It seems to be a very difficult thing for some people to learn, but goats cannot be transformed into sheep and sheep will never be made goats. According to the Word of God, all men are divided into two groups. God's elect, those who shall be saved, are sheep. The reprobate, those who never will trust the Lord Jesus Christ, are goats. God alone knows which are which. He divides the sheep from the goats by effectual calling, by the irresistible grace and power of his Spirit in the saving application of his grace. And he will divide the sheep from the goats in the day of judgment. But in this world the sheep must live among the goats.
It never has been the intention of Christianity to reform goats and get them to look and act like sheep. The New Testament assumes that society will always be a composite of sheep and goats. Some will glory in the cross. Others will stumble over it. Some will boast in it. Others will be ashamed of it. The sheep will hear the Shepherd's voice, follow him, and worship God in him. The goats will roam here and there aimlessly, without direction, some worshipping at the altar of one god and others at another.
It is not the purpose and mission of God's church to change or reform society. There is not one example in the New Testament of our Lord, his apostles, or any of his followers attempting to change Roman culture, Greek culture, or Jewish culture. The New Testament requires believers to live among reprobate men peaceably, to the extent that they will allow. We are not to try to destroy their gods, or their religions, though we detest them. We are to ignore them. They are nothing! Neither are we to march in protest of their laws and practices. We will not and must not, even at the cost of life, allow their laws and practices to compel us to violate the Word of God. But we are not concerned with the way goats live. That is the reason I refuse to have anything to do with the religious right or the irreligious left. I am not concerned with goats.
Our only purpose in this world is to seek the Lord's sheep. We seek them out by preaching the gospel of Christ, by simply telling people about redemption and grace in Christ. When we find them we rejoice. When men refuse to hear us, we just move on undeterred, still seeking the Lord's sheep. We leave the goats alone!
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