The cost and consequences of standing for the truth. ( Click here for more details. )

The cost and consequences of standing for the truth. 

John  7:25 Then said some of them of Jerusalem, Is not this he, whom they seek to kill?  7:26 But, lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ?  7:27 Howbeit we know this man whence he is: but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is.  7:28 Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am: and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not.  7:29 But I know him: for I am from him, and he hath sent me.  7:30 Then they sought to take him: but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come.  7:31 And many of the people believed on him, and said, When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done?  7:32 The Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning him; and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him.  7:33 Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me.  7:34 Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the truth personified. He came to establish the truth. 

John  14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

But the Jews refused the truth. They want to continue with the law of Moses. 

John  9:26 Then said they to him again, What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes?  9:27 He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear it again? will ye also be his disciples?  9:28 Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses’ disciples.  9:29 We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is.

It is for this reason they are determined to kill Jesus. 

Our Lord said, when you receive the truth and you are living by it, you will be hated.

John  17:14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

What they did to Christ for proclaiming the truth, they did same for His disciples after Him.

Peter and John.

Acts  5:17 Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation,  5:18 And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison.  5:19 But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said,  5:20 Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.  5:21 And when they heard that, they entered into the temple early in the morning, and taught. But the high priest came, and they that were with him, and called the council together, and all the senate of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.  5:22 But when the officers came, and found them not in the prison, they returned, and told,  5:23 Saying, The prison truly found we shut with all safety, and the keepers standing without before the doors: but when we had opened, we found no man within.  5:24 Now when the high priest and the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these things, they doubted of them whereunto this would grow.  5:25 Then came one and told them, saying, Behold, the men whom ye put in prison are standing in the temple, and teaching the people.  5:26 Then went the captain with the officers, and brought them without violence: for they feared the people, lest they should have been stoned.  5:27 And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them,  5:28 Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.  5:29 Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.  5:30 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.  5:31 Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.  5:32 And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.  5:33 When they heard that, they were cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay them.

Paul and Barnabas.

Acts  13:42 And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath.  13:43 Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.  13:44 And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.  13:45 But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.  13:46 Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.  13:47 For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.  13:48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.  13:49 And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region.  13:50 But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts.

Very very unfortunate this trend has not changed.

People today still resist the truth and sometimes live the fellowship, because they don’t want the truth and God to where they can here fables .

Jeremiah  5:31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?

2 Timothy  4:1 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;  4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.  4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;  4:4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

When such people lives where the truth is preached to where they can hear what they wanted, the Bible says, they have departed to the congregation of the dead.

Proverbs  21:16 The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead.

Yet if you desire eternity with God, the Bible says, you should buy the truth.

Proverbs  23:23 Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.

This because contain the following.

Established for ever.

Psalms  119:89 For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.

Shall not pass away.

Matthew  24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

The word is magnify His words above His name’s.

Psalms  138:2 I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.

The word determines your eternal well being.

John  12:46 I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.  12:47 And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.  12:48 He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

Revelation  22:18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:  22:19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

So you also must endure persecutions like Jesus Christ, His faithful followers in Bible days and even now in our contemporary time.

Listen to what Jesus said, when you do that.

Revelation  3:10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.  3:11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.

God’s grace shall be available you.