<TITLE>11. Par -</TITLE>L-16-2 Now, I want to say this: that there are some people who have a portion of this virtue, knowledge, wisdom, patience, and so forth, that don't even profess to be Christians. Now, we just... We're teaching Sunday school, and that's true. There's some people have a portion of this that don't even pretend to be Christians. But that doesn't--that won't do it. It's like a blackbird trying to put peacock feathers in his wings to make him a peacock. He only disgraces himself. Be better to stay a blackbird. See? When he tries to exercise these things without being a Christian, he's just simply all out of place. It's like a Sycamore tree trying to manufacture apples. It couldn't do it (See?), although it's a tree; but it can't manufacture apples.
It's like a mule trying to manufacture wool, trying to be a sheep when he's a wolf--oh, he's a mule. You see, he can't manufacture wool. He can't do it. Wool is a gift to a sheep, not to a mule. He might try to act like a sheep, but he's still a mule. See? So you say, "I can eat like a sheep; I can do this like a sheep," and no matter what you can do, you've got to be a sheep in order to have wool.

L-16-4 And let me stop here a minute. The sheep doesn't manufacture wool. He has wool, because he is a sheep. A lot of people trying to say, "Well, I'll try to get good. I'll try to do this." Don't manufacture nothing. No, you can't do it. A sheep doesn't--isn't asked, isn't expected to manufacture wool; it bears wool. And it does it because it's a sheep. And when you're a Christian, you just bear the fruit of the Spirit. You don't--you don't manufacture it. You don't try to make it up. You just try--make yourself something that you're not. You just become what you're supposed to be, and then it takes care of itself.

L-16-5 Have you heard people say, "Well, I'll tell you; I'm--I joined the church; I--I really ought to quit this lying." You're trying to manufacture something again now; you can't do it. So there's no need of trying to no more than a--than a mule can make himself have wool. He can't do it.
Or a vulture trying to eat with a dove, a vulture trying to--a vulture trying to be a dove... Could you imagine a buzzard out there, say, "Well, you know, I'm a dove." Put a few feathers in him and say, "See, I look like..." See? He'd just be all out of shape. That's a man who professes to be something when he's not. See, you can't do it.
You can't say, "Well, now look. I'm supposed to have virtue, so I'll have virtue. I'm supposed to live godliness, so I'll just have it." Why, you're only trying to place feathers. Though they're in your reach, but you can't put the feathers in the wrong bird. It just won't work. And it only shows what a hypocrite that bird is. See?

L-17-2 Could you imagine an old buzzard trying to have a couple of dove feathers, say, "Looky here. See, I'm a dove." See? Why we all know he's a buzzard. See, see? That's all. We can tell that he's a buzzard.
Well, now that's the way it is trying to--to manufacture Christianity. You can't do it. The first thing you've got to do is be borned again. You've got to be changed. See? And when you're changed, you become a new creation. Now, you're getting right now. See? Now, you don't have to worry about the feathers; it'll take care of itself when--when--when you're borned again. Yes, sir.
Like I've always said: You take a--a hog, scrub him up, and put a tuxudo suit on him--or a tuxedo suit, rather, on him, and turn him out there; he'll go right to a mud hole and wallow. 'Cause, you see, it wouldn't do any good. He's a hog; that's his nature. Wallowing is his nature. You've got to change his nature, and you--the rest of it'll take care of itself.


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