<TITLE>12. Par 88-93</TITLE>L-88 Now, if you notice, turning from the evils and finding the false prophets, after that they were proven false, having a form of godliness... See how the church begin to get formal during that time? They begin to kinda break down the people under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, begin to cause people to kind of make fun of them.
Well, didn't Jesus say, "Blessed are you when you're persecuted for righteousness' sake"? He never said to start getting formal. He said, "Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for they persecuted the prophets which were before you." He said that in the beatitudes in Matthew 5, "Blessed are you." Why, to have people to make fun of you because you love the Lord Jesus is a blessing just to have them to say it. They're only... When they're cursing you, they're bringing God's blessings down on you. It backfires on them, like it did on Balaam that time. It--it backfires on them. When they try to make fun of you being a Christian, why, it backfires on them, and God gives a blessing, because "Blessed are you when men shall persecute you for My Name's sake." For His Name's sake, "Blessed are you."

L-90 Now, we find out that they wanted to start and get into a form of godliness.
Now, I could stop right here and say something: believe I will, Did you notice that every revival... Now, minister brethren, you check this. Every revival produces twins, just as Jacob and Rebekah produced twins: Esau and Jacob. I mean Isaac instead of--Isaac and Rebekah, instead of Jacob. Isaac and Rebekah produced twins. Their father was holy; the mother was holy; but they had two boys born: Esau and Jacob.
Now, both of them was religious. But Esau, when it come to works and deeds, as a good legalist, he was probably a better boy all the way around than Jacob was. Did you know that? Jacob was just a little boy that hung around his mammy all the time. But Esau got out and worked, went out and got venison and give to his old blind daddy who was a prophet; he tried to take care of him. But Jacob only had one thing in mind; he wanted that birthright. He didn't care how long he had to hang around or whatever he had to do; the main thing in his life was the birthright. And Esau despised it.

L-93 Now, don't you see the natural man, the natural man? When a revival comes, there's two classes of people comes out of every revival. There's a natural man that goes, and he'll come up to the altar and say, "Yes, sir, I accept Christ as my Saviour." He'll go out, and what does he happen? The first thing you know, he'll wind up in some good cold, formal church, because he thinks, "Well, if I join church, I'm just as good as the next man. Am I not just as good as So-and-so? What difference does it make as long as I belong to church and make my confession?" Why, it's a whole lot of difference. You've got to be borned again. You've got to have the birthright.
And Jacob didn't care how much he was laughed at. He wanted that birthright, and he didn't care how he had to get it.


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