A Heart Gone Cold – Part 2

“[F]or Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone.” (2 Timothy 4:10)

It’s a heart gone cold that I’m talking about in a continuing series. (To read: A Heart Gone Cold – Part 1, click here.)

And in this second blog post I want to consider the question: What could have possibly happened to Demas that would cause him to backslide? What could have possibly happened that got to such a point and was just so much of an effect on Demas’ heart that it made him to turn away from Jesus Christ as Paul writes in the above verse? (2 Timothy 4:10a)

IT ISN’T EASY TO GO COLD

And, first of all, let me just say it isn’t easy to go cold. I thought I should bring this up and that it would be important to right at the get-go. It isn’t easy to go cold. (If I had a lit candle right now I would blow it out. Poof.) It takes effort to go cold (or lack of effort?) for the fire of Christ in the soul of a believer to be snuffed out. After all, Jesus is the One behind fanning the flame and His work of grace.

He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6b)

[F]or it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13)

[Jesus said,] “I give eternal life to [my sheep], and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand.” (John 10:28)

It isn’t easy to go cold. (The above verses make it clear.) It takes effort to go cold. It’s what I’m highlighting here. A person must literally stiff-arm the Lord Himself for His fire in the soul to be snuffed out.

TRUE CONVERSION

Which brings me to another point that I was thinking would be good to comment on in a series such as this. I thought it would be good to talk about genuine (true) conversion.

First of all, there are a whole lot of false conversions going on out there. Do you know anybody that says they’re saved, but … well.

True conversion, on the other hand, and I was thinking, it starts when you first awaken to your own sinfulness. Right?

I mean, you can live all your life, and sometimes you know something’s wrong, but you just can’t put your finger on it. But then the precious Holy Spirit comes along and He makes you knowledgeable of your sinful state. Jesus said, “When [the Holy Spirit] comes, [He] will convict the world concerning sin.” (John 16:8ab)

And then you find yourself thinking about Judgment Day. You know it’s interesting how everybody just “knows” about Judgment Day. Instinctively, everybody “knows.” Many don’t straighten up their lives “knowing” it, but they still acknowledge Judgment Day.

But the Holy Spirit comes along and He makes you knowledgeable of your sinful state. He does!

And it’s a good thing to become conscious that you’re a sinner. It’s a good thing that you find out you have cancer so you can do something about it. Some people think they’re better off not knowing. “What I don’t know can’t hurt me.” Right? “What I don’t know can’t hurt me.” That’s foolishness! That’s stupidity! What you don’t know CAN hurt you. And more than that, it can condemn you to hell. It’s a good thing to become conscious that you’re a sinner. It’s the first step towards genuine conversion.

And then, after that, when your heart turns its attention to the Savior, which is also a work of the Holy Spirit, who died for sinners on the cross and then cries out in humility to Him, “Lord, save my soul!” ~ “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved” (Romans 10:9) ~ that’s when genuine conversion takes place. “[N]o one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:3c) That’s when genuine conversion takes place.

But then there’s another step after that with genuine conversion that’s very important.

And the best way to explain it, I was thinking, was by using the marriage analogy.

And the easy part of marriage is when you say, “I do.” Isn’t it? That’s the easy part. Anyone can do that. But then where the rubber meets the road is after that. In the days, months and years after you say, “I do,” that’s when you find out if you really “did.”

And it’s the same with genuine conversion. When you say, “I do,” to Jesus, you really “do” until your last breath. (Genuine conversion plays out when you really “do” your “I do” to Christ over a lifetime!)

DEMAS’ AFFECTIONS CAPTURED BY LOVE OF THE WORLD

But Demas didn’t do that! He turned back. He was genuinely converted, I’m convinced. But then he left.

So how did it happen?

And even though it isn’t easy to go cold, as I’ve already mentioned, it becomes much easier when you turn your affections towards something else. It’s what Demas did and does.

In 2 Timothy 4 and v. 10 again, notice it says: “having loved this present world.” Do you see that there again? It’s the issue with Demas. Love of the world is the issue.

And the apostle John writes in 1 John 2:15…

1 John 2:15 Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (And so it’s incompatible to love God and the world.)

1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life (if you’re taking notes, write “vanity”), is not from the Father, but is from the world.

And I’ve discussed these three before: the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life (vanity).

These things are what may have been the issue with Demas. We know he “loved this present world” and so that’s why he deserted Paul.

And so there was something about this present world in Demas’ day that captured him after he was saved, after he walked with Jesus for a time, after even having been “in the ministry,” but still something affected Demas – something.

Was it the lust of the eyes? We’re gonna talk about it. Was it the lust of the flesh or vanity? We’re gonna talk about those, too. *******

SELF-PRESERVATION

Or was it something else of the world that some of the commentators I read suggested Demas didn’t want to die with Paul. Another word for it is: “self-preservation.”

Paul’s ministry ~ oftentimes, he’d find himself railed against and physically abused. Could it have been that Demas decided, “Forget this,” and to save his own skin and that was the “having loved this present world” issue?

We’re not told exactly what it is. I believe for good reason so we can speculate.

And we’re doing so with this area of “self-preservation.” We have a strong drive to live and not die. In Hebrews it says, “You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin.” (Hebrews 12:4) And we hope we’re never put in that position to become a martyr. But for those who are, self-preservation can become sin, too, if that legitimate drive trumps Christ.

And so self-preservation might have been the “love of the world” issue with Demas that caused him to slide back.

THE LOVE OF MONEY

But there’s also something else that may have been the issue or not, I was considering. Of course, we won’t be able to talk about all these today further than just a mere mention. But this other issue I was thinking of has to do with the love of money.

Matthew 6:24d “You cannot serve God and mammon (riches, this world system),” Jesus said.

I was thinking there was more money in a career for Demas and more security – including health benefits and 401k! – versus serving Jesus. Could this have been the “love of the world” issue with him that moved him to the ranks of backslider?

(By the way, both the self-preservation issue and the love of money issue fall under the three categories: lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life. I will point out which one or ones later!)

And let me just talk about one of these and I’ll have to talk about the other two in A Heart Gone Cold – Part 3.

I want to talk about the lust of the flesh, first. And in just a moment I will.

DEMAS’ SLIDING BACK WAS LITTLE BY LITTLE OVER TIME

But before that, just one more real quick point as it relates to Demas sliding back that we’re discussing. Okay?

And the point is this: It was little by little over time.

Demas’ sliding back – his abandoning the Lord – his heart going cold – it was little by little. It didn’t just happen overnight.

It didn’t just take place that Demas decided when he woke up one morning and he was looking in the mirror at himself checking for gray (new gray hairs!), “You know, I’m gonna desert Paul today, I think. That’s what I’ll do.”

No. It didn’t happen that way. Instead, it was over time. And little by little Demas began to slide back. And “having loved this present world,” little by little – a little here today and a little there on the next day ~ and over time Demas slid back to the point that one day, Paul would say of him, “There he goes.” And he wrote about it in the Bible.

Was it 6 months prior to Paul writing 2 Timothy 4:10 that it started with Demas? Or 9 months or a year before? Or two years? How many of you know when you get a train going down the tracks with enough steam it’s hard to stop? And all the more if it’s going in the wrong direction away from the Lord?

That’s why it’s so important that we don’t let today’s sin go unrepented of.

(Who needed to hear it?) Don’t let today’s sin go unrepented of.

Because today’s sin on top of tomorrow’s and the next day’s and the next day’s and the next day’s, and they’re all unrepented of, it’s the train picking up steam heading down the tracks away from God.

It happens little by little is how it happens. It’s how a heart goes cold: little by little over time.

LUST OF THE FLESH

And I want to talk to you now about the lust of the flesh (finally). And could it have been that this is what Demas was overtaken by? The lust of the flesh?

It’s the “strong and sinful desire of the bodily appetites (not just sex!)” is how one teacher puts it. (Dr. Reid)

What are you hungry for? And I’m not talking about lunch!

But this is what the “lust of the flesh” really is.

We all have hungers and desires for certain things. My hungers and desires are different from your hungers and desires. Oh, not in that we don’t hunger and desire for certain of the same things. But what I mean is my hungers and desires are more in one area while yours might be in another area.

For instance, you have no problem with ice cream. You can say, “No.” They can put a chocolate sundae – with all the fixins and sprinkles and a cherry on top! – right there in front of your face and you’ll just yawn and say, “I’d rather just have a couple of carrots and some broccoli, please.” Right? While I can’t handle that. I gotta eat the whole thing (chocolate sundae that is!).

What are you hungry for? Now, it’s a chocolate sundae?!

But what I’m saying is a bodily appetite isn’t necessarily a bad thing. What makes it bad is when you seek to fulfill it outside the will and parameters of God.

Jesus was in the wilderness fasting for 40 days and He became hungry. And the devil said to Him – you know the story, “Since You’re the Son of God, turn these stones into bread.” (“Since” is a better translation of the Greek that most Bibles have as “If” I’ve heard!) But Jesus said, “No. I won’t do it. I won’t give in to the lust of the flesh.” (Matthew 4:1-4)

It was a bodily appetite of our Lord that He refused to fulfill since it was outside the will and parameters of God.

My question is – and if this was the “love of the world” issue with Demas that caused him to become a deserter – what was it that he ate that he shouldn’t have eaten?

We’ll never know this side of heaven. All we’ll know is those things that we’re tempted by. We mustn’t give in.

What are you hungry for? What is God saying about it?

“Pass the carrots and broccoli instead, please.” (Pause to reflect.)

And we’re gonna stop right there talking about the lust of the flesh and Demas today. It may or may not have been his “love of the world” issue.

Regardless, he slid back and away from the Lord I’ve been talking about here.

We’ll consider the lust of the eyes and the pride of life (vanity) in A Heart Gone Cold – Part 3. Watch for it to come soon.