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Standing Or Falling

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• John chapter 18, verses 1 through 9. Title of the message is "Standing or Falling" or "Where Do You Stand?" Notice John 18, beginning with verse 1: "When Jesus had spoken these words, He went forth with His disciples over the brook Kidron, where was a garden, into which He entered, and His disciples. And Judas also, which betrayed Him, knew the place: for Jesus oftentimes resorted thither with His disciples. Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons. Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon Him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye? They answered Him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am He. And Judas also, which betrayed Him, stood with them. As soon then as He had said unto them, I am He, they went backward, and fell to the ground. Then asked He them again, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you that I am He."

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• "If therefore ye seek Me, let these go their way: that the saying might be fulfilled, which He spake, Of them which Thou gavest Me have I lost none." Skip down to verse 15. "And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple: that disciple was known unto the high priest, and went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest. But Peter stood at the door without. Then went out that other disciple, which was known unto the high priest, and spake unto her that kept the door, and brought in Peter. Then saith the damsel that kept the door unto Peter, Art not thou also one of this man's disciples?"

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• "He saith, I am not. And the servants and officers stood there, who had made a fire of coals; for it was cold: and they warmed themselves: and Peter stood with them, and warmed himself." Now verse 25. "And Simon Peter stood and warmed himself. They said therefore unto him, Art not thou also one of his disciples? He denied it, and said, I am not." Everyone knows, or at least each one thinks he knows, what it means to take a stand.

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• We often speak of drawing a line in the sand. That line represents the fact that when we reach that point, we will resist and we will fight. It is a point in which we have said that there will be no compromise and there will be no surrender. The problem today with drawing a line in the sand is that line keeps moving. We continue to compromise, give in, give up, give out. And we reach the point where basically we don't stand for anything.

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• And consequently we end up falling for everything. It used to be different. Christians had convictions and understanding. Men oftentimes in times past chose to fight. And they believed not only they were right to fight, but they believed that time was right to fight as well. One good illustration of that was Colonel William Barrett Travis, who supposedly did that exactly for his men at the Alamo. This young Texas colonel happened to be only 26 years of age. He was a lawyer. He was not a professional military man, but Travis knew enough about war. He knew enough about history to understand that in a siege, those on the outside had a far greater advantage than those on the inside. And inevitably those on the outside would usually prevail.

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• So he gathered his defenders together that Saturday afternoon in March of 1836. And he made this speech to them. Here's what he said. "We must die. Our business is not to make a fruitless effort to save our lives, but to choose the manner of our death." He went on to say he saw three possibilities. He said, "surrender and summary execution by the Mexicans. Or secondly, trying to fight our way out only to be butchered by the Mexican lancers. Or thirdly, to remain in the fort, resist every assault, and to sell our lives as dearly as possible." And then with a flourish, he drew out his sword and drew a line in the sand and said, "Whoever is determined to stay here and die with me, come across this line." And of course, practically every one of those men did indeed cross that line.

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• When General Santa Anna attacked, who happened to also be the president of Mexico at that particular time, and he ordered the 180 Texans to surrender—I love it—Colonel Travis answered with a cannonball and a rebel yell, "No, we're not going to surrender." And of course, he understood it was taking a stand at that time. And they did fight. And of course, everyone understands and remembers the words of Martin Luther. When Martin Luther, the great reformer, stood before the pope, his cardinals, Charles V and his royal court, Luther was being examined and was asked to recant. And of course, Luther answered and they did not like his answer. And so they asked him to speak in clear and unvarnished terms.

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• And here's what he said. Here it is plain and unvarnished. "Unless I am convinced of error by the testimony of Scripture, or—since I put no trust in the unsupported authorities of popes or councils, since it is plain that they have often erred and often contradicted themselves—by manifest reasoning I stand convinced by the Scripture to which I appeal, and my conscience is taken captive by the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, for to act against our conscience is neither safe for us nor open to us. On this I take my stand.

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• I can do no other. God help me. Amen." So here Martin Luther took his stand before the emperor and the pope. We fail oftentimes to stand or at times we stand for the wrong reasons or we stand with the wrong people. We have forgotten the commands of Scripture. Let me just give you some of these commands. And I want to just quote them basically in order to save time, because I have an awful lot to share with you today.

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• But the Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 16 and verse 13, "Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong." Note here's a command to stand fast in the faith. When you get to Galatians 5 and verse 1, the Bible says, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." The passage in Ephesians chapter 6, each of you are familiar with in verse 11. He said this: "Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." Then when you get to verses 13 and 14 in Ephesians 6, he said this: "Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness."

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• And each of these are commands. When you get to Philippians 4 and verse 1, the apostle Paul said, "Therefore, my brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved." And then when you get to 1 Thessalonians 3 and verse 8, again, he says, "stand fast in the Lord." And then when you get to 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 15, "Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle." Let me give you one more. 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 58, the Bible says, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." So over and over in the Scripture, and there's many, many other passages, our Lord commands us to stand. The problem is most of us have never really considered the implications of a failure to stand for the truth or for the Lord Jesus Christ.

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• So our Lord makes this issue very plain and very clear for us. For in Luke chapter 11, verse 23, our Lord said this: "He that is not with Me is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me scattereth abroad." So our Lord says, when you're not with Me, you are against Me. That is, you are My enemy. When you're not gathering with Me, you're scattering abroad. That means you're not working with Me. You're not submitting to Me. You are against Me. Therefore, you are My enemy.

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• I want you to see two men in this passage. And those two men happen to be Judas and Peter. And they prove exactly this truth. I want you, first of all, to consider what He said of Judas in verses 1 through 9. Judas was a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was also the traitor of the Lord Jesus Christ. So you could refer to him as Judas the betrayer or Judas the scoundrel or Judas the thief.

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• And all of these epithets belong to this man. Judas was a disciple for three years, and he was the treasurer for the disciples. The Bible tells us in the book of John, when something was not sold and the money put into the treasury for the poor, Judas complained. And our Lord says this. He said, "Not because he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein." So Judas then was a thief. Although he walked with our Lord for three years, he did not know the Lord in a saving manner. But just because he did not know the Lord, that does not mean that the Lord did not know him. For instance, in John 6 and verse 64, our Lord says this: "But there are some of you that believe not."

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• "For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray Him." When you get to John 6 and verse 71, "He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray Him, being one of the twelve." When you get to John 13, I want you to look there. It's very close. Look in John chapter 13 at verses 10 and 11.

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• Here's the great passage where our Lord girds Himself and washes the feet of His disciples. So in John 13, beginning there with verse 10, "Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all." What did He mean by that? Well, look in verse 11: "For He knew who should betray Him; therefore said He, Ye are not all clean." Skip down to verse 18. Our Lord says, "I speak not of you all."

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• "I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with Me hath lifted up his heel against Me." So Judas may not have known our Lord, but our Lord certainly knew Judas. Now, to me, there's an absolute amazing thing, and that is this: Judas was not only a thief and a scoundrel, and a fake and a hypocrite.

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• But he had all the other apostles fooled. Let me show you what I mean. I want you to hold John 18, but turn back in your Bibles to Matthew 26. And you need to mark this passage because we will ultimately come back here. But look at Matthew chapter 26, beginning there with verse 20. Matthew 26 and verse 20. Watch. Matthew 26 in verse 20.

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• "Now when the even was come, He sat down with the twelve. And as they did eat, He said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray Me. And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto Him, Lord, is it I?" Now, isn't that interesting? Our Lord says one of you is going to betray Me. And each one of those apostles asked, "Lord, is it I?"

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• Well, skip down to verse 23. Look what He said. "And He answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with Me in the dish, the same shall betray Me. The Son of man goeth as it is written of Him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born." Wow. Now, our Lord has said that this man is going to betray Him. Now, I want you to look, if you would, mark Matthew 26. We'll come back there. But look, if you would, in Luke chapter 22, Luke 22. I'm going to show you exactly how deliberate Judas was. He was purposeful. He was deliberate. And what he did in betraying our Lord was absolutely premeditated. Look, if you would, Luke chapter 22, beginning there with verse 4. The Bible says, "And he went his way," that is Judas, "and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him unto them."

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• "And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money. And he promised, and sought opportunity to betray Him unto them in the absence of the multitude." So here Judas now has deliberately betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ. He sold Him for the 30 pieces of silver. And the Bible now says that he's seeking an opportunity to betray Him in the absence of the multitude. In other words, he wanted to betray Him on the sly. He wanted to betray Him secretly. He wanted to betray Him when no one would really find out about it as such.

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• Now, let me show you something. He even gave a sign for those who, of course, were going to take our Lord Jesus Christ. So if you will go back to Luke—I'm sorry, Matthew 26—look, if you would please, at verse 48. Matthew 26 in verse 48, the Bible says, "Now he that betrayed Him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is He: hold Him fast." Now, Jesus Christ is being betrayed by Judas.

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• The interesting thing is when all of these apostles said and asked this question, "Lord, is it I?" do you realize that Judas himself asked that question? And he himself knew the answer to that question, because obviously he is the one that was going to ultimately betray the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, he'd already betrayed Him basically, but he asked, "Lord, is it I?" as well. Now, I want you to look in your Bibles to John 18 back in our text, because all of this was done by Judas in secret. Here's an important truth.

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• Whatever we harbor in our hearts and minds, whatever we try to keep secret, inevitably, invariably is going to come out publicly and in our actions. Because the Bible says this—look, if you would, John 18 verse 5. They asked, "Whom seek ye?" Our Lord asked, "Whom seek ye?" They answered Him, "Jesus of Nazareth." Jesus saith unto them, "I am He."

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• Now watch this next sentence. "And Judas also, which betrayed Him, stood with them." He is no longer with the apostles. He is now with this group that has come to arrest and to capture the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the Bible says, "and Judas stood with them." Now, the word "stood" is a very interesting word. It's the word histēmi in the Greek, and it literally means to cause or to make a stand, to stand firm, to establish and not to hesitate or to waver. So here Judas is standing with the enemies of our Lord without hesitation, without wavering. Judas is not there as an idle spectator. Judas is the one leading the mob, coming to Jesus Christ, betraying Him with the kiss and standing with those who are going to capture Him.

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• He's now with a band of soldiers. He's now with men with weapons. He has come for the simple purpose of betraying our Lord and selling Him into the hands of His enemies.

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• Now, let me make a point, and I'm going to reemphasize this several times. We must learn that it does matter where we stand and it does matter with whom we stand. When you associate yourself with the enemies of Jesus Christ, you reveal in reality that you are an enemy of Jesus Christ. What did our Lord say? "He that is not with Me is against Me." That means if you stand with the enemies of Jesus Christ, you side with those, you are the enemy of Jesus Christ. Once you identify with the enemies of Jesus Christ, inevitably you must be classified as an enemy of Jesus Christ.

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• The interesting thing is here's a man that was dishonest, dishonorable, deceitful. And all of that ended up ultimately in him being revealed by standing with the enemies of Jesus Christ. Now that's Judas. The one that I'm concerned with next is Peter. So we not only have considered Judas, now I want us to consider Peter. If you look again in verses 15 through 18. "And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple: that disciple was known unto the high priest, and went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest. But Peter stood at the door without. Then went out that other disciple, which was known unto the high priest, and spake unto her that kept the door, and brought in Peter. Then saith the damsel that kept the door unto Peter, Art not thou also one of this man's disciples? He saith, I am not. And the servants and officers stood there, who had made a fire of coals; for it was cold: and they warmed themselves: and Peter stood with them, and warmed himself."

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• Now, let me just stop there just for a moment. Here we have a vast difference. Judas Iscariot was lost. Peter is a Christian. Peter is a believer. We know he's a believer because our Lord has said to Peter, "Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not." So we know that he was a believer and we know that he had faith.

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• But here's what I want you to note. He stood with our Lord's enemies. And while he stood with our Lord's enemies, he denied the Lord Jesus Christ. So let me repeat this truth again. It does matter where you stand, and it does matter with whom you stand. You're either standing for and with the Lord Jesus Christ, or you're going to ultimately end up standing against the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I pointed out the fact when it came to Judas, the word "stood"—he stood with those enemies of Christ—it was the Greek word histēmi. Guess what? It is exactly the same word that is used here for Peter. In other words, Peter then had a stand and without wavering and without even hesitating, while standing with our Lord's enemies, he denied the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I want you to look in verse 15: "And Simon Peter followed Jesus."

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• "And so did another disciple." That would be John. "That disciple was known unto the high priest, and went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest. But Peter stood at the door." He didn't go in. Evidently, the high priest did not know him or he did not know anyone in there. So Peter stood at the door. Now, watch. "Then went out that other disciple, which was known unto the high priest, and spake unto her that kept the door, and brought in Peter." So Peter standing outside, John comes back, tells a little maiden, "Let him in." She lets him in. Now look in verse 17: "Then saith the damsel that kept the door unto Peter, Art not thou also one of this man's disciples? He saith, I am not."

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• Now I want you to understand something. This was a damsel. This was a maiden. Let me be a little more specific. She was a servant. She may have even been a slave. I don't know. But her menial duty was keeping the door, letting people in and letting people out. And when Peter comes in, this little girl, who is nothing more than a servant, said, "Art not thou one of his disciples?"

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• And he said, "I am not." May I remind you that Peter was a rough, tough fisherman. You don't get weak casting those nets, drawing those nets, working with fish, working with your hands all day. Here is a rough, tough fisherman quaking before a little maiden. And she just asked him, "Art not thou one of his disciples?"

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• Now, I want you to listen to what Matthew Henry said. He said, "How slight was this attack? It was but a silly maid, of so small account that she was set to keep the door, that challenged him, and she only asked him carelessly, 'Art not thou one of this man's disciples?' probably suspecting by his sheepish look and coming in timorously." Then he goes on to say, "We should many a time better maintain a good cause if we had a good heart on it and could put a good face on it. Peter would have had some reason to take the alarm if Malchus had set upon him and said, 'This is the man that cut off my ear.'

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• 'I'll have his head for it.' But when a maid only ask him, 'Art not thou one of them?' he might without danger have answered, 'And what if I am?' Suppose the servants had ridiculed him and insulted him over it. Those can bear but little for Christ that cannot bear this. This is but running with the footmen." You remember that passage I gave you last week? In Jeremiah 12 and verse 5, He says, "If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses?" Here's a little girl, a little silly maiden. And she asked, "Art not thou one of them?" And he denied.

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• Now, let me show you something. It was Peter's pride and arrogance that brought him so low and made him so timid. I want to show you this. Look in your Bibles to Mark chapter 14. Mark chapter 14. Look at this. Mark chapter 14. And let's begin reading there with verse 27. Because our Lord is telling them that He's going to be captured and that they're going to be scattered. So notice, if you would please, Mark chapter 14, verse 27.

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• "And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended because of Me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee. But Peter said unto Him, Although all shall be offended, yet will not I. And Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny Me thrice." Now watch.

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• "But he spake the more vehemently, If I should die with Thee, I will not deny Thee in any wise. Likewise also said they all." Now I want you to note when our Lord told Peter, "Yes, you will deny Me. And you'll deny Me three times before the cock crows twice." I want you to look how he disputed our Lord's words. Verse 31: "But he spake the more vehemently."

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• He spoke the more dogmatically. He spoke the more forcefully. He spoke the more premeditatedly. "I will not. I will die with You. I will never ever deny You." And then you have this statement, "Likewise also said they all." Now, here's my question. When our Lord was captured and taken, how many fled and left Him? All of them. All of them. All of them. You know, the Bible says in Proverbs 16 and verse 18.

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• "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." In Proverbs 29, verse 23, the Bible says, "A man's pride shall bring him low." And in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 12, the Bible says, "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." Here's something that I want to really impress upon each of you. We need to really learn how weak and vacillating we really are.

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• If the mighty apostles caved in and fled, and one of the leading apostles, Peter, denied our Lord three times in one night while Jesus Christ was physically present with them, the question has to be asked: how much more apt are we to deny our Lord and do that which is wicked and wrong when He is not physically present with us? I believe—I'll go ahead and make the application—I believe that our present situation really and truly reveals how weak and worthless we really are for the kingdom of God. I believe it reveals our cowardice and our spinelessness.

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• You look at the churches in our land that have closed on order of the state. The state has no authority over the church. They're totally separate jurisdictions. Look how many preachers and pastors have quit preaching without so much as a whimper. Look at the Christians today that are cowering beneath a shelter-in-place order that has no biblical or constitutional validity. We've often said that we will never deny Him.

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• We'll always stand for Jesus Christ. Well, what about that command in Hebrews 10 and verse 25: "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." I want you to stop and think about this. It did not take laws. It did not take guns. It did not take cops. It did not take force. It did not take martial law. Just an executive order that does not and cannot have the force of law to do what has been done. Only legislatures can make law.

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• Your mayor is not a legislator. Your governor is not a legislator. Your president is not a legislator. They're executives. An executive order cannot possibly have the force of law. But look what has happened across our land. And so many are going to try to use Romans chapter 13 to justify what they have done. If you really understood Romans chapter 13, then I believe that you would be really protesting and resisting and standing and fighting. If you'll look in your Bibles very quickly to the book of Acts chapter 5, look in Acts chapter 5. When the rulers told the apostles not to preach anymore in His name, I want you to look at their response. Acts chapter 5, beginning there with verse 28.

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• "They brought them before the council. 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. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men." That was their response. "We ought to obey God rather than men." And that's the truth. We ought to obey God rather than men.

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• But you look at the Christians who said they will never, ever deny Christ. And yet at the same time, we're doing it every day on every hand.

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• Now, I want you to go back to John chapter 18, because here is something that is very interesting in one sense of the word. Look in verse 18. Peter now is in the palace. "And the servants and officers stood there, who had made a fire of coals; for it was cold: and they warmed themselves: and Peter stood with them, and warmed himself." Now I want you to skip down to verse 25. "And Simon Peter stood and warmed himself. They said therefore unto him, Art not thou also one of his disciples?"

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• "He denied it, and said, I am not." I suppose that these two verses point to the saddest time in Peter's life.

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• Now, if you look back at verse 18, the Bible says, "And the servants and officers stood there, who had made a fire of coals; for it was cold: and they warmed themselves: and Peter stood with them." Who are the "them"? Well, the servants and the officers. They were the ones who came out and arrested Jesus Christ. And now Peter is standing with them, warming himself around their fire. He is now accepting comfort from the enemies of Jesus Christ, while at the same time denying Jesus Christ.

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• It was John Gill, the great Baptist commentator, who said this—listen carefully: "The company and conversation of wicked men should be abstained from. No good is got thereby. Continuance among such is very dangerous. Men are too often more concerned for their bodies than their souls. Satan baits his temptations for the flesh and sensitive part. And that which is thought to be for good is often the occasion of hurt."

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• Now, I want you to see how Matthew and Mark give us extra details concerning Peter's denial. So I want you to turn in your Bibles, if you would please, back to Matthew 26. And if you would, Mark 14 as well. Look in Matthew chapter 26 and let's begin reading there with verse 71. Matthew 26, verse 71. And then I want you to hold Matthew 26, we'll go to Mark and then we'll come back. But notice if you would, Matthew 26, beginning there with verse 71, look what the Bible says.

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• "And when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him, and said unto them that were there, This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth. And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man."

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• Now hold Matthew 26, but look very quickly in Mark 14 in verse 71. You remember I told you the word histēmi means you don't waver. You don't hesitate. Here he is not wavering, not hesitating, but very clearly with an oath, saying he does not know Jesus Christ. In Mark chapter 14 in verse 71, the Bible says this: "But he began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not this man of whom ye speak." What? He began to curse and swear. Demonstrating very obviously.

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• "I can't be a Christian." Listen to me. Listen to what I'm saying. He was a Christian, but he's cursing and swearing.

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• Now go back in your Bibles to Matthew 26, and let's look, if you would, beginning there with verse 73. "And after a while came unto him they that stood by," these are the ones now with whom he was warming himself, "and said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them; for thy speech bewrayeth thee."

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• Now, look: "Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny Me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly." Do you realize that Peter has denied the Lord Jesus Christ three times, twice to little maidens, and once to these men, using oaths and curses and swear words? You know, I think there's a connection in one sense, the word. When our Lord said, "All of you shall betray Me this night," or "all of you shall leave Me this night," they all said, "No, no, no, Lord, we're not going to do this. We're going to stay with You." Our Lord said, "Yes, Peter, you're going to deny Me before the cock crows twice. You'll deny Me three times." And then Peter said vehemently, "I will never deny You. I'll die with You." And now he is vehemently, with an oath and curse and swear words, denying the Lord Jesus Christ.

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• And he did that as he stood with our Lord's enemies. Now, I want to make some applications. I want to try to tie this together. I want you to listen carefully. The first one is this: We have to realize truthfully how weak we really, genuinely are. No amount of braggadociousness, no amount of bragging will hold up. Our Lord said in Matthew chapter 26 and verse 41, "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." And we just really do not understand how weak we are.

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• And I'm going to tell you, you can look left and right and you will find pastors falling. You'll find Christians falling. Anytime you put confidence in the flesh, it's going to fail. The second application is this: It is our pride and our arrogance that gets us into trouble, just as it did Peter. We are unable to stand on our own. We might think we're able to stand, but we're not.

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• Unless God in His grace and mercy gives us courage and strength and power, we will buckle and we will fall. We are absolutely helpless in and of ourselves. Do not trust in your flesh. Do not trust in your determinations. Do not trust in your abilities. It is only in the grace and mercy and power and strength of Jesus Christ in which we must trust.

  #59 | 43:28 to 43:55 | cleaned

• Now, I want you to think with me just momentarily, because I want to offer something for your consideration, and I would encourage you to think about these things. Peter accepted the warmth and comfort of the enemy's fire. And he placed himself in a position to deny Christ. He was standing with our Lord's enemies, accepting their warmth and their comfort. And I would suppose their friendship or fellowship. He was standing there.

  #60 | 43:58 to 44:41 | cleaned

• Have you even thought about the implications of receiving the benefits of a stimulus check while at the same time refusing to worship and to honor the Lord Jesus Christ? Stop and think about this. You will take the benefit, but you will not fulfill your duty, your obligation, and your privilege to worship. So let me ask this question, just for your consideration: As Christians, are we being paid not to go to church? Are we being paid not to worship the Lord Jesus Christ? There's an implication there. And let me give you another implication, something for you to consider.

  #61 | 44:45 to 45:43 | cleaned

• Has not God commanded us to work and to earn our living by the sweat of our brow? And we disobey God because some stupid, idiotic bureaucrat somewhere says that we are non-essential workers. I got news for you folks. Let me tell you something. My work is essential. Your work is essential because God has commanded us to work. It is essential that we honor Him. It is essential that we work for our own sake, our own character, our own morality. It's essential that we work because that is the way we support our families.

  #62 | 45:45 to 46:29 | cleaned

• I don't care if you're a ditch digger. I don't care if you're a dishwasher. I don't care what you are. Your work is essential. The only non-essential workers that I can even think of are in Washington D.C. and probably the state capitals. And please, may I remind you, they have continued to receive their paychecks. It should be an insult to every working American to be called a non-essential worker. I read this past week where one man was complaining to Mayor Cuomo of New York about not being able to work. And Cuomo smarted off and said, "Well, just go out and become an essential worker."

  #63 | 46:30 to 47:27 | cleaned

• I got news for you. Every work is essential. I don't care what the bureaucrats say. Do you know what the Bible says in 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 and verse 10? The apostle Paul said, "For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat." That sounds pretty essential to me. I don't care what it is. Listen to what economist Doug Casey said.

  #64 | 47:29 to 48:00 | cleaned

• Let me read it to you. He said, "Since the government produces nothing, anything it even seems to provide is at the direct expense of somebody else. This simple fact evades almost everyone, from the most ignorant voter to the most powerful officials. Government produces nothing but wars, pogroms, confiscations, taxes, inflations, and regulation, but people still, idiotically, look to it for salvation, even though it's the cause of their worst problems." Which is true. Which is true. I think it would be an absolute—and everyone should take it as an absolute insult—to be classified as a non-essential worker. And I pray and I hope during the next election that some of these governors and some of these mayors will find out that they are non-essential as well.

  #65 | 48:00 to 49:02 | cleaned

• Because the people should replace them, especially when they're acting unbiblically and unconstitutionally. One more. I want you to turn in your Bibles to Psalm 1. Look in Psalm 1. You know, unhappily, there is usually a progression in our denial of Jesus Christ. We usually do not start out cursing and swearing. Peter didn't. He just simply could not stand up to a little maiden. And of course, it was because of his pride and arrogance. But I want you to look at Psalm 1 in verse 1, and let me show you a progression. Psalm 1, verse 1 says, "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful." Now watch.

  #66 | 49:04 to 50:03 | cleaned

• I'm going to put this all in A's so you can see it and I hope remember it. "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel"—or the advice—"of the ungodly." The first step in ultimately denying Christ is when we take the advice or the counsel of the ungodly.

  #67 | 50:04 to 50:27 | cleaned

• Now notice secondly, he says, "nor standeth in the way of sinners." That's association. Once you start taking their advice, the next step is you begin associating with them, just like Peter standing by the fire. The third step is "nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful." That's agreement. And what was Peter doing? He was basically agreeing with the ungodly when he was cursing and swearing and saying, "I know not the man." Whenever you start taking the advice of the ungodly and associating with the ungodly, you're going to end up agreeing with the ungodly.

  #68 | 50:27 to 51:08 | cleaned

• Now, the Apostle Paul said it very plainly in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 33. He said this: "Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners." Be not deceived. Evil communications—that is, conversations—corrupt good manners. When we start associating with the wicked, we are not going to lift them up. What is going to happen is they're going to pull us down. It is one thing to witness to them. It's one thing to reprove and rebuke them. It's one thing to love them in the Lord in the sense that we're willing to witness to them and befriend them in that sense of the word. But when we start associating with them and treating them as our equals and taking their advice and taking their counsel, ultimately, we're going to end up agreeing with them. God says no.

  #69 | 51:09 to 52:08 | cleaned

• I want you to watch. Look in verse 1 again, but this time I want to read through verse 3. He says, "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel"—or the advice—"of the ungodly, nor standeth"—or associates—"in the way of sinners, nor sitteth"—or agreeing—"in the seat of the scornful." We don't do any of those things. What do we do? "But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in His law doth he meditate day and night." That is where we get our counsel. That is where we get our advice. We associate with people that get their counsel and advice, and we can agree with them because it is biblical.

  #70 | 52:09 to 52:50 | cleaned

• "And he shall be like a tree"—the man who meditates in God's law—"he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." Our delight and our focus must be upon God and His law. We must stand for Him and His truth, regardless of the situation, regardless of the circumstance.

  #71 | 52:50 to 53:17 | cleaned

• Now, I'm going to give you one last quote. I want you to listen very carefully. This was Charles Haddon Spurgeon. And he had been preaching a message on Esther's exaltation. You remember, she went into King Ahasuerus and she said, "If I perish, I perish." You remember that? Here's what he said: "Recollect that as God can do without us"—now think about this—"Recollect that as God can do without us, it may be He will do without us. It might come to pass that God would say, 'I will no more bless the world by this England or America.'

  #72 | 53:17 to 54:03 | cleaned

• 'She has become selfishly mercantile. She cares more for commerce than for righteousness. She is drunken and infidel. I will give her up. Her merchants care nothing for the poor whose labor is ill required. Let her pass away as all oppressors must and let the nation say, Alas, alas, that great city, that mighty city, for in one hour so great riches is come to nought.' He may say to any church, 'Repent, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against thee with the sword of My mouth.'

  #73 | 54:04 to 54:41 | cleaned

• "Ichabod"—which means "the glory is departed"—"Ichabod has been written aforetime, and may again on places where once there shone upon the forefront this inscription, 'Holiness unto the LORD.' So also any man may be set aside, even as the Lord put away Saul and said to him, 'Thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD hath rejected thee from being king over Israel.' The Lord may decline to use us if we're not prepared in such a time as this to do our very utmost and to lay ourselves out for the cause of truth and holiness."

  #74 | 54:42 to 55:21 | cleaned

• It does matter whether or not you stand. It does matter where you stand and it does matter who you stand with. We're either going to stand or fall. And the only way we can stand is by the grace and mercy and goodness and power and strength of Jesus Christ. If we trust in our flesh, if we hang on to our pride and our arrogance and fail to repent, we shall fall individually, familially, ecclesiastically, societally, and nationally. It does matter whether or not you stand, where you stand, and who you stand with. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee.

  #75 | 55:24 to 56:33 | cleaned

• We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. We thank You for the opportunity to stand for Thee in a time in which standing may not be very popular. But Father, may we always stand with the Lord Jesus Christ. May we gather with Him. May we always be for Him. Give us grace, Lord, that we may serve Thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

  #76 | 56:33 to 57:04 | cleaned

• In Thy name we pray, Amen.

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• you you

  #78 | 57:25 to 57:26 | cleaned

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T13:54:55Z