In this sermon, the preacher expresses concern over the decline of morality in society and the loss of the moral voice. He shares a personal story of a surgeon who went back to the operating table in the middle of the night to save a patient, highlighting the dedication and sacrifice required in serving others. The preacher emphasizes the importance of recognizing that the liberties of a nation are a gift from God and warns of the consequences of disregarding God's justice. He also discusses the need for consistency between one's profession of faith and their actions, citing the example of people who claim to know God but deny Him through their behavior. The sermon concludes with a call to stand up for one's faith and to protest against actions that go against God's principles.

Friends, that even a little creature had a place in this glorious and unique story of the cross, Matthew 26 and verse 74 and 75, Matthew 26, 74 and 75, 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. You know, my dear friends, isn't this wonderful that there was a cock which grew in the heart of Peter. You know, what we, many people have done with those cocks, wrung their necks, very easy to wring the neck of a cock, so that the cock doesn't crow anymore. Whatever they do, it's okay, everybody does that, so I'll do that. The cock does not crow anymore. Now that is a dangerous state. The cock crew, and immediately the cock crew, and Peter remembered the word of Jesus. Anything that seems to remind us of the word of Jesus, anything that speaks to our conscience, and says, hey, you know you're wrong, why do you blame somebody else? So folks, this must have been a very humbling moment for Peter, who said, I will go both to prison and to death. I wonder what kind of loyalty we have today. Would you say some of these pews are more loyal? At least they sit here, you know. They don't run away, they don't say there's a football game today, and so I'm not going to be present. You know, when I get worse than these pews, pardon me, don't you think I deserve hellfire? When I've lost my loyalty to the Lord Jesus. You know, my dear friends, even the framers of the Constitution feared that a day will come when America will not be true to the living God. I'd like to read a few lines from what Thomas Jefferson said, God who gave us life, gave us liberty, and can the liberties of a nation be thought secure? Pardon me, can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed, I tremble for my country. I tell you, if we don't really tremble at a time like this for the nation and for this poor world, I think we are just being blindfolded and being totally irrational. I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever, that God is just and his justice cannot sleep forever. Yes, those great men believed in the justice of God and the judgment of God. And here we see a little cock passing judgment on Peter, or at least awakening in his soul a feeling of justice. I have not done that which is right. You know, when we teach ourselves to keep on doing that which is wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, then after a while I suppose we won't even realize that there's anything wrong with us. Have you not met such people? They can just do things that are so wicked and yet have no conscience about it. Someone was saying that the poor smokers have been hit very hard. Well, if they are delivered from their smoking, that would be a wonderful thing. You know, you know, folks, probably they will live longer and the country will be spared some expenses due to there being patients for a long time, long time care and so on. But when people can see, hey, we were promised that the poor will not be encumbered with new taxes. And here we are with new taxes. All right. It's one thing to tax yourself. Fine. Then let me tax myself and say, let me do something for the nation. Let me, here is some excess money in my pocket. What can I do for the poor? What can I do for the orphans? You know, folks, I have often taken care of widows and orphans. I remember a poor widow when her only son, who became an engineer, got killed in an accident. And the poor woman was a heathen woman. And she was helpless. And when I came to know that she had no dwelling, no place to dwell, I told one of the engineers that was known to me, who was converted in our meetings, make sure that you build a little house for this poor widow. We'll send you the money. Yes. If I tax myself and lift another, oh, I am blessed. But if I heap upon my grandchildren and great-grandchildren a load of debt by my profligate ways, then it is wrong. It does not require a commission to find out or a committee to find out that it is wrong. It's wrong. It's an immoral thing to do. All right. But if there is no cock to crow, not even in the pulpit of the land, not even in the White House, then we are in grave danger. I must know the cock must crow. When I am wrong, I am wrong. When I need to repent, I must repent. Peter went out and wept bitterly. Did I betray my master? Did I deny him? Just, you know, the sequence that we see here, Matthew 26 and verse 67. Then did they spit in his face and buffeted him, and others smote him with the palms of their hands. Well, can you stand by and witness nonchalantly, unmoved, if your mother is being spat upon and smitten in her face? Can you just sit around and feel nothing is happening? I do not know how Peter could bear all that. Sixty-ninth verse. Now Peter sat without in the palace, and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee. But he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest. I don't know what you're talking about. Hey, you were with Jesus, weren't you? I don't know what you're talking about. You know, my dear friends, were you ever in the midst of a company that totally disowned Jesus? You know, it kind of pains me that on one occasion I remained a little silent. I was in Rome, and we were in a tourist group that was going to visit the catacombs, the underground tunnels which the early Christians lived in, where they hid, where they worshipped. And this gentleman who was guiding the group was a Roman priest, and he just took it for granted, I trust you're all Catholics. No, I would say I'm a Christian. I would say I want to be like Jesus. All right, leave history, leave the historic failures of the church. You know, when we are wrong, we are wrong. That's it. And it does not in any way demean me to get up in the pulpit and say, I have been wrong. I need to repent. And here and now, I repent. When I, as a preacher, am wrong, then I mislead the whole lot of you. Now, my dear friends, I kept still. I kept still. I felt sad later. There were other ministers, British ministers, English ministers with me. Well, quite apart from the fact that they were still, that did not mean that I should have been still. All right, were you ever in a company where a Christian is not supposed to be, and you felt so embarrassed, or you felt so silenced, muted? You know, you got so jittery that you slunk away and hid and said, oh, well, this is a bad kind of occasion. But Peter was in such company. All right, you choose your company, don't you? What is the company you choose? You choose your friends, don't you? What's the kind of friends you choose? Those who disown Jesus, those who do not do any honor to Jesus by their ways, and you are found sitting there. You know, friends, even in the high councils of the world, it takes courage. It took courage even to think of an America where there would be liberty to follow Jesus. It took immense courage. You know, actually, it was a church that relocated to America, the Pilgrim Plantation, and they found that even Holland, they had moved to Holland first from England, and Holland proved to be a dangerous place. They said, well, if all our children should take the values that are here in this country, we wouldn't be much of a witness, so we must relocate. So it was their second relocation, the Plymouth Plantation. And the first governor of Plymouth, on his gravestone, are written these words, Let not the liberties that have been purchased at such great price be relinquished so easily. And that's exactly what we are doing, you know. And Peter could not have a moral voice in the midst of a hostile group. Now, my dear friends, truth can never lose its voice. Truth should never lose its voice. Unborn babies, of course, cannot register their protest. But when a decree goes out that the taxpayer's money is now made available for abortions wherever any country with any moral code or no code chooses to have abortions, that is a national crime. I cannot speak for a baby. I have no authority to silence a baby. And to give money out of my pocket for that cause is a totally immoral thing. When we lose our moral voice, then we are spiritually dead. Denying Christ is a very dangerous thing. I don't know him. That means you don't know his Ten Commandments. You don't know truth from untruth. You don't know a dead idol from the living God. What do you know then, my dear friends? The Bible tells us in Matthew Chapter 10 the Lord Jesus Christ said from the 29th verse Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? I never saw a farthing. A farthing was the smallest coin in England when I was born. Four farthings for a penny. And twelve pennies make a shilling. In the old history books of America, you will see shillings. And twenty shillings make a pound sterling. But here is a worthless little sparrow. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your father. And the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Well, you know, I don't have the rich head of hair which I once had. But I dare anybody to count the remaining hair. I doubt if anybody will arrive at the right number. God says, The very hair of your head are all numbered. Fear you not, therefore. You're of more value than many sparrows. Whosoever, therefore, shall confess me before men, Him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. You know, old preacher Mr. Spurgeon used to enjoy that little bit of sunny weather in the Mediterranean. And some of those resorts are known for their gambling. And one day when Mr. Spurgeon was walking up and down in Monte Carlo in one of those casinos, the owner of the casino came to him and said, Oh, Mr. Spurgeon, I'm very glad you're here. You know that I don't gamble, he said. But you know what the manager of the casino said? If I have men like you coming into my gardens, that means many others will follow your example and come. And it's a very short walk from the garden to the gambling table. Garden to the gambling table. Very short walk. You know, my dear friends, it's a very short walk today between the church and the world. Very short walk. It's a sad situation brought about by compromise and denial of Jesus. Oh, the sorrow of it. And what a heritage we are giving our children and grandchildren. We are showing them the short walk to extinction, to destruction. And then Jesus said, 32nd verse, Whosoever, therefore, shall confess me before man, him will I confess also before my Father, which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before man, him will I also deny before my Father. I do not know what kind of guts some of our preachers have. Can't they protest to the school authorities or to the coaches? Now listen, if you have your games, your competitive games on a Sunday and on a Sunday morning, what are you doing? You are going to produce politicians who have never been in a Sunday school, who don't know the difference between yes and no, who are liars. And you are causing that situation of a national decline and a world in peril. It is a sad hour when people have lost their moral voice and cannot see right from wrong. You know, this is what I said to my wife this morning. When I had my heart operation in Cleveland, at one o'clock the surgeon finished the operation and went home in the middle of the night. And by five o'clock he was summoned again saying, the patient is critically bleeding. So the surgeon was back at the operation table opening me up again. Do you expect a preacher to do that? And if the surgeon did not want to do that and said, no, I have earned my night's sleep. I was in the hospital in the operation theatre till one o'clock in the morning. I cannot be summoned at this time. But a preacher must preach a sweet twenty minute sermon otherwise the people will go to sleep. Or they will miss their football game. This is a bunch of rubbish. This is denying Jesus. If you confess me I will confess you before your father. If you deny me I will deny you before God. Suppose I go up to heaven and say, Lord, you know I preached for sixty, sixty-five years. Everybody said I was doing a great job. And Jesus looked at me and said, I don't know you. Well, how would that help me? He that confesseth me before men I will confess before my father. He who denies me before men I will deny before my father. You know, I wonder what happens to all the scurrying rats that come out of our churches on Sunday mornings. Where do they go and hide on Monday morning? Are they out saying, Hey, I'm a Christian. I live for righteousness and truth. What happens to them? Does the same thing happen to a football club? Do the fans of one team switch sides? Oh, the game is over now. We are going to switch sides on Monday morning. Do they switch sides? No. They ohm their Lord. My dear people, my dear people. If you deny me before men I will deny you before my father. Last of all, let me turn you to the book of Titus and the first chapter. Epistle to Titus First chapter Sixteenth verse And they profess that they know God but in works they deny Him being abominable and disobedient unto every good work reprobate. They profess that they know God but in works they deny Him You know, my dear friends I was going to buy a ticket in London some years ago and the lift man you know, we had lift that is the elevator operator would jump in and say which floor sir and push the right button for you Now we don't have those operators of elevators anymore but that was how it was in London and the elevator man was a black man from Africa Western Africa In the course of conversation I said something about the Lord Jesus You know how he bristled how he stiffened up I am a Muslim and he began to say this is where I stand the man became belligerent just because I mentioned Christ My dear people what does the Bible say in their works they profess that they know God but in works they deny him being abominable and disobedient and unto every good work reprobate Just think of the goodness of God the grace of God this same Peter who was cowed down by those maids at the door Hey you belong to him don't you no I don't know the man the same Peter was the one who stood up before the Sanhedrin and you with wicked hands have crucified him him has God brought again from the dead the same Peter became the fearless preacher on the day of Pentecost the same Peter that grace of God that can do that the man who is cowed the man who is covered the man who is whimpering like a little mouse he becomes the spokesman and the defender of the faith may the Lord help us let us pray Oh precious Lord to think that you are going to own us then will he own my worthless name before his father's face and in the new Jerusalem appoint my soul a place what a marvelous thing this is that you are going to acknowledge us at the throne of God Lord a man like me does not deserve to be acknowledged by you oh how poorly I have served you oh my God have mercy upon us we do not want to sit with the world and deny Jesus we want to sit with your despised people and proclaim Jesus so help us and give us that voice which you give to those that have fixed their hearts upon Jesus and upon the truth give us a voice oh God that will crawl like the croc in the hearts of nations hear our cry in Jesus holy name amen