The Great Divide

John 10 ;27-30 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one."

Charles Spurgeon wrote: ‘The great division between the sons of men is Christ. Here are the sheep: there are the goats. What parts them? Christ! He is the center. There is no great barrier set up, as it were, on that last tremendous day, but he Himself is the division. He shall set the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left. Now, that which parts us tonight into two portions is our relationship to Jesus Christ. On which side of Christ are you tonight? I want you to question yourselves about that. If you are on his right hand you are among his people. If you are not with him you are against him, and so are on his left hand.’

The ‘holy tap’ came quickly when I read that. What about the goats in sheep’s clothing and the sheep in goat’s clothing?

Obviously, the goats and sheep in drag can’t fool Jesus! He is the great division among men and knows the heart of man. A goat can dress up as one of His sheep and may well fool himself and others for a time but a goat is a goat regardless of the sheepskin they may hide under. After awhile the sheepskins slides off and the real goat is exposed. A sheep in goats clothing is nothing more than a carnal Christian. They claim Jesus as savior yet throw on their goat skin when the flesh is itching. Rather like children dressing in costume at Halloween, they act out their carnal desires and ways under the goat skin, taking some sense of relief thinking no one knows who they really are. Then, throwing off the goatskin, they walk around again as a sheep. How foolish man is!

2 Pet. 1:5-11 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The scripture we read in 2 Peter tells us to ‘add’ to our faith walk, not try to deceive. Deception in and of itself is not of God. We know who the ‘father of lies’ title belongs to; deception is his first-born spawn. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

For if these things be in you…and…for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall. Powerful key word in this scripture, IF. You see, that IF is part of our choice to be a sheep or a goat. You can call yourself whatever you want, but when there is no follow through on the IF, your cover is blown. Sheep or goat, you decide.