The Walking Shoes of the Local Church — Greg Locke

The book of Jude, we find out that Jude is the half-brother of the Lord Jesus Christ himself, according to history. Now, it's not certain what local church Jude was writing to. Most people believe he was writing to one of the local churches there in Asia Minor, which were referred to in Revelation chapter number 2 and Revelation chapter number 3.

But nonetheless, it is obvious that he's writing to God's people. It's obvious that Jude has a heartbeat. He is a red-hot, fiery preacher that pulls no punches. He has no-holds-barred type of a ministry.

He jumps in with both guns blazing. And buddy, I mean, he just begins to chop and let the chips fall where they may. The theme of the book of Jude is the theme of apostasy. The word apostasy is the Greek word apostasia.

It means to depart from or to turn away from the truth. That's exactly what was happening in the 25 verses of the simple little book of Jude. People had crept into the local church, and false prophets and heretics and hypocrites had crept in in such a way that they were leading God's people astray, and they were preaching false doctrine.

Now, you turn on your radio, you read your newspaper, and you turn on TVN, and you'll find out those same apostates are alive and well in the day and age in which we live. But the apostle Jude had a ministry of helping the people of God.

He wanted them to know that all of heaven was behind them, and he wanted them to know that they should go on in the good grace of God, not let these apostates destroy the local church, not let them pervert the local church, but Jude gave these people a discourse on how to keep living for God in the midst of apostate times.

Contending for the Faith

Now, I want to give you a simple outline tonight. This outline is introduction. I am not going to preach on this outline but for three, four, five minutes. So when I preach five minutes, don't get excited because I'm going to get to the message in verse 22, all right?

And so, number one, look in your Bibles at verse 3, would you? Jude verse number 3, and write down for sake of an outline what I call the contending for the faith. The contending for the faith. Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful, necessary, it was appropriate, if you will, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort.

The word exhort means to shake up just a little bit. It is the same word the Apostle Paul uses in 2 Timothy chapter 4 for preaching. He says, I should exhort you that you should earnestly, with vigor, with enthusiasm, with excitement, not be a deadhead about it.

He said, you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. And so, first of all, by way of an outline, he deals with the contending for the faith. Now, ladies and gentlemen, we can contend without being contentious.

And I want you to understand that according to my Bible, from Genesis 1 -1 to Revelation 22 -21, there are some things that God's people ought to fight about. There are some things that are worth living for.

There are some things worth dying for. And yes, ladies and gentlemen, for God's people in this local church, there are some things, ladies and gentlemen, that are worth fighting for. For example, we ought not let the ACLU and the NAACP tell us that we can't preach the word of God.

I'm not going to give in to the liberals, and I don't think we ought to give in to the modernists. I do believe we ought to preach, thus saith the Lord. I believe we ought to be faithful in our service for Jesus Christ.

I believe in the fundamentals of the faith. I believe we ought to preach the virgin birth and the blood atonement and the substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus. I believe we ought to preach the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

I believe we ought to preach the soon come again of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not afraid to open my mouth and open my Bible in any church, no matter the size, and tell them that I have a copy of the infallible, inerrant word of Almighty God, that it's perfect, that it's complete, from cover to cover and from quiver to quiver.

And there's some things, ladies and gentlemen, that it's worth fighting for. And Jude wrote to that local church and said, what you need to do is realize that there's some things that we should contend for, and what we should contend for is the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

And church, I do not believe that we should give the faith over to the liberals. I don't think we should give it over to the modernists. I'm not afraid of being called a fundamentalist. I'm not afraid of what the world calls me.

I'm a fundamentalist. I believe in the fundamentals of the faith, and everything in this world has fundamentals, including this Bible. And I believe God's people ought to stand for the truth, fundamentals of the faith.

It's always worked in the past. It works right now. And when you and I and our pea-sized brains are dead golden six feet in the ground, the fundamentals will still be just that. There'll be fundamentals, and God's people need to draw the line and earnestly contend for the faith.

The Corruption of the Flesh

And so number one, He deals with the contending for the faith. But look, if you would, please, in verse number five. Verse number five of the book of Jude, we deal then from verses five through verse number ten, which we will not read, what I call the corruption of the flesh.

The corruption of the flesh. Notice, please, verse five. I will therefore put you in remembrance that you once knew then how the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.

And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath preserved in everlasting change under darkness, under the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities round about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh and set forth for an example sufferings of vengeance of eternal fire.

Notice, please, verse eight. Likewise, also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignity. So in verses one through four, we have the contending for the faith. In verses five through ten, we have the corruption of the flesh.

And basically, this is what Jude is explaining to the people. That these apostates, that these backslidden, no good for nothing, lowdown, good for nothing preachers that have trept into the churches and that have preached false doctrine, that the reason they have done this is for their own fleshly appetite.

He said they're filthy dreamers. And Jude warns the people about giving too much credit to their flesh. I want to tell you something, ladies and gentlemen. I'm saved by the grace of God. I'm just as saved today as I ever will be saved.

I will not lose my salvation. I can swing over hell in a rotten cornstalk, spit the devil in the eye, and sing amazing praise. But I'm going to tell you something. I'm not so foolish as to think that Greg Locke's flesh still can't rear its ugly head.

I've got a flesh that I better not give an inch because every time you give your flesh an inch, it will take a mile. I am capable today of doing things within my body that I never thought I would do. And I'm telling you, ladies and gentlemen, you better watch out about the corruption of the flesh because your flesh has never been saved by the grace of God.

And it never will be saved by the grace of God until you die and kick up glory dust on the streets of gold. And Jude warned these people about the corruption and the utter wickedness of our flesh. And that's why the apostle Paul said in Romans chapter 8, he said, when I want to do right, I do wrong.

When I don't want to do wrong, I still do wrong. Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Thanks be unto God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. And one day as we sing the song, we'll drop this robe of flesh and rise.

The Condemnation of False Religion

And so, Jude warned them about the corruption of the flesh. But please also notice in your Bible, if you would please, in verse number 11. Verse number 11, he says, Woe unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain and ran greedily after the era of Balaam for reward and perished in the gainsaying of Corinth.

These are spots in your feasts of charity when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear. Clouds they are without water, carried about of wind. Trees whose fruit without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots, raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame, wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

And we could continue reading, but in verses 11 -21, we have what I call the condemnation of false religion. You see, we have the contending for the faith, we have the corruption of the flesh, and now we have the condemnation of the false religious system.

And he looks at these people and says, I want you to be careful, church, that you use the Bible as your rule of thumb, that the Bible is your only authority for faith and practice, that you stand upon the fundamental firm principles of the Word of God, because there is a crooked religious system that cares more about money, that cares more about numbers, that cares more about their own fleshly appetites than they do about a relationship with Jesus Christ.

And I'm going to tell you something, did you know right now in America, we're selling more Bibles than we've ever sold before? Right now in America, per capita, more people are in synagogues and temples and mosques and church than ever before.

And we've got more people since September 11th who wave the flag and who wave a Bible and who wear a religious t-shirt. And I'm going to tell you the problem in America, America's got just enough religion to die and go straight to hell with, because religion has never saved a person.

Religion will never save a person, for religion is what damns people to hell, because religion is me trying to gain God's favor. But I'm glad, ladies and gentlemen, you don't have to have religion. You have to have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords, and Jude condemned false religion.

He said there's no substance to it. He said they're like a tree that doesn't have any fruit. He said they're like a tree that doesn't have any roots. He said they're like big clouds that don't have any rain.

He said they're like raging, foaming waves of the sea, and get it, who for them is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. Speaking of this religious system that is anti-God, that will never make it to God's kingdom, but please look tonight in your Bibles, if you would, at verse number 22.

Compassion as Love in Action

Because right in the midst of apostasy, right in the midst of ungodliness and immorality, right in the midst of Him telling these people to put up your dukes and fight the devil, to watch out for the onslaughts of the devil and of your flesh, and to watch out for the wayward people of the world, after He goes through all of this, notice what Jude says in verse number 22, and of some have compassion, making a difference, and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garments spotted by the flesh.

Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory, of exceeding joy, to the only wise God and our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever.

He encourages the church to say, Amen. This is what I call the compassion on the few. You see, ladies and gentlemen, the entire book of Jude basically centers around two verses. The entire book of Jude, as far as key themes are concerned, it centers around verse number three, to earnestly contend.

But while we are earnestly contending, it also surrounds verse number 22, that we are to have compassion on those who need to be saved by the grace of God. And so in the midst of dealing with contending for the faith, in the midst of dealing with the corruption of the flesh, and the condemnation of the false religious system, He now tells what God's people should have as a local church is compassion on few people.

To have compassion on those who are without. You know what the word compassion means? It literally has the idea of love in action. You remember, please don't turn there, but in the book of Mark in chapter number nine, Jesus came into a certain city.

And the Bible says when He looked on those people, He was moved with compassion. You know why? Because they were a sheep having no shepherd. They were scattered abroad. There was no direction in their life.

They had no idea where they were going and what they were doing, but they were lost and they were scattered abroad. And the Bible says that Jesus was moved with compassion. Did you know your New Testament Bible says that four times about Jesus?

Four times. And not one time does it say when He was moved with compassion that He sat down and let somebody else do His job. No, no friend. You see, when He was moved with compassion, that compassion compelled Him to do something to reach those people for the cause of Christ.

I'm going to tell you, what the walking shoes of the local church is. The walking shoes, ladies and gentlemen, of the local church is compassion. Love with Jesus. Do you know why we don't fill up our churches in the day and age in which we live?

Do you know why people drive by the signs and the marquees of our buildings and why we can pass out a thousand and one gospel flyers? Why we can beg people to come to revival meeting and missions conference and Bible conference and why we can beg young people to come fill up our youth groups so we can preach to them and holler at them?

Do you know why people laugh at us when we go to the grocery store? Do you know why it is that we can't get people to come to the house of God? Do you know why it is when we go into our family reunions and we go to our family gatherings, very rarely do we ever have an opportunity to bring up the grace of God.

Very rarely do we ever have an opportunity to share Christ with other people. I'll tell you why, ladies and gentlemen, because we have been so busy about shoving the gospel down people's throats. We have been so busy about giving people standards and giving people convictions that we have forgotten that if we are going to reach a lost and dying world with the message of the Word of God, it takes more than just the message to get to them.

It's delivering that message in a proper spirit and in a proper manner. And if we are going to win people for Jesus Christ in Troubledon City and in Aaron and in Tennessee Ridge and in Clarksville and Dixon and the Roundabout community, we are going to have to have love.

We have to. And the reason people are dying and going to hell is because we pay most sinners lip service that they don't see any light to. Let me read you something tonight that I wrote on a piece of paper that stirred me when I read it just a few weeks ago.

Compassion for Sinners

It's by Mr. C .H. Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers, the pastor of the Metropolitan Baptist Tabernacle. When he was 20, you hear me? 20 years old, he was preaching to between 7 ,000 and 10 ,000 people every time he opened his mouth.

I'm telling you, here was a 20-year-old young man who had the power of God upon him. But at the end of his ministry, I'd like to read you something C .H. Spurgeon said. If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies.

If they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees. Let not one sinner go to hell unwarned and unprayed for. And I'm telling you, ladies and gentlemen, that's exactly what we're missing in our local Baptist churches.

We get up and we beat the pulpit and we tell people to be saved. And we get up and we run around and we pass our gospel tract and we beg people to be saved. But if there's one thing our society does not see, it does not see a tear in our heart and weeping in our eyes when it comes to telling people about the Lord Jesus Christ.

And if there's one thing we have lost in our churches, it is a heart of love. It is a heart of compassion. And I do believe in being confrontational. I believe in preaching on sin. Hey, I'm against sin.

I'm against every bit of it. You say, why? God's against every bit of it. God's holy and God's righteous. And I believe we ought to have standards. And I believe we ought to be holy. But you know what our problem is?

Sometimes all we see is the long hippie hair. Sometimes all we see is the bad clothes and the earrings all in their face. Sometimes all we see is the tattoos all over their body. Sometimes all we hear is the rap music or the country music or the rock and roll heavy metal music coming out of their cars.

Sometimes the only thing we see is the wicked words that come out of their mouth. Sometimes the only thing we see is the Bud Light and the Michelob and the Budweiser that's in their hand. But what we fail to realize is that person lives that way because there's something deep within the inner recesses of their heart called sin, ladies and gentlemen, that has never been taken care of.

And if we're not careful, we will hate sin so much that it will cause us to hate sinners. Can you hear me tonight? I believe sodomy is a sin. I certainly do. I don't believe it's an alternative lifestyle.

I don't believe they were born with it. I don't think it was in their genes. I think it's all in their sinking heart and they need to be saved by the grace of God. You don't know a bunch of people that meet together down in Nashville and a bunch of perverts come together.

You say, well, they're a church. No, you don't know a church full of perverts. You don't know a church full of sodomites. You just know some people that meet together and say they're a church, but really they're not.

Because according to the Bible, no sodomite, no professing homosexual is born again. But I'll tell you something, just as much as I'm against homosexuality, just because I'm against sodomy and I'm against lesbianism and I'm against that perverted, wicked, vile lifestyle, I'm going to tell you something, if we're not careful, we will hate their lifestyle so much that it causes us to hate you.

And I'd like to remind you, they get a need, ladies and gentlemen, that need for a sodomite is the same need you had when you got saved. It was the grace of God. And if we're not careful sometimes, I'm telling you, if there's one thing I hate in this world, if there's one thing that bugs me and gets my dander up, if there's one thing I could beat the pulpit about and shout and holler and yell, is drinking and drunkenness.

I mean, you can call it booze, beer, wine, you can call it whatever you want to, friends, but I'm telling you it's wicked, it's vile, it's the worst thing that's ever been belched out of the bellies of hell, and I hate it.

I've preached in the rescue missions, it's destroyed my family, it's destroyed marriages in my family. I've got an aunt right now who's in hell because of a drunk driver, and I'm going to tell you what, I hate the stuff with a purple passion.

I know what it was like as a 15, 16-year-old teenager to wake up with my head spinning off and eyes rolling back in my head. I know what it's like to drink that trash and to be on that mess. And I'm going to tell you something, I hate it and it's wicked and it's vile, but if we're not careful, we will hate drinking so much and we will hate drunkenness so much that we won't even lift our finger to help somebody in the rescue mission who's a drunkard.

We won't even lift our finger to give somebody the gospel who's got vomit all over their clothes and they don't smell like you do and they don't act like you do and they don't live like you do. And if we're not careful, ladies and gentlemen, our heart of no compassion will cause us to damn more people to hell than if we never even told them about the gospel before.

And we have this idea that we can just shove the gospel down people's throats. No, you cannot shove the gospel down people's throats. People want to see you live the gospel. People want to see you love them.

Reaping What We Sow

That's why your Bible says in Psalm 126, 5 and 6, they that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, that was come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheep with him. Now, I'm going to tell you something about an evangelist.

You may not know this, but you're going to know it tonight. An evangelist is one of these guys who has a hard time with the issue of compassion. You see, a pastor can sit down with people and talk to them about their problems all day long, but not most evangelists, at least the ones I know, especially this one right here.

I don't have a whole lot of patience for people. I just tell them, hey, it's right, it's wrong, it's up and down, you know, it's good, it's bad, and you either do it or you're not right with God, and this, that, and the other.

And so an evangelist, by his very nature, has to be careful that he's not so confrontational that he doesn't learn to love and learn to have compassion. But I'm telling you something, ladies and gentlemen, did you know there will be more sinners saved by watching you and seeing your life and by the compassion that you have than will be that walk this aisle and come to this altar and get saved by the grace of God?

In every church I preach in, there will be more people saved by the life of the Christians who love the Lord and who put the Bible sneakers on and who walk through life and have compassion and love and concern for people than will be many more people saved and brought into church that way than will ever walk down the aisle of a fundamental Baptist church and profess the Lord Jesus, because compassion makes a difference in people's lives.

There was a young man, in the early 1900s, his name was John. John had a sister by the name of Sandra. Sandra went to a little Baptist church across town. She walked about two and a half, three miles to get there.

Walked down a little old crooked dirt road and she got to this little old Baptist church and she went to Sunday school and she heard a lady Sunday school teacher get up and give the doctrine. Sandra's heart was breathed on as we preached on this morning by the Holy Spirit.

Sandra went forward after the service there at Sunday school just before the preaching time and before the choir was to stand and sing their song. She talked to that dear lady Sunday school teacher and that lady Sunday school teacher led that little girl to the Lord Jesus.

Sandra went home that day and she was by herself and I think about this time, according to my reading, she was about 16, 17 years old. She walked back to the house and that afternoon over Sunday lunch, she was eating and her family noticed that she didn't eat too much and they didn't ask her much about it.

In the next coming days, it just seemed like that she just kept slipping deeper and deeper into discouragement. Well, one Friday evening over dinner, her daddy, her little brother John, her mother was there and they had several other children.

Daddy finally said, Sandra, what in the wide world is wrong with you? Ever since you went to that church a week or so ago, man, you just ain't talking much and you ain't eating much and you ain't slept much.

You just ain't done much of anything. She said, I know. She said, I got saved just this past week, Daddy, and I know the Lord Jesus Christ is in my soul. I know He's in my heart to stay and I'll not lose my salvation, but I'll tell you, it breaks my heart to think that some of you are going to go to hell.

And on Sunday, we're supposed to be having a big special day and I've been nervous all week about asking you to come to church, but we're having a Sunday school campaign down at that little log cabin Baptist church and I want to invite you guys to come.

And Dad said, I don't think I'll be going. And Mom said, no, I don't think I'll be going either. And little John was about 10 or 11 years old at the time and he lifted his head up off the table and he said, you know what, Sandra?

He said, I think I'll go with you. He said, I'll walk down to that little Baptist church with you. I'll go to your little Sunday school campaign. Just a little kid. He got up on Sunday morning. He put his little old ripped blue jeans on.

He didn't know much about clothes. He didn't know how you're supposed to dress to go to church. He didn't smell real well. He kind of licked his hand and laid down his cow licks, you know, his hair just sticking up and discombobulated all over the place.

He still had his little eyes peeping, jumping there in his eyes when he got up and he was just kind of a little smelly old kid, you know, and they were poor and he didn't have a lot. And Sandra did her best to save her dress.

Every Sunday, she wore the same one and she had it all creamed and all ironed out and pressed just nice. And she tried to dress up for the Lord the best she could. Until she took the hand of her little 10 or 11 year old brother, little John.

And little John was that little log cabin Baptist church that day. And he sat in Sunday school and they had a substitute Sunday school teacher that day. That Sunday school substitute teacher came in there.

She began to talk about John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. And she talked about the death.

And she talked about the burial. And she talked about the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And at the end of that service, little John's heart was stirred within him. And he walked up to that teacher as a 10 or 11 year old child and said, you know what, ma 'am?

This Sunday school teacher, you told us during your lesson that if God spoke to our heart and that if we believe that little black Bible that you was preaching from to come and tell you about the Lord Jesus Christ.

Come and tell you that I wanted to receive him. And you know what, Miss Teacher? I'd like to receive the Lord Jesus. There was a lady that came over from the church building from their adult Sunday school.

She came to get her little boy out of that little log cabin Sunday school room. And as she was getting her little boy out, she looked over at little John standing over there and she told her little boy, she said, that's exactly the kind of children I don't want you playing with in Sunday school.

That's exactly the kind of way I don't want you to dress when you come to church. And publicly humiliated little John right there in front of all the boys, right there in front of all the girls, right there in front of all of those people.

And little John's heart was hurt. His heart was broken. That lady said, son, that's exactly why sometimes I don't let you come into the Sunday school class with the rest of the kids because those are the type of children I don't want you to be around.

And that lady with a mean, mean tongue in her wicked mouth, she turned that little 10, 11 year old boy and said, you know what little boy, you're not supposed to dress like that when you come to church.

You're supposed to give your best to the Lord. You're supposed to comb your hair and brush your teeth and clean your body. And you're not supposed to wear your little britches with your holes in the kneecaps.

And that's all he had. And she said, you're not supposed to come to church like that. That lady turned around and walked away. Little John walked over to his teacher and said, ma 'am, I don't mean you any disrespect, but I'm going to tell you something right now.

I'm only 10, 11 years old, but if I live to be 100 years old, I'll never darken the door of another church in my life. I'll never come to another Baptist church. I'll never go to a Methodist church. I'll never go to another revival meeting.

I'll never go to Sunday school as long as I live. I will never go to church again. And John kept his promise in the 1920s. John Dillinger was one of the most wicked men that ever breathed God's air. And he robbed every bank in Terre Haute, Indiana and all throughout Indianapolis.

He murdered. He was a rapist. He was a vile, wicked, ungodly man. And until his death, he kept that promise. And he never went to church again. And John Dillinger right now is in the very fiery, flaming pits of hell simply because one rude, snotty Baptist woman didn't like the way a little bus did.

I'm going to tell you, John Dillinger probably could have been one of the greatest evangelists that the world has ever known. Perhaps he could have taken the mess that we're in in America and pulled America out of their wickedness.

Maybe he could have been another Billy Sunday, another Sam Jones, another C .H. Virgin, and another D .L. Moody, but we'll never know because John Dillinger's in hell because a lady had no compassion on somebody that was left to be destroyed.

Partiality in the Local Church

You know what our problem is in our local churches? Our problem is the same problem in the book of James in chapter number 4. In James, excuse me, chapter 5, we find out that a man comes to that local church.

And the Bible says he has a ring on. You read that there, and it literally has the idea in the original that he was weighted down with rings. He was a very rich man. Probably drove a Rolls Royce, a Mercedes Benz, a Lexus.

Some real fancy, fat cat, rich type of a fella. Lake houses, boat houses, everything you can imagine. And he shows up, and James gives the analogy that they give him the best seat in the place. They give him a nice little leather stool and say, man, plop your feet up on here.

We won't preach the law. We won't keep you long around here. All they wanted was one thing. They wanted that tithing envelope to go clink-clank in the offering plate to the local church to give a little money.

But then a less-to-be-desired, skid row, mission, red light, tin can alley, district bum comes walking in the back. He has no gold on whatsoever. He has long, greasy, stringy hair all the way down his back, and he smells like a pack of cigarettes and a Bud Light liquor store.

They look at him, and they say, well, I believe we've got a seat here in the back for you. And they sit that man down there in the back, and that man sits there. And in his heart, he knows those people don't care anything about him.

In his heart, he knows if he could get out of that Baptist church, bless God, he'd never darken the door of another church except for that whenever again. And know what James said when he put his analogy together.

Are you not then partial in your judgment? He said, for God is not a receptor of persons, and how dare you be a receptor of persons? Because I've got news for you. We like to pick and choose who we think God ought to save and who God ought not to save.

I want to tell you something. If God was in the picking and choosing business, I promise you one thing. He wouldn't have picked you, and he wouldn't have picked me. That's for sure. I mean the lowest of the low.

Bless God, the vilest of the vile. And everybody in this room tonight who is saved, it is because somebody touched your heart with love and with compassion and spoke a kind word to you. Maybe it was a mom and dad that loved each other, and they led you to Christ.

Maybe somebody took you to a revival meeting like they took me to over at the Metro Baptist Church in Nashville, Tennessee. Maybe somebody read the word of God to you. Maybe somebody gave you a gospel tract, but you are here tonight under the sound of my voice, saved by the very Holy Spirit of God on your way to heaven.

You've got a Bible in your lap. You've got a good suit of clothes on. And I'm going to tell you why. Because somebody touched you and reached you through Him. And how dare we think? How dare we think we can take the old gospel gun and shoot up the sinners and beat their legs off with a King James baseball bat.

And we can beg them to be saved, but yet they never see it. And I'm telling you, ladies and gentlemen, the walking shoes of the local church is too small. Making a difference. But notice what Jude said in verse 23.

Compassion, Fear, and Evangelism

Boy, I like this part too. He said, and others... See, there's some people you won't reach through compassion. There's some people that are hard-headed and stubborn and willful. And I mean, they are just big, fat morons, is basically what Jude said.

You can't reach them through love. So here's what you have to reach some people with. And others, save with fear. What does that mean? Break the devil out of them. Scare them absolutely positively to death.

Save them with fear, pulling them out of the fire. Now, by the way, that's the only text I have in the Bible to prove that we're supposed to preach hellfire, hot brimstone sermons. That'd be the very one right there.

He said, not everybody's going to be reached through compassion. He said, not everybody's going to be reached through love. He said, there's some people, they're so cold, they're so hard, they're so indifferent.