The Profile Of A Spiritual Defector

II. THE DEFECTION OF DEMAS

-Demas was a close friend of Paul and had been very closely associated with him for a number of years. Colossians 4:12-14 is the first mention of him and then when Paul is writing Philemon he establishes that Demas is a “fellow-labourer” (Philemon 24).

-Demas over the years had been associated with some very formidable men. In addition to Paul, he had been associated with Epaphras a powerful, praying pastor in Colosse.

-However all of the activity of Demas’ life can be summed up in one verse by Paul:

2 Timothy 4:10 KJV For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.

-In the NASB, the expression is that he has “deserted” Paul. What should be made of this word?

-What real connotation lies behind it? The Greek word (egkataleipō) literally means to leave in straits, leave helpless, totally abandoned and utterly forsaken.

-Demas left Paul because he “loved this present world.” He loved the system of the world and its ideas and thoughts. John has written to us that we cannot love the world and if we do, the love of the Father is not in us.

-Demas fell into two of the categories or types of soil that was described by the Lord in Matthew 13. He was rocky soil which allowed the seed to grow for a while but then the plant was snuffed out. When persecution and suffering came to Demas, he withered. He was also a type of the weedy soil. When the cares of life and the deceitfulness of riches usurped the power and gained a foothold in his life, the tender plant of the Gospel withered.

-The backsliding and defection of Demas was a great sin:

• It was a sin against the great light that he had received as a young man. He could not attempt to plead that ignorance had offset him.

• It was a sin against the great love of God.

• It was a sin against the great light of good examples and mentors. Paul, Luke, Epaphras, and others would have greatly influenced him in the early days.

• It was a sin to give in to the temptation that had crossed his path.

• It was a sin for his influence to be used in a very negative way. By his poor example, others would have been drawn into the web of deceit and it would have brought a reproach to the witness of the early Church.

-Mere association with the Church and holy things do not in themselves necessitate the certainty of salvation. Every saint will have to stand the test of time and only when we love the things of God more than the things of this world will one be successful at Christian living.

-Time and truth go hand in hand and it creates much stability for the committed saint of God to embrace truth. The more the soul reclines in worldliness, the greater the liability becomes in living for God.

-Compare Paul to Demas and you will find one who kept the faith with tenacity and desire.

• In Antioch, he kept the faith when they attempted to silence his voice with their outbursts, interruptions, contradictions, and accusations of blasphemy.