Well, isn't it true that if we realize how wretched we are, it glorifies salvation?

If we're not that bad, then salvation isn't as great. But if we are, in fact, wretched to the core, our wills, our minds, our thoughts, everything about us is displeasing to the

Lord. And yet he saves us anyway. That magnifies salvation, doesn't it, Todd, versus minimizing it?

Well, one of the things that we've been on about quite a bit lately is that statement that you made.

Some preachers do a very good job of discussing that at salvation. Jesus forgives sinners, so repent and put your trust in Jesus.

And that's excellent. But, Mike, what you just said, I think we would all do well to preach to ourselves every single day, because that good news isn't just for getting saved.

It's what grows us in salvation. And so on those days when we sin and when we fail, high -handed sin or otherwise, to realize

God saw me through the tunnel of time and he died for me anyway and he purchased me anyway, even though today

I sin, I look to the Savior who died for me knowing that I would, even as a

Christian, be capable of sinning. And that's the thing that I think grows people in sanctification and grows people in love for Jesus.

And, Mike, you know this, too, for pastoring. There are so many tender souls that are just tender, and any time they have a straying thought or a wayward statement come out of their mouth, they automatically think,

I'm not saved. Now, you and I both know if somebody continues in sin, is living in a willful life of rebellion, it is a clear sign they're not saved.

But these are tender souls who, they love the Lord, they've repented and trusted him, but they sin on Tuesday, so they don't think they're saved, then on Wednesday, and they need to remember the amazing expanse of the good news of the gospel, that even as Christians, when we sin, if we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

And that message preached to ourselves every day will make us long to be holy and long to be with him.

That is excellent advice, Todd. While I was listening to you, I thought I was just listening to wretched radio, and I was here drinking my coffee, making my notes, and then

I realized we're on the radio. Sorry. I'm just kidding. Hey, Todd, Romans 7, wretched man,

Paul says, that I am. And so you're so right. It's not just we're wretches before we were saved and we're dead in trespasses and sins.

Paul realizes that still, as an apostle, as a redeemed man, as a saint, he still was a very sinful person.

What do you think about this? I know people who live in Romans 7, wretched, and they struggle.

I also know people that live in Romans 8, no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. Why do we need both

Romans 7 mentality and Romans 8 mentality put together on a daily basis for Christianity?

Well, Christianity is loaded with what appear to be paradoxes. They're not true paradoxes, but it looks like it.

For the Christian, the more we grow in holiness, the more wretched we realize we are, which is just kooky sounding.

But it's true. The higher we get above sin, the better perspective we have of it.

So I think when Paul was at 23 times, Mike, it's present tense, I am, I am,

I not, I was, I was, I was. I don't think Paul at that point was still out being complicit in the murder of Christians.

I think that there was a radical transformation in his life. But as he had progressed in holiness, sins that he wasn't even aware of suddenly were revealed to him.

And I think that happens to a lot of Christians that confuses them. They get saved, they love the

Lord, and they're on fire. And then all of a sudden they realize that they've got an anger issue. And then they go,

I'm not saved. No, that shows that you are saved. And the Holy Spirit progressively reveals to you areas of sin for you to start mortified.

And a sign for a Christian that they're that they're saved is that constant being revealed to you by the

Holy Spirit, new areas in your life that need dealing with. And some

Christians get a little confused. Oh, I didn't realize that I was yelling at my kids.

Does that mean I'm not a Christian? No, it's one of the signs that actually shows you're a Christian, that you are concerned that there's a new sin area in your life that needs dealing.

And that should actually encourage and comfort us and not discourage us. So we need to keep that tension in mind that there's,

Mike, there's two ditches. You know this. You can fall into the ditch of licentiousness. Oh, I'm saved and I can go on sinning that grace might more abound.

And then there's the other, there's the other ditch, too, of legalism, where it's about laws and laws and laws.

And we want to make sure that we're staying in the gospel, walking down the gospel line.

Otherwise, if we think that we can do things as believers that are going to get us unsaved, we've walked, if you will, out of grace.

And if, on the other hand, we think that we're doing things that are keeping us saved, we've made a grave error, because there's nothing we do that keeps us saved.

He does everything that got us saved and keeps us saved. So we want to constantly be reminding ourselves, as his child,

I can't do something that's going to take me out of his hand, but there's nothing I can do that's going to keep me there either.

And that balance is the one that we've got to walk all the time. Well, I'm just sitting here thinking to myself, keep preaching,

Todd, because in my ministry at the local church here at Bethlehem Bible Church, probably the one thing that has encouraged more

Christians than anything else that I could have taught them from the Scriptures is that you as a

Christian are going to sin less and less over time. Through sanctification, through the

Word of God, the Spirit applies the Word, you will sin less. But it will seem like, just as you were describing,

Todd, it will seem like you're sinning more because you have a heightened awareness of holiness, a heightened awareness of the law of God, the law of Christ, a heightened awareness of all these things.

And so, Christian, take heart. You're recognizing more of your sin. That is good sign that you are a

Christian. Let me add this a bit, the risk of rocking anybody's boat.

I'm not saying that this suddenly, if you make this the following statement, that you're not saved. I'm not saying that.

But those of us who are saved, we've got to be really careful that we don't stray into the realm of self -reliance either by saying something like this.

You know, today, Mike, I got to tell you, I had an incredible quiet time today.

I am so sure that God is pleased with me. I read three chapters in my Bible and I didn't even wander once.

And then I prayed for 15 minutes. I did really good today. I think a blessing is coming my way.

Hold it. Hold it. It's not what you do that brings blessings. It's what Jesus did.

And when we confuse ourselves, it's our really good spirituality that's keeping us in there or that is pleasing to God.

No, it's Jesus that's pleasing to God. Stay in grace. We've got to stay in grace.

Well, what if I told you this morning that I listened to 50 chapters of the Bible on my new

Bible .is chapter, my Bible .is app, you'd say to me, I don't know what that Bible .is app is.

Well, I would say that's wonderful. And I would say, isn't it terrific that the Holy Spirit is growing you?

There's a there's a subtle form of self -righteousness that we can stumble into where we think, you know,

I'm doing good. Oh, that's a different dish than the Christian who goes, oh, I'm just always I'm always just I don't read enough.

I don't pray enough. Here's a blast of information for everybody. Nobody reads enough.

Nobody prays enough. Nobody does enough. Here's the good news. Jesus did.

We trust him and his work and not our own and not our own quiet time and our own

Bible reading and understanding that. Now, here's the here's maybe again the paradox.

Understanding that actually that makes us love him more and desire to be in the word more and to pray more fervently and to do more in response to what he's done, not us.

Well, wouldn't you say as a father of children that if your kids do something wrong, you don't kick them out of the family and say you're no longer a freel.

What we have to remember is that God loves us in Christ. And I like to think of it this way, because it's biblical taught.

Jesus can't love us anymore. He can't love us any less. No matter what we do as a

Christian, we are in Christ. Therefore, the father loves us as much as he loves his son.

And that's John 17. Don't you love your kids because they're your kids? Of course, sanctification wise, they could please you or not please you, but they're still your children.

And that's why it's back to the gospel again, why we have to think about Christ, his relationship to the father and the son.

And so this is why I promote wretched radio dot com. You're going to get the Bible and Christ Jesus from Todd Freel.

So, Todd, let me ask you this. Why did you call me a loser in my in the email when I said I had to reschedule this and you said you're a loser?

First, first, we've got wretched Christian love. Yeah. First, wretched. Then you're pulled over twice for speeding and sinning against the government authorities.

And then now you call me loser. Would you like to explain what that was all about? No. OK, good.

Well, I am a loser and I'll switch to switch subjects. This morning, I looked at wretched radio dot com and watched the

Doritos Pepsi communion. Once the

Bible isn't enough, once God is not looked at as holy, holy, holy, then anything goes.

And so it's not that surprising, although it's very sad. Well, honestly, the analogy that I used in that little video, you can see it at wretched radio dot com.

I don't even like using it, but I think it's helpful just the same. If you haven't seen the

Doritos commercial, the priest take and speak business is bad. So to spice things up at church, instead of serving the bread and wine, they serve

Doritos and Pepsi just just shockingly blasphemous and horrid taste.

So to try to help secularists or liberals to understand the offensive nature of this. And I'm sorry for the analogy, but if if I did if I were trying to sell a

Nerf gun and some cherry jelly and I and I showed a guy driving down through downtown

Dallas in a limousine that was opened up and somebody shoots the Nerf gun at the back of the man's head and we see cherry jams spraying out of his head.

That's not funny and it's not justifiable to sell a product. The man,

John Kennedy, was murdered. There's nothing funny about it. And there's a group of people who are trying to say, lighten up.

It's just a product. They're just trying to sell their Frito -Lay, Pepsi and Doritos. And our response is, no, the

God man was murdered. Jesus Christ was crucified. It's not funny.

So even on the most basic level, Mike, it's shocking that people don't get that. Forget the theology for just a minute, if we can, just from the standpoint of being a human being, making light of a man's murder indicates to me, if nothing else,

Mike, as much as it annoys me, what it reminds me is that people, they hate the

Lord. They just hate the Lord like I used to and you used to. And so for them to make light of his crucifixion, his body being broken and his blood being shed,

I think it's just a reminder they really need the gospel. Amen. Unbelievers act like unbelievers.

We don't have to like it, but it is good to see them through those eyes, that these people need the gospel.

They need redemption. They need to think differently, act differently. And that only comes through the gift of repentance.

We're talking to Todd Friel today on No Compromise Radio. Todd, many people will watch your videos and say,

I'd like to evangelize that way. I want to tell lost people about Christ, his redemption, his resurrection.

Give the people who are listening today in Worcester and on iTunes, etc., some general hints for evangelism that could help them.

Well, evangelism is such a scary thing, so most people just turn off their radio.

I start by asking the question, before I begin evangelizing or preaching or anything, if I want to present the gospel, which is what evangelism is about,

I ask the question, what is the gospel? And it's crucial because these days a lot of people have turned it into something else.

You've got a God -shaped hole in your heart. Only Jesus can fill it. That's not the gospel. Your children are naughty.

Come to Jesus and he'll make them better. That's not the gospel. Are you poor? He'll make you rich. That's not the gospel.

The issue is we are created by God. We are owned by God. He has rules.

We've broken them. We deserve his wrath. But God is rich in mercy.

He sent his Son, who kept all the laws that we've broken. He took the punishment we deserve, was beaten and hung on a cross that our sins might be paid for.

If we will repent and put our trust in him, his work credited to our account.

That's the gospel. So now, keeping that front and center, I ask the question, how do

I help a self -righteous individual, which every man is, every woman will proclaim her own goodness with her mouth?

We all love ourselves. How do you help them understand? No, you're not the king and queen of the universe.

God is. And you're the sinner, you're the rebel, and you need saving. And in a postmodern, self -esteem -filled world, how do you help the self -righteous sinner understand that they're wretched?

Because that's the issue. We started by talking about that. That's the hinge on which salvation swings. So God has given us a principle.

He's given us some ammunition and a weapon. The law of God, as Martin Luther said, is a mirror that you can hold up to yourself and see yourself, not the way the world sees you or you see yourself, but the way

God sees you, compared to his standard, not to the standard of Saddam Hussein or Genghis Khan, if you're really old.

Because when I compare myself to my neighbor, I come out looking swell. When I compare myself to God, not so good.

So when we talk to somebody about the gospel, we can use the laws, the way that Paul did, for instance, in Romans 2, by saying, hey, friend, how do you think you compare?

How do you think you've done in keeping these laws? And you can make your way through the commandments and they can confess, you know,

I really, I haven't done well at all. I'm not a good person. I'm a bad person. Then you can proclaim the gospel, which will make sense.

But just like a doctor who walks up to strangers on the street and says, here, take this, take these pills, they think it's ridiculous.

Why would they take the pills? They don't think they're sick. But if the doctor shows them x -rays and test results and says, friend, you got a disease, you're going to die, then the individual desires the cure.

The same thing is true with the gospel. We use the Ten Commandments to help people see their disease called sin, that the result of sin is death, but Jesus gives life and forgiveness.

Then they want the cure. So how you go about using the law to help them understand that they're a sinner, that's up to you.

But our encouragement is use the tools that God has given the law so they can understand they're a sinner, so that they understand there's a friend of sinners,

Jesus. So that's what we try to demonstrate as best we can. Todd, I love the zeal that the Lord has put in the heart of folks at Wretched Radio and Way of the

Master and the desire for evangelism. I'm very encouraged by that. If Robert Shuler were around, though, he would say, you don't need to talk about sin and the law.

People already know that they're sinners. Luis Palau says that, too. In fact, I was deeply concerned when

Luis Palau came to the Twin Cities, and I read his book and he said, everybody realizes that they're a filthy, rotten sinner.

Oh, OK. So I went out on the street with a microphone and I walked up to strangers and I said, may I ask you a question?

Do you think you're a filthy, rotten sinner? What do you think they said, Mike? Well, you might be, but compared to my sister,

I'm pretty good. Yeah, they laughed. They were like, filthy, rotten sinner. What are you, crazy? Go away.

Do you think you're a filthy, rotten sinner? Absolutely not. Everybody thinks they're good.

And so we need to use that law. To walk up to somebody, Mike, it's just not cool.

Hey, you're a rotten sinner. That's just not fair. It's not reasonable. It requires some context.

And the Ten Commandments, the morals of God, helps with that context. So let the law offend.

Let the law kill like it did to Paul, who had not known sin, but by the law, so that you're not perceived as the mean one.

Let the commandments do that grinding up of the stony heart so that it's prepared and it's ground up so that the seed of the gospel can be planted.

Then your issue is with God, not with you. Well, when I think of the two great commandments, love the

Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and try to apply that to people and how short they fall, it's easy then for me, after we've established some of these things, to talk about the only one,

Christ Jesus, who obeyed the law and who did with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength, obeyed the

Lord his God. And so, Todd, time has gone by so fast, I can hardly believe it, but I want to encourage everyone here in Worcester and those who listen around the country and the globe, wretchedradio .com.

What do they do if they want to watch your TV show? How does that work? They send us a big check, sow their seed into our ministry.

What did I just say? I am so sorry. Where did that come from? I don't even, I've been watching too much of that prosperity

TV. They can just go to our website, wretchedradio .com. Great. Todd Friel, wretchedradio .com.

Thank you for your ministry. Thank you for the time that you've given us today on No Compromise Radio. God bless you.

Stay faithful, Mike. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at six. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston.

You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.