John 18:25
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.
Peter was no doubt one of the stronger disciples of Christ. He was undoubtedly the most vocal disciple, and he was the one who said that he was willing to die for Christ, which we have no reason not to believe that he would have died for Christ at that moment. However, Peter made the common mistake many make by warming up to the wrong crowd. In other words, by standing with the wrong crowd, he got comfortable with them and thought they were not as bad a people as he initially thought. However, Peter did not realize that warming up to the wrong crowd changed his desire to stand for Christ. The Peter, who a few hours earlier was willing to die for Christ, was now cozying up to the crowd that was trying to kill Christ. Peter found himself comfortable with a crowd that he was once vehemently against because he went to their fire and found himself warming up to them.
My pastor for many years, Dr. Jack Hyles, used to tell us never to spend time with compromisers because you will find out they are nice people. Once you think they are nice people, you will then think that what they believe is not all that bad. You cannot spend time with compromisers and not warm up to them and their false doctrine.
Even the strong and determined become weak when they warm up to the wrong crowd. You see, Satan is not after you compromising today, but he does desire that you spend time with the crowd that has compromised. Satan knows that if you will get around the compromising crowd that you will find they are a likable people and that they tend to have a lot of fun. He knows that you will enjoy your time so much with the compromisers that you will grow cold to the doctrines of Christ. You cannot warm up to compromisers without growing cold toward those who stand strongly for the faith. Whichever crowd you warm up to determines what crowd you are cold towards.
Now, how did Peter get to the point that he warmed up to this crowd? First, he stood still instead of moving forward by faith. Many people have warmed up to the compromising crowd because they stopped attempting to build something great for God. They got comfortable with what they had and stopped moving forward by faith, which led them to want to know about the compromising crowd. One reason we must always attempt great things for God is because it keeps us close to God and far from those who have compromised. You see, when you warm up to God is when you attempt great things for Him; however, when you stand still and stop attempting great things by faith is when you will grow cold towards God and His doctrine and warm up towards those who have compromised. Had Peter never stood still, He would have never stopped at the compromiser's fire.
Second, Peter simply wanted to get to know the compromising crowd instead of staying away from them. My friend, most compromisers are not mean people, and the problem with sitting down to get to know them is that you will like them; when you like them, you will then like their compromising doctrine. Never allow yourself to sit down with those who have compromised; they will change you. You will never compromise if you never spend any time with those who have compromised.