TOPIC:“The Man Who Was a Deserter”
“For Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed for Thessalonica.”(4:10, NKJV)
Dr. Raymond Edman, fourth President of Wheaton College, was 69 when he spoke at a chapel service. He had not spoken for about nine months because of a serious heart condition. That morning he spoke on the subject, "The Presence of the King." Part way through his introduction he was in God's presence. What a beautiful way to leave this life.
Dr. Edman used to make it a practice of giving a chapel talk by this title at least once a semester: “It's Always Too Soon To Quit.” I can well imagine how many students under the pressure of college life found this message to be extremely helpful to them. Such a word of encouragement should have been given to this man Demas.
If Peter is known as the denier, the Demas must be known at the deserter. Of Demas we know very little, but for the fact that he was a Gentile Christian who was believed to have been converted to Christ in the church at Thessalonica. In Philemon 24 Demas is described as a "fellow laborer." In Colossians 4:14 he is listed as one of Paul's fellow companions. And in II Timothy 4:10 we read these words that Demas "has forsaken me having loved this present world."
Let us examine the life of this man Demas whom Alexander MacClaren, the famous preacher of the past, called “a faithless friend.”
To begin with, consider the DANGER of spiritual RETREAT. As Paul makes his final arrangements before his departure to Heaven, twice in verses 9 and 21 he urges Timothy to lose no time to come to him. Why? Because when Paul needed Demas most we read these sad words about him: “For Demas has forsaken me” (v. 10). The NIV has it: “has deserted me.”