Defectors From The Faith - [John 6]

John chapter 6. Since we're on the chapter of the

Bible at a pace, I'm going to try to keep that pace up. John chapter 6.

Two weeks ago, I received a disturbing phone call from a friend.

A friend was a close friend of mine in our families in New York.

And he called to tell me that a mutual friend of ours had pretty much defected from the faith.

This mutual friend of ours, years ago, back in about a year after my wife and I were married in 1997, we got to know on a very personal basis him and his family, his children.

We didn't have children at the time. And after a few of our time together, he approached me and asked me one question.

Will you disciple me? I said, I would love to. So we used to meet week in and week out, pray together, memorize scripture together, be involved in ministry together.

And our relationship bonded very closely, so much so that in 99, if we can think back that far, boy, 14 years ago, right?

99, when my wife and I went to Greece, he pleaded with me that I would go to his grandparents, who had never heard the gospel because they grew up Greek Orthodox, as he did, and find them and give them the gospel.

And we were going there to visit our relatives, so I did do that. He gave me their address, and I went to their house, sat down with his grandparents, got to meet them, and gave them the gospel.

He was thankful for that. In 2001, about five years after we had met, we were thinking about moving to Boston from New York and beginning a church plant here, or we were thinking even staying in New York to plant a church there in New York.

And he and his wife were so committed to us because of our involvement in their lives that they wanted to be part of the starting family that began this church.

Well, we're going forward now 12 years later. We had talked to them over the years while we lived here in Boston as I was pastoring, and our mutual friend called me to tell me that he has taken his family and defected from the faith.

He has gone back to the Greek Orthodox Church and has baptized all five children in the Greek Orthodox Church.

For those of you who might not be familiar with the Greek Orthodox Church, the quickest way

I can explain it is taking a Roman Catholic church, if you've been steeped in that, and multiplying that by 1 ,000 or so.

They're very steeped into their religion. And to top it all off, as we were involved with them, they were at a church that taught the doctrines of grace that preached the gospel.

So it was disheartening and disturbing when I heard from our mutual friend. He simply called me to tell me that our friend had returned back and had abandoned the faith.

Some of you might know friends or family members who may have done that.

What do you make of that? People that you look at and say, for sure, this person was genuinely saved.

How do you handle that? How do you interpret that? What do you do in light of that? Well, I think this passage in John 6 will give us some light as we look at this together.

And I'm going to use as a foundation, because I think he's done a masterful job, and I'll add some stuff at the end in terms of what we are to do in light of this.

Pastor John MacArthur, a few years ago, wrote a book, some of you may be familiar with it, called Hard to Believe.

And in a lot of his books, as usual, he basically presents the gospel in light of how our evangelical culture presents a different gospel, if you will, what is a true biblical gospel.

But in this particular work of his, he gets really personal and shares some of his own heartaches of friends who have abandoned the ministry and abandoned the faith.

But in chapter 10, as I walk us through chapter 6 here of John, he gives us nine characteristics of defectors from the faith.

So I want to just highlight those for you this morning, and we'll have some interaction. So if you are in John chapter 6,

I want somebody to, let's begin with the first two verses. If somebody can read verses 1 and 2, please.

Eric, thank you. Now why verse 2, why was a large crowd following Jesus?

What does John say there? Because why? They saw the signs.

Now according to John, his authorial intent, you ought to know, John 20 verse 31, beginning in verse 30,

Jesus Christ did many signs that are not written in this book, he says, but verse 31, these have been written, why?

So that you may believe that Jesus is a Christ and you may have life in his name.

And he gives eight signs throughout his gospel, culminating in the ultimate sign, the resurrection. And here we're going to see one of the signs.

So they were following him because of the signs that he was doing on the sick. And he had just, in John chapter 5, healed a man at the pool of Bethesda.

So when Jesus did these signs, which were really miracles, supernatural acts of God, people will follow him, true disciples and false disciples.

Here's a first characteristic of a defector from the faith, as Pastor MacArthur outlines, and we'll get into it a little bit more.

Defector from the faith is attracted, number one, to the roar of the crowd. A defector of the faith is attracted to the roar of the crowd.

I love it when we're driving, my wife this week is going to take our kids to New York during their break.

When we go to New York, I love it when we slow down and it's like, oh, there must be an accident here. And there's no accident on our side of the road.

I'm sure you've all experienced this. There's an accident on the other side of the road. But everybody on this side has to come to almost a complete stop, right, to look at what's going on over there.

Whenever something's happening, people are attracted. A defector is attracted to the crowd.

And the crowds were gathering. Jesus had become very well known. If you don't turn there, but if you look in Mark's account,

Mark 1, Mark records the busiest ministry day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Mark 1. He's calling the disciples. He's teaching in the synagogues. He's healing the sick.

He's casting out demons. And the text says that he couldn't go to an open public place.

At one point, it says in Mark 1 that they were bringing all the sick and all who were demon -possessed to him.

The whole city gathered at the door. So in Mark 1 .35, Mark writes, he went away to a desolate place where he would pray.

The disciples weren't scramming. They found him and they said, Lord, everyone's looking for you.

Where'd you go? And, of course, in Mark 2, we know the story of the man they brought down through the roof because the crowd was so gathered around the house, they couldn't put him through the door.

So this was common. As Jesus was performing these miracles, large crowds were gathering around him.

MacArthur writes this. The excitement of the crowd, not the meaning of the message, lures them at first.

A lively crowd and the production value of a worship service, emphasizing showmanship rather than Scripture, wows the modern -day seeker.

And this is what was happening here. The crowds, yes, true disciples, but as well as defectors from the faith, false disciples, were gathering because there was a crowd.

Something must be going on. And you'll see as we go into the text, Jesus begins to question their motives, why they were coming to him.

Second characteristic of a defector from the faith, not only are they attracted to the roar of the crowd, but they're also attracted to the supernatural.

The supernatural attracts them. We won't read the whole story, but you're familiar with the story, the feeding of the 5 ,000 men as John highlights here from verses 8 to 13.

And we know how many loaves and how many fish were there? Two and five.

And Christ performs a miracle in a very amazing kind of way. You know, he just wowed them.

It's interesting, Pastor MacArthur, the way he said it here. He says Jesus took, in verse 11, as you will see there, it says

Jesus then took the loaves and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated, so also the fish as much as they wanted.

He says where was the showmanship? Jesus had performed an awesome miracle in the most understated way possible.

Shouldn't the account say, quote, heaven thundered and the earth shook and fish started flying out of the

Sea of Galilee and diving into little baskets and biscuits started sailing out of the sky and the angels sang.

Is that what the text says? There was no spotlight.

Jesus knew their motives for coming, so he did the miracle and he met their need.

But a defector is attracted by the supernatural, not only by the crowds, but he's got to show me something big.

He says another reason for defection from the gospel in this number 2 here is that defectors are overly distracted by the supernatural.

Miracles and power displays are fertile ground for superficial disciples.

Number 3. Somebody can read verses 14.

This is the aftermath of this miracle. Verses 14 and 15. All right, thank you.

Thank you. This is indeed the prophet who has come into the world.

Third characteristic. Defectors, they think only of earthly things, the here and now.

They're only thinking of earthly things, not eternal things. They're only thinking of the here and now.

Of course, they knew that the Messiah was prophesied in Deuteronomy 18 .15, the prophet, so they wanted to take him before us and make him the king right there and then.

So Jesus withdrew because he perceived that. MacArthur writes, they had an earthly kingdom in mind.

This is why they were doing it. If he could create enough loaves and fish to feed 20 ,000 people, certainly he could dish out what the

Romans deserved, give them the boot, the great Israel. But if they believe spiritually that he was the great

Messiah, where was the adoration? Where was the worship and the respect?

They never got past thinking of Jesus as an earthly king who would give them the earthly freedom and revenge they wanted.

They had no interest in thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Rather, they were saying, our kingdom come, our will be done.

All they wanted to do was force him to be their personal miracle worker and use his power politically and militarily against the

Romans. Instead of falling on their faces to worship the promised one as their savior from sin and judgment, they wanted to push him into following their own earthly agenda.

This is typical of defectors. They look at Jesus as the one who's going to solve their daily dilemmas, fix their lives, meet their needs and desires, and make them rich.

Doesn't sound like the gospel of today, does it? A fourth characteristic of defectors from the faith.

Verses 16 -21, this is the account of Jesus walking on the water. And before I give you that,

I'll have somebody read, not the whole account, verses 19 -21, if somebody can read that.

Bruce, thank you. Thank you.

A fourth characteristic of defectors is they have no desire, no longing for true worship.

No desire, no longing for true worship. Where is that in the text?

Well, if you look at the parallel passage in Matthew 14, it gives us a full picture of this account of Jesus walking on the water, and we know the account.

Peter comes out of the boat, right? He's been smashed for drowning so many times.

But when Jesus said here, as John says, the words of Christ, it is I, do not be afraid.

When he came to them, Matthew's account says, those who were in the boat worshipped him.

It is I, Jesus, do not be afraid. Therefore, when he made it clear to them that it wasn't a ghost, that they were frightened, but it was truly him, what did they do?

They worshipped him. A defector has no desire for worshipping the Lord Jesus Christ.

MacArthur says here, people ask me how to determine whether people are Christians or not. You can't necessarily tell by watching them because some non -Christians live outwardly moral lies, right?

While some Christians sin in visible public ways. You can't tell by listening to them.

If you listen long enough, the truth will probably come out. But some people guard their tongues very well. Here's a clincher.

The way you can tell a person is truly a Christian is by what he desires. If he longs to praise and worship

God and Christ, that is evidence of a transformed heart. Look at people who claim to be

Christians and see how deeply they worship the Lord. See how they sing the songs. Ask them what their prayer lives are like.

How important is it for them to be in church on the Lord's day? Is Jesus Christ the love of their lives?

Is it obvious? You can tell if you look closely enough. True believers show a deep humility, a sense of genuine respect for and awe of Jesus Christ.

Are they marked by adoring wonder? If they aren't, they won't stay with those who are, no matter how appealing you try to make it.

But if they are, you can't keep them away, no matter how stark or challenging the truth.

Defectors don't desire to worship Jesus Christ. They're in it for themselves, which leads us to the next characteristic.

So they're attracted by the crowds, big things happening. Wherever there are crowds, they're attracted by the supernatural.

What was number three? Thank you, earthly things, not eternal things, and they don't long to worship the

Lord Jesus Christ. Number five. Somebody read for me, if you will, verses 25 to 26.

This is one of my favorite parts of this chapter. 25 to 26. Bob, thank you.

Really, Jesus? You're questioning their motives? That doesn't sound like the modern evangelical gospel of today.

Just get somebody to get in. Don't question their motives. Jesus says, look,

I know why you are coming to me. Truly, truly, I say to you, verily, verily, you are seeking me not because you saw signs, which according to John, Jesus did so that people would believe.

That's not why you're seeking me, he said, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. You met your physical needs.

You were hungry and you ate your fill. That's the only reason you're coming to me, which means the characteristic here is a defector from the faith seeks personal gain.

Personal gain. They're just looking for a handout. They're in it for themselves. They're looking for personal gain.

And Jesus challenged their motive right in this passage. Why were they coming to him? They were coming to him because not of the signs that they saw, but because he filled their tummies.

Let's look at, jump down to verse 29. Somebody can read verse 29 to 34, that section, please.

Yes, Murdoch, go ahead, buddy. Thank you.

Six characteristic of a defector. They make demands of God.

They make demands of God. Can't remember the context.

I was chatting with somebody recently, not here, but somewhere else. And I said, we don't owe

God anything. I mean, God doesn't owe us anything. We can't come to God and give him, this is the standard, these are our demands.

We come to God on his terms, not on our terms. That's why he's God and we're not. Defectors make demands of God.

Look what they're doing here. Jesus says to them clearly, this is the work of God, in answer to their question, that you believe in him whom he has sent.

So they said to him, this is funny, then what sign do you do? This is just after Jesus exposed their hearts.

You're not coming to me for the signs, because you filled your tummies. And now they're asking, okay, but what more sign do you do?

Really? What sign do you do that we may see and believe? They're telling

Christ what to do. Give us more. What work do you perform?

Our fathers ate manna in the wilderness, as it is written, they're quoting scripture to the

Lord, he gave them bread from heaven to eat. Spiritual defectors make demands on God.

They come barreling into the church, MacArthur writes, with the attitude, whether it's spoken or not, quote, okay,

God, I'm going to give you six months to deliver. If you don't, see ya,

I'm out of here. They make demands of God.

Jesus said to them, as Murdoch read verse 32, again, you see this over and over again, truly, truly,

I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my father who gives you the true bread from heaven.

And he's referring to himself, as we will see. Seventh characteristic, let's jump down to verse 41.

And I'm jumping some verses intentionally, because we're going to get to them at the end, to kind of see what is happening here.

Verses 41 to 42, someone could read that, please. Dave, thank you, thank you.

Seventh characteristic of a defector from the faith, as Pastor MacArthur says here, they're mumbling mockers, mumbling mockers.

They mumble, grumble, and they mock Jesus Christ. He says, something else you will inevitably find true is that false

Christians speak privately against the truth. When they're away from the true disciples, they mock the faith, either by what they say, or how they live.

He made a direct claim from his many I Am statements in the Gospel, as John records.

I am the bread, the bread of life. I'm the bread that came down from heaven. They said, really?

Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he say that? He came down from heaven, but they were just looking at things?

Defector, the here and now, the earthly. They were not looking at the eternal Son, the

Lord Jesus Christ. They were mocking Him. Really. MacArthur goes on to say on this characteristic,

Jesus knew exactly what kind of mumbling and grumbling was going on. The people were mad because He had shattered their hope for a free food.

Take it in context from earlier. They had no interest in repentance or obedience or submission, which by the way is why you have to preach repentance, obedience and submission.

When they were away from Jesus and those close to Him, they jeered. No true lover of Jesus Christ would ever do that.

No true lover would ever do that of the Lord Jesus Christ. A couple more.

Let's look at verses 47 to 52. 47 to 52 begins with another truly, truly statement.

If someone can begin that. Mark, thank you. That's good.

Thank you. Notice very key here in this context is verse 51, where Jesus says very clearly,

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever.

As He said earlier in verse 47, truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.

This is known as the bread of life discourse, this John chapter six. So what characteristics do we see here?

Number eight. Defectors have no hunger for divine reality.

No hunger for divine reality. Notice the things that they are hungering for as we're going through this list and the things they don't have an appetite for.

They want crowds. They want the supernatural. They don't want true worship. They don't hunger for the divine reality that Christ is presenting here.

He said to them, or they said to them at the end, they were grumbling again. Remember earlier we talked about how defectors grumble and mumble when they come into face with who the

Lord is. The Jews grumbled at the bottom, verse 41. They're doing it here again, verse 52. The Jews then disputed amongst themselves saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat?

Let's look at the last one as we continue in our passage. Somebody can read, continuing verses 53 to 58.

Mark Arnold, through 58.

There we have it. Transubstantiation. Biblical hermeneutics.

Absolutely not. Basic biblical hermeneutics. We take the literal approach to Scripture, and we use a figure of speech when otherwise it would be nonsensical or immoral.

What is Jesus saying here? Well, first, let's see what characteristic this brings out. The last characteristic of a defector.

They have no hunger for forgiveness and deliverance from judgment. They do not hunger for forgiveness of sins or to be delivered from the judgment of God.

Why? Because they just seek the here and now, because they're just in it for the show. They don't want eternal realities, forgiveness of sins and deliverance from eternal judgment.

Jesus is using this figure of speech. Why? The context. He had just fed 5 ,000 men plus, wives and children who might have been there.

They got their full. They wanted earthly filling. He was offering spiritual filling, the bread of life.

Right? What did He say to them? He said to them in this passage, whoever feeds on my flesh, verse 59, and drinks my blood, abides in me.

He had told them that the manna that the Father had given them from heaven, which they used as support.

Look, He gave us manna from heaven. He said, they ate it and guess what? They died. But if you eat me, not talking cannibalism here, if you take me, all of who

I am, who I'm claiming to be in this passage, the bread of life, the eternal

Son who came down from heaven, you will have life eternal. Because He knew their motive was just to take a piece of Jesus for their own selfish needs.

Give me Jesus and fix this in my life, or fulfill my fleshly, earthly desires.

No, Jesus wasn't doing that for them. So they have no desire for spiritual, the hunger for forgiveness and deliverance from judgment.

MacArthur continues here, he writes, the spiritual trader is not hungry for real salvation.

He is not starving in sin and ravenous for righteousness. He's full of the world, and more than that, full of himself, satisfied, fed with the prevailing food of the world that perishes.

When someone comes to Christ, he comes out of a driving spiritual hunger. And of course, end of quote, and of course we know that hunger is not in and of themselves because of total depravity.

No one comes to God in and of themselves, right? Romans 3, there is none righteous.

No one who seeks after God. That hunger comes as a result of the work of the third person of the

Trinity, the Holy Spirit. Good segue. Look at what happens next. Those are the nine characteristics, but this is what

I wanted us to see in terms of how did Jesus handle this? Verse 60.

Can somebody read from verse 60 to, let's see, 65, 60 to 65.

This is the climax of this interaction. Brian, thank you. Thanks, Brian.

Two things come out in that passage that I want us to take away as a lesson. First of all, the sovereignty of God and the

Holy Spirit. Actually, throughout the passage, Christ has been highlighting the sovereignty of God.

Here he highlights it towards the end again. That's the third time he says it. But here first he mentions the Spirit where he said here in verse 63, it is who?

The Spirit who gives life. The flesh is no help at all.

These defectors were just wanting to come to Christ for their own selfish needs, trying to do it out of their own flesh.

And Jesus was not backing down. He was not succumbing to their desires or their needs. He kept the truth of who he was and his demands for coming to him, and he never wavered from that.

And he said, it's okay because I know that the Spirit is the one who gives life. Well, this is the

Gospel of John, and we know from early in John chapter 3 his interaction with Nicodemus.

What was the whole point of that interaction? To be born again is to be born of the

Spirit, not of the flesh. There's not a how -to process of step 1, step 2, step 3.

This is the work of the Spirit of God. And unless the Spirit of God works, there is going to be no life.

This is what Jesus is highlighting. And second of all, he's highlighting the sovereignty of God because he knows what happened here.

People were offended. And in verse 64 he says, For Jesus knew from the beginning who those who were and who did not believe and who it was who would betray him.

He knew who would not believe. And he said, verse 65, This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is what?

Granted him by the Father. Because of sin, because we're under the federal headship of Adam, because of total depravity, that has to happen by God the

Father. He says that this is why I told you. Where did he tell him? That's why I skipped earlier. Jump back with me to verse 37.

This is intermixed, interposed within this entire passage, this bread of life discourse that Jesus has with him.

And throughout it he is highlighting the sovereignty of God. If somebody can read verse 37 to 40.

Thank you. All that the Father gives the

Son will come to the Son. Not may come to the Son. Will come to the

Son. Truly come to the Son. Not defectors from the faith. Why? Because the Father has given them to the

Son. And that is why Jesus said,

I have come down from heaven. What was his purpose? Not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

And what is that will? That I should lose nothing of all that he has given me.

All that the Father has given the Son will eventually come to Christ.

And Christ will not lose any of those. He will raise them up on the last day. Because they've been given by the

Father. Because the Spirit gives them life. Verse 44, let me just read this quickly to you.

He said it again, when they were grumbling. This is the context of the mumbling grumblers and the mockers. They were grumbling.

He says to them in verse 43, Jesus answered them, Do not grumble amongst yourselves. No one can come to me, to Christ, unless the

Father who sent me draws him. No one.

So here it is. When Christ was presenting the truth of who he was, and his claims and the demands of the gospel, he didn't waver from that despite the fact that people wanted their own selfish desires.

To meet their own physical earthly needs, the here and now. Why not? For two reasons.

Because Jesus knew the Spirit gives life. And he knew that in the sovereignty of God, the

Father would give him those who would eventually come to him. Show me someone's presentation of the gospel, and I will show you what they believe about the sovereignty of God, and about the

Holy Spirit. Show me someone's presentation of the gospel, and I will show you what they believe about the sovereignty of God, and about the

Spirit's role in salvation. So, lesson for us. We give the gospel as it is, knowing that God is sovereign.

No one will come to Christ, unless the Father draws him. And that we know that it is not a flesh gives birth to flesh, but it is the

Spirit of God who regenerates and gives life. Got a few minutes if you have any comments or questions on this passage.

Not on the passage, go ahead. I'm good with that. Since I never met him before, yeah.

Well, I was sent on a mission by their grandson, so hey. Well, ultimately a mission from God, so. Well, we go there.

We sit down and eat some nice Greek food, whether it's baklava over a cup of coffee.

They knew of my relationship with their grandson, so it wasn't like I was a stranger in that sense.

So we wanted to come to visit with him, and we just naturally struck a conversation with him. I don't remember exactly what was the first thing that I said to start talking about the things of the

Lord and the gospel, but it was natural, so. Oh, yeah,

I asked questions, yeah. After I beat him over the head with the Bible, yeah. I did. It was very interactive, as always.

Bruce. Yeah, we reached out to him before this three or four years ago because we were maintaining contact by phone.

They had gone through some difficult times in their marriage, and what I've noticed with other friends I think I've shared in the past, a close friend of mine from seminary who's defected, wants nothing to do with me.

But what I've noticed, at least with my friends, is that there comes a crisis in their life.

It reminds me of 1 Peter 1. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.

These trials have come so that your faith of greater worth than gold may be proved genuine.

So what we did, we knew that they were going through some trials in their life, so we had heard, so we reached out to them during that time.

Then three or four years ago they're going through another marital issue, issues in their church of how the church was dealing with some of the issues that they were going with.

So they started going to other churches to find love for their difficulty.

They started going to a charismatic church, and I talked to them about let's not take love, biblical love, out of the context of where it's at.

Love rejoices with the truth, 1 Corinthians 13. So we did reach out to them. We talked to them on the phone, prayed with them over the phone during their difficult time, yes.

And most recently I called during Christmas, left a message and never heard back. But yeah, we did try to reach out.

So the point is when you hear those situations in your own family or friends of yours, we don't know eventually.

If somebody is truly saved, we know that God, who has worked from eternity past and has brought conviction, if it's real, genuine salvation, they will return ultimately to the

Lord. So you continue to pray for them and you reach out to them, let them know that you're always there to talk and minister to them, yes.

Eric? Yes. Excellent.

Right. Yeah. Would it be safe to say that they're saved?

Yeah. Yes. They would be seeking God in the way that the Jews were seeking

Christ in John chapter 6. Motives are very important. So they were seeking

God for selfish reasons, to meet their physical needs, their earthly desires, not because of realizing that they are wretched sinners who are under the wrath of God and need to be delivered by a

Savior, yes. Romans 3? Oh yeah.

John 6? Yeah. Especially the ones on the sovereignty of God. I mean, here we are, Jesus talking to a group about what it means to come to the bread of life and he's telling them, oh, by the way, you're not going to be able to come to me unless the

Father draws you. It doesn't sound like an appropriate thing to say in an evangelistic encounter, but I'm not going to argue with Jesus.

So yeah, those are good verses to go over with them. You know, as we close,

I had another interesting encounter recently with someone who I met, a friend's friend recently, whose father is a pastor, has been for 30 years, and he believes pretty much as this friend was telling me, an easy believerism, the idea that a person can seek after God on their own, is not totally depraved and corrupt.

So they can just 1, 2, 3, say the prayer, and boom, you're in. So we got to talking about that and went through all the doctrines and all the scriptures, and the thing that I kept coming back to this person is,

I said, what you present the gospel and what you believe about this is determined by your view of God.

So I kept coming back to the sovereignty of God, the sovereignty of God, the sovereignty of God. I said, easy believerism is very simple.

It's a low view of God and a high view of man. I said, I used to be in that camp. So the person said at the end, he said, oh,

I would love for my father and you to get together. I said, yeah, that would be very interesting. But I said, the sovereignty of God. By the time we were done, after two days of discussions, the person said to me, even though they've grown up with this from their father, they said to me,

I'm beginning to waver. Now, no, it's not because of me. I present the truth.

And I said, why is that? I asked them. They said, because of one thing, your greatest argument, she said, which is what?

I said, the sovereignty of God. I said, amen. It's all about the sovereignty of God. Dave. What does it say?

Like the same way that John was in 1 John. 1 John. Yes. If they hadn't been of us, they wouldn't have remained.

They would have stayed, but they weren't of us.

Yes. Amen. Yes. Because if they left, that means they weren't the same.

Yes. And he protected because he was not of them. Yes. Amen. Thanks for that excellent word.

It is. And actually, I won't share the stories for the sake of time. But Pastor MacArthur shares three personal stories of his high school friend, college friend, and seminary friend who have all defected.

And he goes back to that verse, 1 John 2, and that we need to do that because we do it out of love because we know we can't give people a false sense of assurance.

Very, very important. Well, let me pray for us. Father, thanks for your word, for your clear revelation in Scripture.

We praise you this morning because you alone are sovereign. You do as you please, only as you please, always as you please.

And for that, we give you all the glory. And you are sovereign in saving because we know because of our sin and our total depravity, we would, in and of ourselves, not hunger for the things of God, not hunger for divine reality or to worship the

Lord Jesus. We just want the supernatural. We just want to feed our own fleshly desires.

But we thank you that you've opened our heart and eyes because of the Spirit, the Spirit of God who gives life.

And pray for those of us who have friends like that, that we would do as Pastor Dave encouraged and exhorted us, that we would go to them and tell them, don't fool yourself.

Don't have a sense of false assurance because you went out from us because you were not of us. And I pray that if there's anyone here who has not looked to the

Son, to the bread of life for eternal life, that you would cause them to do that, Father.