But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. (Matthew 10:17-18)

You dream that men will admire you, that the holier you are and the more Christ-like you are, the more peaceable people will be toward you. You do not know what you are driving at.

It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? (Matthew 10:25).

I believe if we were more like Christ, we should be much more loved by His friends and much more hated by His enemies. I do not beliieve the world would be so lenient to the church nowadays if it were not that the church has grown complacent to the world.

When any of us speak up boldly, mercenary motives are imputed to us, our language is turned upside down, and we are abhorred of men. We get smooth things, brethren, because I’m afraid we are too much like the prophets who prophesied peace, peace, where there was no peace.

Let us be true to our Master, stand out and come out and be like Him, and we must expect the same treatment that He had. (At the Master’s Feet, August 16)

Charles Spurgeon