Devils in the Church

And sometimes they are standing in the pulpit

There are devils in the church. Sometimes they are hidden in the shadows, and sometimes they stand in the pulpit.

Recently I was looking through my news feed and came across a video of a lady preacher. I believe she is in the Presbyterian Church (USA), which is the very left-leaning wing of the Presbyterian movement. She was talking about the fact that she was not only pro-abortion, but that she herself had had several, and that she believed that God was with her during those events in a way He had never been with her before. She said she believed if Jesus Christ were on the earth today, He would be an escort at an abortion clinic, walking women into that abortion clinic to have their abortions.

First, it is a depraved mind that even dreams up such a thing. If you go to Romans 1 and it talks about being turned over to a debased mind, that is it. But it is even more wicked to consider that this was preached from God’s pulpit.

It is a reminder that there are those still today who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ who are not. There are those who claim to be part of Christ’s church. They are visibly part of Christ’s church, but they are not truly part of the true body of Christ, not having been born again by the Spirit of God.

It is a tragedy for Hindus to go to hell, or for Buddhists, or Muslims. It is a tragedy for atheists and Jews who have rejected their Messiah to go to hell. It is a tragedy for anyone to go to hell. But it seems to me that the tragedy of all tragedies is the often repeated Judas tragedy, where you hang around Jesus, but you end up belonging to Satan. That is the real tragedy.

John Macarthur

Today we are going to face this reality in two ways. As we look at this text that concludes the Bread of Life discourse, we are going to see, first, that the vast majority of people who are following Jesus up until this point are going to turn and walk away to follow Him no more. That, on the grandest scale, is a terrible tragedy. But then Jesus is going to say that even within His band of supposed faithful ones, one of them is also a devil.

Read: John 6:66-71

In Adam or In Christ

Jesus understood that all humanity ultimately falls into just two categories. Distinctions such as age, race, sex, or socioeconomic status may shape culture, but they do not define a person’s spiritual standing before God. What truly distinguishes every man and woman is whether they are in Adam or in Christ.

To be in Adam is the natural condition of every human being. We are born fallen, inheriting Adam’s guilt and corruption, standing opposed to God. Scripture says we are at enmity with Him and “by nature children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3). No one is born spiritually neutral. If a person remains in Adam, outside of Christ, he is outside the kingdom of God, and if he dies in that state, he remains under God’s wrath. By contrast, at conversion a person is united to Christ and made a new creation. There is no third category. You are either in Adam or in Christ.

However, there is a sobering reality: some who are still in Adam appear to be in Christ. Jesus warned that not all who claim His name truly belong to Him. He spoke of those who would say, “Lord, Lord,” pointing to their works done in His name, only to hear Him say, “I never knew you.” Their profession and activity did not equal genuine faith. This is the tension Jesus confronts in John 6, many who outwardly followed Him proved they had never truly trusted Him.

Some of You Do Not Believe

In verse 60 we read, “When many of His disciples heard it…” This reference is not limited to the Twelve. The term mathetes simply means learner or follower, so it includes the broader crowd who had been listening to Jesus. We know this because later Jesus turns specifically to the Twelve and distinguishes them from the rest, asking, “Do you want to go away as well?” The larger group of disciples departs, but the Twelve remain. These people had followed, listened, and learned from Jesus, yet they were not true believers. Jesus Himself makes that clear.

In verse 64 He says, “But there are some of you who do not believe,” echoing what He had already stated in verse 36: “You have seen Me and yet do not believe.” This repetition underscores the point. At the same time, the phrase “some of you” implies that others did believe, a reality soon expressed by Peter when he speaks on behalf of the Twelve. Still, not everyone believed, and Jesus knew the difference. He knew whose faith was genuine and whose was false. As John explains, “Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray Him.” This knowledge reveals His divinity. Nothing surprised Him, not even Judas’ betrayal. Jesus knew Judas’ true nature before He ever called him to follow.

Judas: Sovereignty and Responsibility

We must remember that God did not force Judas to betray Jesus through external coercion. God was not manipulating him against his will. Judas did exactly what he desired to do. His betrayal flowed from his own heart.

This is why we affirm both God’s sovereignty and human responsibility. Judas was fully responsible for his actions. God did not place fresh evil into his heart; Judas’ heart, like every human heart descended from Adam, was already corrupted by sin. The betrayal arose from what he wanted. In the same way, each of us is fully accountable for our sin. Yet whatever good is found in us is due to God’s grace. As Augustine prayed, “Command what You will, and give what You command.” Apart from divine grace, we lack the ability to obey.

Scripture clearly holds these truths together. Acts 2 declares that Jesus was delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, yet He was crucified by the hands of lawless men. Acts 4 affirms that Herod, Pilate, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel did what God’s hand and plan had predestined to occur. God is never surprised. He determines the end from the beginning. And still, human beings remain morally responsible.

To deny either side is to fall into error. If we claim God’s sovereignty eliminates human responsibility, we distort the biblical witness. If we insist that human responsibility limits God’s sovereignty, we do the same. Scripture maintains both. Theologically, this is often called divine compatibilism: God ordains all that comes to pass, and yet people act freely according to their desires and are accountable for their choices. Classic treatments of this doctrine can be found in Jonathan Edwards’ The Freedom of the Will and Martin Luther’s The Bondage of the Will.

No One Can Come Unless It Is Granted

In verse 65 Jesus says, “This is why I told you that no one can come to Me unless it is granted by My Father.” The reason we cannot come to Christ on our own is not a lack of opportunity but a lack of desire. Our hearts are darkened by sin. The natural man does not desire the things of God, nor does he understand them, because, as First Corinthians teaches, they are spiritually discerned.

Spiritual truth requires spiritual life. We cannot rightly discern the things of God unless we are first made alive by God. This is why Scripture insists that we must be born again. Regeneration is not a reward for belief; it is the cause of it.

As someone recently put it, if a man can believe without receiving a new heart, then what is the purpose of the new heart? The promise of the new covenant is that God removes the heart of stone and gives a heart of flesh. He grants new affections, new desires, and new life. God gives the new heart, and from that renewed heart flows faith.

The Saddest Verse

Verse 66 brings us to a sobering moment: “After this, many of His disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him.” There are many sad verses in Scripture, but this stands among the saddest. The crowd rejected the words of Jesus to their own spiritual peril. They were content to follow Him while He fed them and while His message appealed to them. But with one sermon, one hard truth, they went from eagerly pursuing Him to abandoning Him entirely.

Jesus did not preach poorly; He preached faithfully. The problem was not the quality of the sermon but the condition of the hearers. It often takes only one message people dislike for a preacher to fall out of favor. A film I once watched portrayed this vividly: a country pastor politely confronts a disruptive man during a sermon, and by the following week the congregation has dismissed him. While dramatized, such scenarios are not far removed from reality. Many pastors have experienced the pain of faithfully proclaiming the Word of God only to see people walk away because they did not want to hear it.

I would never presume to fully understand what Jesus felt in that moment, but many ministers understand the weight of pouring out their hearts in service only to watch people depart for the wrong reasons. It is sometimes called the revolving door of ministry. In John 6, Jesus preached a single sermon, and the result was that many who had followed Him no longer walked with Him.

To Whom Shall We Go?

In verse 67, Jesus turns to the Twelve and asks, “Do you want to go away as well?” The crowd is gone. The majority has walked away, and many will not return. The question is direct and searching: will you leave too?

Simon Peter responds with clarity and conviction. Though Peter was not without fault, often speaking impulsively and at times rebuked sharply by Jesus, here he answers rightly. “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. And we have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.” In that moment, Peter speaks not only for himself but for the faithful remnant. He recognizes that there is nowhere else to turn.

That question, “To whom shall we go?”, should confront every heart tempted to drift from Christ. The world, the flesh, and the devil continually lure believers away. Many today speak of “deconstruction,” critically reevaluating their faith, only to emerge with distorted views of Christ or abandoning Him altogether. But the question remains the same: where will you go to find another Savior? Christ alone speaks the words of eternal life. His truth is the foundation of our hope. He is the promised Messiah, the Holy One of God, the fulfillment of all that the Law and the Prophets anticipated: prophet, priest, and king.

The message of Hebrews echoes this reality: Jesus is superior to all. To leave Him is to leave the only sufficient sacrifice for sins. There is no alternative Redeemer, no second path to reconciliation with God. He is the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Him. There is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved, and at His name every knee will bow.

Peter was not flawless, and neither are we. He would later falter under pressure, yet his confession here was true. If you are in Christ, you stand not on your own righteousness but on His. Therefore, do not turn from Him. Do not walk away. Christ is sufficient, and there is nowhere else to go.

One of You Is a Devil

In verse 70 Jesus answers, “Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” John immediately clarifies that He was speaking of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who would betray Him. The word translated “devil” is diabolos, a term meaning slanderer or accuser, and commonly used as a title for Satan himself. Jesus is not speaking casually. He is declaring that among the Twelve, those uniquely chosen to walk with Him. there is one whose heart belongs to the enemy.

Judas is not an example of someone who lost salvation. He was not once regenerate and later fallen away. He was a devil from the beginning. The frightening reality is that such a person can exist in the closest circle of Christ’s visible followers. A devil can sit among the faithful, appear outwardly aligned with truth, and remain undetected.

The other eleven were genuine. Even Thomas, who struggled with doubt after the resurrection, confessed, “My Lord and my God” when he saw the risen Christ. Church history tells us the apostles suffered and died for their faith, and tradition holds that Thomas carried the gospel as far as India. Yet among that band of faithful men stood one who was false. a hidden traitor whom none of them suspected.

We are not given any immediate recorded reaction to Jesus’ statement. If such a declaration were made in a congregation today, it would surely provoke discussion. But John does not recount any response at this moment. Later, in the upper room, when Jesus says that one of them will betray Him, the disciples do not accuse one another; instead they ask, “Is it I?” There is humility in that question. Here in John 6, John simply provides the explanatory note: “He spoke of Judas.” Writing decades later under the inspiration of the Spirit, John can plainly identify the traitor. At the time, the others did not know. But Jesus knew.

Hidden Reefs

One of the greatest dangers facing the church is what Jude describes as the “hidden reef.” In his brief letter, Jude explains that although he had intended to write about their shared salvation, he instead felt compelled to urge believers to contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. Why the urgency? Because, he says, “certain people have crept in unnoticed”, ungodly individuals who pervert the grace of God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

These men did not arrive openly hostile. They slipped in quietly. Later in the letter, Jude compares them to hidden reefs, submerged dangers that appear harmless from the surface but can tear open the hull of a ship and cause it to sink. The image is sobering. A reef does not need to attack a vessel directly; it simply lies unseen beneath the water, and the damage comes from within.

So it has been in the church. Many congregations have been harmed not by outside persecution but by internal corruption, men with the spirit of Judas who enter not to shepherd God’s people but to advance themselves, introduce destructive teaching, and divide the flock. This is not a rare phenomenon. Even today, there are movements shaped and steered by individuals who outwardly claim Christ while undermining His truth. The hidden reef remains one of the church’s most serious threats.

Two Warnings

This passage reveals two distinct kinds of people. First, there are those who remain near Jesus for what they can receive, blessing, provision, affirmation. but withdraw the moment His words confront or offend them. Their attachment is conditional, and when discipleship becomes costly, they disappear. Second, there are those who profess loyalty to Christ, even occupy positions of influence or leadership, yet conceal hearts that have never truly trusted Him. Outward proximity masks inward unbelief.

Both types are evident in the church today. Some drift away when truth challenges them; others remain visible and active while spiritually unchanged. Against both dangers stands Peter’s questioe: “To whom shall we go?” When temptation arises. whether from the world, the flesh, or the devil, those words anchor the faithful. There is no alternative Savior, no substitute for Christ. May we never adopt the corrupt heart of Judas, valuing personal gain or pride above loyalty to the Lord. Christ alone is worthy of steadfast trust.

The “Almost Christian”

I want to leave you with a quote from J.C. Ryle, a great Anglican bishop:

There are many people about whom the Bible shows me I ought to stand in doubt. Reader, art thou one of these? There are many whom I must call “almost Christians,” for I know no other expression in the Bible, which so exactly describes their status. They have many things about them which are right, and good, and praiseworthy, in the sight of God. They are regular and moral in their lives. They are free from glaring outward sins. They keep up many decent and proper habits. They are usually diligent in their attendance on means of grace. They appear to love the preaching of the Gospel. They are not offended at the truth as it is in Jesus, however plainly it may bo spoken. They have no objection to religious company, religious books, and religious talk. They agree to all you say when you speak to them about their souls. And all this is well. But still there is no movement in the hearts of these people that even a microscope can detect. They are like those who stand still. Weeks after weeks, years after years roll over their heads, and they are just where they were. They sit under our pulpits. They approve of our sermons. And yet, like Pharaoh’s lean kine, they are nothing the better, apparently, for all they receive. There is always the same regularity about them, -the same constant attendance on means of grace, the same wishing and hoping, the same way of talking about religion: but there is nothing more. There is no going forward in their Christianity. There is no life, and heart, and reality in it. Their souls seem to b at a dead lock. And all this is sadly wrong. Reader, are you one of these people? There aro thousands of them in this day, thousands in our churches, and thousands in our chapels. I ask you to give an honest answer to the question. Is this the state of your soul in the sight of God?

Beloved, if this is your state before God, today is the day of repentance. Today is the day to turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. I’ll invert what Peter said. Peter said, “To whom shall we go?” If you are not in Christ, I ask you: why have you not come?

[Editorial note: This article was developed from an original sermon by the author. AI-assisted editing tools were used to help remove verbal filler, improve readability, and adapt the spoken material for a written format. The content, theology, and conclusions remain the author’s own.]

To listen to the message, click here and go to the 51 minute mark.