Let’s just say that there is a certain kind of animal on a farm. This animal lives in the mud, enjoys the mud, and has no desire to leave the mud. He’s at home in the mud. What kind of animal is that? It’s obviously a pig. Let’s say there’s a sheep walking down the path, and it sees the mud. It’s attracted to the mud and it will even jump in the mud. But once it jumps in the mud, what will that sheep do? Will that sheep stay in the mud and say, “Now this is living!” Will a sheep say that? No. A sheep will get out of the mud. A sheep will always get out of the mud, because a sheep is not a pig. A sheep is a sheep.

Change it a little bit. An animal that lives in the mud, enjoys the mud, and has no desireto get out of the mud. That looks like a pig, smells like a pig, and enjoys the pig lifestyle and yet when it opens it’s mouth it says, “Bahhh.” “Bahhh.”/ What kind of animal is that? I will suggest to you that that animal is a pig that has learned to talk sheep. That is a pig that has learned sheep talk.

So, my dear sheeple. Let’s talk about people. Listen, a person who lives a consistent lifestyle of sin, enjoys their sin, has no desire to get out of his or her sin. That looks like a non-Christian. That lives like a non-Christian. That loves the non-Christian lifestyle and yet says, “Jesus is my Lord.” What kind of person is that? I won’t dare pass judgment and condemn but I will simply quote our Lord Jesus Christ in Matt. 7:21-23,

Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!”

This has happened several times at home and at church, but what a blessing it is for someone to say, “I need to talk to somebody because I know that I am not a Christian and I need to come to know Christ.” What am I saying? Holiness is not an option. What I am not saying is that you need to become holy before you become a Christian. And if you’re here this morning and you don’t know Christ, I am not saying that you need to clean up your life and then come to Christ. I guess what I am saying is this dear church: Christianity is not a ticket that says, “Admit one. Come as you are.” Christianity is a ticket that says, “Admit one, and be changed on the way.” Because a salvation that will save you from hell to heaven is a salvation that will change your life – in this world as well. And I am greatly concerned that when we come across people who show no evidence of holiness, even though they know the right things to say, that we lovingly and kindly reach out to them with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. A gospel that not only saves a person from hell but changes their life on their way to heaven.

For the Glory of Christ,

Pastor Aaron