Trinity Baptist Church

 

Last week I introduced a study to you on spiritual defection. We looked at a little historical perspective from the book of Deuteronomy, and then zeroed in on Hebrews 10. We have learned that God takes the matter of spiritual defection very seriously. In fact, under Jewish law, it carried the penalty of death.

 

If a town turned to other Gods, they were to be destroyed. If an individual defected, they were to be stoned. The writer of Hebrews picks up that thought and writes, if that was the penalty for transgressing the law, how much more severe will be the punishment for those who disregard the work of the Trinity by refusing trampling under foot God’s Son, counting as nothing the blood of Jesus and insulting the work of the Holy Spirit? After all, it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of God in judgment. 

 

Against that backdrop I want to present today a specific teaching of Jesus about this subject. It is found in John 6. If I were to give a sort of general theme to the 6th chapter of John, I might call it "Divine Sorrow over Spiritual Defection." The heart of God is greatly grieved when people make a superficial commitment to Christ and then bail out. It's a common thing, not only today, but ever since the Lord began His ministry. 

 

Just saying the word "defection" leaves kind of a bad taste in my mouth. I don't know how the word "defection" sits with you, but it's a very ugly word. The dictionary defines defection as "desertion from allegiance or loyalty." 

I'm a strong believer in allegiance. I'm a strong believer in loyalty. I believe if a person commits himself to something, that there ought to be some teeth in that commitment to make him stick with that. .

 

Therefore, when I think of the word "defection," all I can think of is a traitor or someone who ran in the midst of a struggle. 

 

Most all of us have experienced that at some level. Many of the central Bible characters knew what it was like to have someone defect on them. 

 

Certainly Jesus knew what that was like. Immediately our mind goes to Judas and Peter, but I will remind you that when the soldiers came to arrest Jesus "the disciples all forsook him and fled." 

 

How lonely the heart feels when it's been forsaken. And the deeper the spiritual investment in the person who leaves, the greater the pain. 

 

Now here’s what I want you to grab hold of: If you and I know and experience that kind of pain, think about how the heart of God is very often broken by spiritual defectors. People who follow for a little while, but are very shallow. Their commitment is superficial and self-seeking. And when it turns out that they're not going to get everything they think they ought to get, they want out.

 

What I want you to understand is that this kind of spiritual defection reaches the very heart of God.

 

 

 

I don’t know that any passage of Scripture better pictures the heart of Christ in this matter than John chapter 6. 

 

I want to begin at the end of the chapter so that we understand where the chapter is leading, then we’ll go back and look in detail at it. .

 

Verse 66 is the key verse.

 

Question: what did Jesus do to deserve that? 

 

The answer is absolutely nothing. And yet the Bible says “Many of His disciples”.

 

You say, "I thought a disciple was a lifer. I thought a disciple made a long-term commitment." Some people are teaching today that a disciple is a second-level Christian who has reached the point of full commitment...total surrender, complete yieldedness. I thought a disciple was someone who really loved Christ...

 

And yet the Bible says, “From that time, many of His disciples left and walked no more with Him.

 

And what was Jesus' response? 

 

Notice verse 67. 

 

These twelve had made the strongest commitment of all outwardly. They were the closest. The most intimate. And He says to them, "Will you do that, too? Will you leave Me?...Will you go way?"..."Simon Peter answered, and said, 'Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life.'" 

That is, by the way, a wonderful declaration. Don't you think that blessed the heart of our Lord to hear that testimony from Peter? "I'm not going anywhere. You couldn't get rid of me if You tried. I may stumble, but I'm staying. And we believe, and we're sure that You are that Christ, the Son of the living God." 

 

And Jesus says, in effect, don't overstate your case, Peter. I know you mean well, and I know you think all the disciples mean well, but I want to remind you of something. I have chosen twelve of you, and one of you is a devil, a defector." "And He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for he it was that would betray Him, being one of the twelve."

 

With that in mind, I want us to look in detail at this chapter and see what it was that Jesus said that caused many to defect. What identifies a spiritual defector? How can we identify them? 

 

Let me give you what I see flowing out of this chapter. All of the events of chapter six are moving toward this little section that we’ve read. So the marks of a spiritual defector are not so much explicitly taught but more implied in the things that happen. But they compile for us a list of identifying marks of a spiritual defector.

 

 

Verse 1-2

 

Now this is where the spiritual defector first shows up. He is attracted by the crowd. And initially he is indistinguishable from everybody else. 

It's a big crowd. And it's hard to tell who is going to be real and who is not. It's hard to tell who is going to leave and who is going to stay. But these defectors are in the crowd. 

 

In verse 1 it says, "After these things. . ." Immediately we must ask, “What things?” To answer that, we need to go back to chapter 5 verse 1. That is the next time-setter that we find in the text. And the time is set by identifying that there was a feast of the Jews. 

 

We are not told which feast, so we must speculate. If that feast was Passover then what happens in chapter 6 occurs a year later. If that feast was the feast of Tabernacles, then what happened in chapter 6 is at least six or seven months later. The things that happen in that year or in that six or seven months of that same year are not recorded for us by John.  

 

Matthew records them in chapter 4 through 15, Mark records them in chapter 1 through 7 and Luke records them in chapter 4 through 9 and what is recorded is the whole Galilean ministry of Christ, John skips over the whole thing and leaves it to Matthew, Mark and Luke. 

 

And "after these things" means refers to the Galilean ministry of Christ.

 

Now we know that by this time, His Galilean ministry has reached high levels of popularity among the people. He has banished disease from Palestine. He has healed thousands of people. He has delivered people from demons. He has taught day after day week after week month after month.

He has created such popularity that everywhere He goes He is accompanied by a massive crowd. He is without question the most popular person in Galilee, maybe the most popular person in the history of Galilee. They have never seen anyone who could heal, cast out demons, raise the dead and teach as this man taught.

 

Now Jesus is popular at this point. And it is admittedly always a bit dangerous when Jesus is popular. It is always a bit dangerous when Christianity is the "in" thing, when it is okay to be a Christian, when it is cool to be a Christian.   

 

That is dangerous because when Jesus is popular there is always the danger of attracting those who run with the crowd. The false disciple who will ultimately defect may initially be drawn by the crowd because he wants to be a part of what is popular. 

 

And I think even today Christianity has a certain amount of popularity that creates an environment which attracts the spiritual defector. It isn't as if being a Christian is going to cost you your life today, in fact, quite the opposite. Being identified with Jesus and even saying you're born again may be a bit in today. 

 

And consequently wherever Christianity is popular, there will be those who want to get in on it. 

 

So, first of all, the spiritual defector is attracted by the crowd. 

 

 

 

 

 

Verse 3

 

Now here is a moment of precious fellowship in which He retreats from this wonder-seeking crowd. It must have been for the disciples who were there, an unspeakable privilege to sit with Him and hear Him, to feel His heart, to experience His love, to sense His burdens, to have a quiet moment with Jesus away from the crowd and touch Him in an intimate way. 

 

And after a quiet moment, things begin to change. It was Passover time, verse 4 says, the feast of the Jews that was coming near and that meant there would be a lot of Jews on the road to Jerusalem and in the location where Jesus was they would be passing that way going south to Jerusalem. 

 

And verse 5 tells us that Jesus sees this crowd coming, and we find from the other gospel records that Jesus taught them and healed them. That went on all day.

 

When evening came, the disciples asked Jesus to send the people away for some food. Obviously He couldn't feed them, and there wasn’t any money in the budget for that. So He was told by the disciples to get rid of them so that they might get something to eat.  

 

Now somewhere at this juncture Jesus speaks with Philip in verse 5 and asks "Where are we going to get enough to feed these people?" It had already been suggested, as the other gospels record, that He should have sent them away.

He didn't do that, He said, in fact, where we going to get the food to feed them? 

 

He said this really to test Philip's faith. Did Philip believe that He could provide? And Philip flunked.

 

Verse 7

 

In other words, he said we don't have the money to buy it. It never entered his mind that there might be another way or that the Lord might have something supernatural in mind. 

 

You say, "Should it have entered his mind?" Yes it should have, he had been with Christ for the whole of the Galilean ministry and day after day after day he had seen miracle upon miracle upon miracle. Why is it that he has such difficulty in accepting that that's really what the Lord is trying to say? He failed the test. 

 

But he wasn't alone, so did Andrew. Verse 8

 

And yet the Lord proceeds in spite of the unbelief of Philip and Andrew. And we know how the story goes. In verse 10 the Lord instructs them to be seated and then Jesus took five little crackers and two fish and gave thanks. The disciples must have been peeking and looking at each other and wondering while He was praying what in the world He had in mind. And then it says simply, "He distributed to the disciples." 

 

Now it becomes immediately apparent that this is a very low-key presentation of a monumental miracle. 

 

How do you give five crackers to 12 disciples? Mathematically it just doesn't fly. "And the disciples then gave to them that were sitting down." How do you do that? Somebody suggested they took very small bites, but I'm inclined to believe that's not the case.

 

Because it says at the end of verse 11, "He gave the fish and they ate as much as they wanted." He created those crackers and He created that fish, He did a miracle.

 

verse 13

 

We are all familiar with the feeding of the 5,000, but what I want you to see in this is this: 

 

The whole focus is really on the spiritual defector. He is there just because of this. Here is the real attraction for the crowd. They were fascinated, back in verse 2, by His miracles. It was always that way. The miracles drew them. They could sense that in those miracles and in that miracle power was the answer to all their problems. 

 

And it was very obvious that his kind of ministry would attract what I like to call the thrill seekers...the people who wanted to see the miracles.  

 

Listen, be very aware of people who are attracted to Christianity because it's the in thing and who are attracted because of the supernatural, because they're looking for miracles and signs and wonders, they're looking for deliverances and healings and provisions. 

 

So many people have been swept up in the Charismatic Movement because that is their preoccupation. And they drop out at an alarming rate because they do not get what they think they'll get in the matter of supernatural provision.

 

There's a third thing that marks the spiritual defector. Not only does he follow the crowd and not only is he fascinated by the supernatural but

 

he thinks only of earthly things. 

 

Verse 14

 

Now that is a technical term, you can underline the two words "the prophet" that is a technical term for the Messiah found in Deuteronomy 18:15 and repeated in Acts 3:22 and 23. What they are saying is “This is the Messiah.” This is the One who will bring the kingdom to Israel.

 

And notice their response in verse 15.

 

Interesting, isn’t it, they wer not bowing and worshipping, but they intended to take Him gby force and make Him their king. 

 

Why? Because they wanted free food. They didn't think about the Messiah of God as the anointed King of God to whom they should bow the knee in homage and adoring praise. All they had in mind was an earthly kingdom. All they could think of was overthrow the Roman yoke and give us free food. 

 

That would be the cure-all, fix-all if they could just overthrow the Romans and get free food.

 

That would mean no more work, no more toil in the sun, no more plowing the field, no more culling out of the soil all the rocks to plant the vineyard, no more watering, no more crushing the grapes, no more beating our grain to make it into flour, no more slaughtering of the animals, no more work, we can all sit in the shade of the tree and just wait till He creates the next meal. 

 

All they could see was the pre-occupation of their own minds for the liberation of Israel from Roman power and the provision of free food. He was the great delivering prophet but where is the respect? They're going to take Him by force and make Him do what they want Him to do. 

 

And this is so common today. Those people who think that Jesus Christ is someone who does whatever you demand that He do. And it always has only to do with earthly things. That's that "name it and claim it" stuff again, where you claim money and success and riches and a new house and a new car and a new wardrobe and whatever you want. 

 

There are people who come to Christianity, following the crowd, fascinated by the supernatural thinking only of earthly things. That's really all they're concerned about. What can I get to satisfy myself? And instead of worshiping the promised Messiah, instead of falling before Him, they want to push Him into their own earthly agenda and use Him to get what they want. They see Him like a genie to fulfill their wishes.

 

And when He doesn't deliver, you're gone. The woods are full of people who will tell you they tried Jesus and it didn’t work. 

I was sick and now I find it's cancer, my husband was leaving me and now he did and has another woman. My son was in a mental institution and he's going to have to stay. Your Jesus didn't work." 

 

So drawn by the crowd and fascinated by the supernatural and thinking only of earthly things, the defectors are being made evident to us. 

Fourthly, the defector has no desire for true worship. 

 

Notice verses 16-18

 

Now the disciples have no idea why Jesus sent the crowd away. They don't know why He didn't want to be king. They don't know what was going on. Maybe they thought He should have been king. Maybe they agreed with the crowd. But Jesus wanted to be alone. And He asked to be alone. And so the disciples got in a boat and left. 

 

And Matthew tells us that He told them to go ahead, and I’ll catch up later.  

 

Verse 18 tells us that in the meantime a storm develops, and we discover in verse 19 that they tried to row and escape, but were unsuccessful. In fact, they fought all night to go about three or four miles. And they're out in the middle of the sea, they can't get where they're going.

 

And they are scared to death.  And verse 19 says they see Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat and they were afraid. 

 

But Peter by this time, seeing Jesus, jumped out of the boat, walks for a while, then takes a look around himself and realizes what's going on and almost drowns because of his unbelief.

 

They come back to the boat and when they came back into the boat, a most wonderful thing occurred. Jesus stilled the storm, calmed the storm and then something very beautiful and very significant happened, it says in Matthew 14:33, "Then they that were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying of a truth, Thou art the Son of God."

 

Now here is the point: That moment of worship that sits in the middle of this whole chapter is the only moment of worship that is recorded. It is a stark contrast to what we just looked at. The crowd that had just recognized Him as the Messiah doesn’t do that. Why not? Because theirs is not the perspective of worship. 

 

They don't come to God to give, they come to God to get. They do not fall down in adoring wonder before Christ, they're not interested in offering Him their praise. They are interested in getting from Him their wishes. No humility, no sense of awe, no adoring wonder. 

 

But that always marks those that are real. They worshiped Him. They said, "Of a truth You're the Son of God." What a wonderful place. They turned that little boat into a sanctuary in the midst of the sea and they worshipped.

 

Spiritual defectors are drawn by the crowd, fascinated by the supernatural, thinking only of earthly things, and they show no desire for worship. 

Fifthly, the defector is a seeker of personal gain. 

 

Verse 22

 

The people are now on the other side of the sea and they see no other boat except the one into which His disciples were entered. They knew the disciples left in a boat and Jesus did not. Now they're on the other side and the disciples are there, but so is Jesus but only one boat and they can't figure out how Jesus got there. And the answer, of course, is He walked right across the sea. They didn't know that. They were bewildered. And where is Jesus, they're saying. 

 

What they're really saying is "We want breakfast. We had dinner, we want breakfast." I imagine that those little pieces of barley and pickled fish were the best thing they had ever eaten. Did you ever think about that? The food that Jesus prepared was untouched by the curse. Jesus made them in His own hands so they would have been untouched by the curse. They had no taint of sin. 

 

Whatever pre-fall food was, that must have been it cause there never was any barley grown in any ground, He just made it and there never was any fish in any water, He just made it. So it was unstained by the Fall and must have been something to taste. And so they said that was so good we're back for breakfast.

 

In fact, they are just hanging around where dinner was served according to verse 23.

 

See, eating was the main cause of all their efforts in life. Agriculture was a way of existence and free food was a ticket to instant retirement. They didn't have restaurants, like we do.

 

Verse 25 

 

Do they really believe this is the Messiah of the Old Testament, and yet they talk to Him like this? How did You get here and when did You come? Meet my needs, supply what I want. The effect of it is to say, "What are You doing over here when You knew we were over there? How dare You."

 

Jesus answered them in verse 26

 

You just want breakfast. Why do you do this for a perishing food? How earthbound. 

 

Drawn by the crowd, fascinated by the supernatural, thinking only of earthly things, having no desire for worship, seeking only personal prosperity,

 

Sixthly, he makes demands on God. 

 

We've already seen that but it comes clear in verse 28 and following, he makes demands on God. 

 

Jesus has just said, "Why do you want to do this? Stop laboring for the food that perishes. Why don't you seek what is really important instead of just what is earthly?  And yet they come with the demands. They totally ignore what He said. He just gave them a call to salvation but they're not interested in salvation, they're interested in breakfast. 

 

And this is what they said, verse 28, "What shall we do that we might work the works of God?" You know what that means? Hey, we don't want to follow You around all the time to get food, just tell us how to do it. How do we get the power? Give us the power and we’ll take care of ourselves. 

 

They're making demands on Him now. And Jesus said unto them, "This is the work of God that you believe on Him whom He has sent." 

 

Well they ignored that, and in verse 30, "They said therefore unto Him, What sign are You going to show us that we may see and believe You?" 

 

Are You kidding? They're still pushing for breakfast. "Do a miracle, prove we should believe in You." 

 

What more proof did they need? Banishing disease from Palestine, raising the dead, healing the sick, casting out demons, feeding 20-30 thousand people, what do you mean show me a sign that you may believe? 

 

But the point is: they didn't want to believe. They wanted food. And the gnawing in their stomachs blurred their minds, overpowered their hearts. They make demands. Give us the power...give us the food...prove Yourself. For the thrill seekers, there are never enough signs, there are never enough wonders, there are never enough miracles, they always have to have more. 

 

So, they suggest, "You should at least do what Moses did," verse 31, "our fathers did eat manna in the desert. As it is written he gave them bread from heaven to eat." 

Isn’t that subtle? They're sharp. You should at least do what Moses did. If Moses said that a prophet greater than he would come and You're that prophet, then You certainly ought to be one up on Moses. 

 

You only provided one meal. Moses gave manna daily to millions of people for years. You see their point? They're still after the free food. Can You top Moses? This is their challenge. They weren't looking for signs to be proving that He was Christ, the Son of God, they were looking for free food. And they demand Him to do it. 

 

Jesus answers in verse 32

 

You better go back and reread that. "Moses didn't give it to you, My Father gives you the true bread from heaven." Moses only collected it, he gave directions on how to collect it, but he didn't give it. It was only manna, too, He says. But I give you true bread.

 

Listen, the spiritual defector is not looking for soul satisfaction. No. He's looking for outward fulfillment. 

 

Notice verse 33. 

 

Moses gave you physical bread. The true bread is spiritual bread. Manna couldn't prevent death. That whole generation including Moses died in the wilderness. Besides, manna was for Israel. The true bread is for the world, He says. "Yes, I'm greater than Moses, I give you true bread."

 

Verse 34

 

Isn't that amazing? They didn't want it just then, they wanted it for good. Keep giving it to us. We want you to promise to give it to us permanently and it will satisfy our hunger. They didn't even know what they were saying. They had no idea what they were talking about. 

 

So the shallow disciple misses the whole point of coming to Christ, and shows up to make demands on God, to perform at their command. 

 

Seventh, and I'm going to quit for today with this one, the spiritual defector seeks no personal relationship.

 

Verse 33

 

"For the bread of heaven," doesn't say is given by He who comes down from heaven, it says, "The bread of heaven...what?...is He." Who's that? "Christ who cometh down from heaven and giveth life to the world." 

 

Verse 35

 

Now listen, the true disciple seeks Christ. The defector seeks what Christ can give. Come to Me, believe in Me, I am that bread. 

 

Verse 36

 

They didn't want Him, they only wanted His power. They only wanted His provision. They didn't want Him. 

 

And then notice verse 37-40

 

Everyone who sees the Son and believes will have everlasting life. The Lord acknowledges that not all will be saved. But the fact that you don’t respond doesn’t thwart God’s plan because everyone the Father draws will believe and everyone who wants to believe will be saved. 

 

Jesus is speaking of a personal relationship, come to Me, He says, come to Me. Everyone who sees the Son, who believes Him, everyone who takes this bread, who is Me, verse 37, "All that the Father gives to Me shall come to Me." 

 

The thing I want you to understand is always it is a relationship. He is the bread we eat. He is the one to whom we come. His is the life we live. And the true disciples pursue the relationship. He seeks the Savior not just what the Savior can give. 

 

Defectors have no desire for a relationship with Christ. They only want power, they only want provision. They are drawn by the crowd, fascinated by the supernatural, thinking only of earthly things, they have no desire for worship. They seek only personal prosperity. They make demands on God. They seek no personal relationship at all. They only seek to gain for themselves.

 

And as we shall see, it's this kind of attitude that ultimately results in verse 66, they turn their back and walk away. I submit that perhaps today we should examine our own hearts to see whether we seek the relationship or whether we seek only what we can get. 

 

Let's bow in prayer.