If God is all-powerful, why can't He simply forgive sin and be done with it? It's one of the most common objections to Christianity — and the answer reveals something most of us have never considered about what our sin actually costs.

In this episode of Clearview Today, we wrap up our study on the holiness of God by looking at why forgiveness was never free. Dr. Abidan Shah uses a simple illustration — a borrowed pen, broken and handed off — to show what happens every time we take something that belongs to God and twist it. Mercy is easy to give when it costs you nothing. But real forgiveness always has a price, and someone has to pay it.

We walk through Leviticus 17:11 and why blood represents both death and life, why the Old Testament sacrificial system was only ever a placeholder for the real thing, and how nearly every ancient culture on earth — Aztec, Egyptian, Hittite, Scandinavian, Irish — understood instinctively that someone had to die. What sets Scripture apart is that God didn't demand a substitute from us. He provided one Himself.

The episode closes in Isaiah 53, written centuries before the cross and describing it in detail, and then lands somewhere practical: the response to all of this is humility. There is nothing in you that you can take credit for. Begin every day grateful, and give yourself back to the God who paid for you.

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We know God is holy — but what does that word actually mean? In this episode, we pick up where yesterday's conversation left off and work through what Scripture reveals about the holiness of God: that He is absolutely pure, and that He is awful in the truest sense of the word — full of awe, a consuming fire.

We look at what happened every time someone encountered that holiness directly, from Moses hiding his face to Isaiah crying out that he was undone. We also talk honestly about how easy it is to carry a diminished, distorted view of God — bringing Him down to our level the way the Greeks did with their gods — and why the standard of righteousness was never the person next to us, but God Himself. The episode closes with real pastoral guidance: look at your sin honestly, but don't stay there. Conviction is meant to lead you to confession, forgiveness, and healing.

Dr. Shah writes a personal letter every week — reflections on Scripture, faith, and living it out with clarity and purpose. Join the family: https://abidanshah.com/join-the-family/

If you enjoyed the show, please like and follow our Facebook and Instagram pages, and also subscribe to our YouTube channel. This is an excellent way to stay connected to the Clearview team and ensure you don't miss a thing. Another great way to support the show is to use promo code TODAY when checking out at mightymuscadine.com.

To learn more about Clearview Church, visit us at clearviewbc.org. If you have any questions or want to contact us, email us at contact@clearviewtodayshow.com or text us at 252-429-6069.

Check out the links below for more content from Dr. Shah and the Clearview team!

Read - https://abidanshah.com/books/
Watch - https://www.youtube.com/@abidanshahphd
Listen - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sermons-by-abidan-shah-ph-d/id619888508
Clearview Worship - https://open.spotify.com/artist/2m3OQUdBsucUTj6AFHg81S

Support the show

Dr. Shah writes a personal letter every week — reflections on Scripture, faith, and living it out with clarity and purpose.

GET THE LETTER

If you enjoyed the show, please like and follow our Facebook and Instagram pages, and also subscribe to our YouTube channel. This is an excellent way to stay connected to the Clearview team and ensure you don't miss a thing.

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It's easy to relate to God through attributes we can grasp — love, grace, forgiveness. But holiness is different. In this episode, we continue our Getting to Know God series by starting where Scripture starts: not with God's love or His creative power, but with His holiness, the central attribute that everything else about Him rests on.

We talk about why holiness is so hard for us to even discuss — because sin is so woven into who we are that we've grown numb to it — and why understanding the weight of sin is the doorway to understanding God at all. From the temple vessels to the stained-shirt problem to the truth that even one sin is enough to separate us from a holy God, we work toward a beautiful conclusion: you can't truly grasp the love of God until you first grasp His holiness.

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Dr. Shah writes a personal letter every week — reflections on Scripture, faith, and living it out with clarity and purpose.

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There's a real difference between knowing about God and actually knowing Him. In this episode, we continue our Getting to Know God series by looking at why this pursuit isn't optional for the Christian life — and why, despite that, it's one of the most neglected things we do.

We talk about how what you believe about God shapes everything else: how you see yourself, how you treat others, and how you handle everything from minor inconveniences to real heartbreak. Along the way, we look at Job's response to devastating loss, Abraham's attempt to help God keep His promise, and Augustine's famous line about restless hearts. Dr. Shah also shares the story of his father climbing a Himalayan mountain to ask a guru whether he'd found the meaning of life — and the answer he got.

Support the show

Dr. Shah writes a personal letter every week — reflections on Scripture, faith, and living it out with clarity and purpose.

GET THE LETTER

If you enjoyed the show, please like and follow our Facebook and Instagram pages, and also subscribe to our YouTube channel. This is an excellent way to stay connected to the Clearview team and ensure you don't miss a thing.

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In this special extended episode, we had the opportunity to host Truth Talk Live on the Truth Network for a full hour on one of the most important topics in the Christian life: prayer.

Prayer isn't about padding our words or performing for God — as John R. Rice put it, it's about asking and receiving. We unpack what it means to pray with real confidence, how our view of God shapes the way we talk to Him, and why the bold prayers of people like George Mueller still teach us to ask God for big things. Along the way, we take live calls and pray over listeners walking through prayer fatigue and praying for wayward children — pointing again and again back to the God who loves to answer His people.

Support the show

Dr. Shah writes a personal letter every week — reflections on Scripture, faith, and living it out with clarity and purpose.

GET THE LETTER

If you enjoyed the show, please like and follow our Facebook and Instagram pages, and also subscribe to our YouTube channel. This is an excellent way to stay connected to the Clearview team and ensure you don't miss a thing.

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Everyone believes something about God — even those who say they don't. But is what they believe actually true? In this episode, we kick off a brand-new series called Getting to Know God, starting with the biggest and simplest question of all: who is God?

As A.W. Tozer put it, what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. We explore why that's true — how your view of God shapes what you believe about yourself, about others, about where you came from, and about where life is headed. It's a foundational conversation and the beginning of a journey to know God more deeply, not just learn facts about Him.

Support the show

Dr. Shah writes a personal letter every week — reflections on Scripture, faith, and living it out with clarity and purpose.

GET THE LETTER

If you enjoyed the show, please like and follow our Facebook and Instagram pages, and also subscribe to our YouTube channel. This is an excellent way to stay connected to the Clearview team and ensure you don't miss a thing.

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When there's sin in your ministry, you can't compromise with it and you can't reason with it — the only thing you can do is purge it. In this final episode on the book of Nehemiah, we look at how Nehemiah returned after a year away to find that Eliashib the priest had cleared out the temple storeroom and moved Tobiah, a sworn enemy of God's people, right in. And how Nehemiah responded is anything but passive.

We talk about what it looks like to guard your core values without compromise, why worship and caring for those who serve the church matter so deeply, and what it means to take the sin in our own lives as seriously as Nehemiah took it. Along the way, we get honest about the "little rooms" we reserve for the enemy and the practical steps to clear them out.

Support the show

Dr. Shah writes a personal letter every week — reflections on Scripture, faith, and living it out with clarity and purpose.

GET THE LETTER

If you enjoyed the show, please like and follow our Facebook and Instagram pages, and also subscribe to our YouTube channel. This is an excellent way to stay connected to the Clearview team and ensure you don't miss a thing.

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Revival isn't meant to be a moment—it's meant to transform a lifetime. Yet many believers who once burned with passion for Christ eventually find their spiritual fire fading. The question is: how do we rekindle it? If your passion for Christ isn't what it once was—or if you're praying for God to move powerfully in your church and community—this episode will challenge you to return to the One who alone can ignite true revival. The fire can burn again, but it begins with hearts that are fully surrendered to Him.

Support the show

Dr. Shah writes a personal letter every week — reflections on Scripture, faith, and living it out with clarity and purpose.

GET THE LETTER

If you enjoyed the show, please like and follow our Facebook and Instagram pages, and also subscribe to our YouTube channel. This is an excellent way to stay connected to the Clearview team and ensure you don't miss a thing.

PRE-ORDER BYZANTINE TEXTFORM: https://subsplash.com/u/-MPJ586/forms/d/1090d08a-49c0-498a-ad97-5c0fd575fa9e

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MIGHTY MUSCADINE SUPPLEMENTS

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>> DR SHAH'S BOOKS
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>> CHECK OUT ALL OUR SHOWS