“These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.” Jude 12-13 (NKJV).

Consider a ship at sea. Now, I have never been on a ship at sea, or even a small boat at sea, but I am sure that the captain of a ship has eyes watching, even though he may know the sea, eyes are watching for hidden obstacles in those waters. Remember the Titanic? The crew slipped up; they were sailing the unsinkable ship, overloaded with passengers on its first and last cruise. The Titanic sank to the bottom of the sea, and over 1,500 souls were lost.

Jude likens the heretics, these false teachers, these liars, and deceivers to hidden spots, rocks, just underneath the surface. They pretended to be Christians, but denied the faith, denied Jesus, denied the truth oofGod’s Word, and the authority of the apostles. These claim to believe in Jesus, but they twist the true Scriptures to suit their own understanding. Some times those who receive them need to go deeper than just their words. What is their view of Jesus? Is He deity? What about the cross? What about grace and faith? They were with many churches as Jude was writing this and he is warning us of them.

These enjoy the gathering with the true believers in their breaking of the bread and drinking of the cup; and their fellowship meals. The Lord’s Supper, communion as it is also called is right and good for the worship of the Lord, but heretics can come in under false pretenses, and leave uncorrected, undisturbed. “These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves.”

This is also a problem within the Christian churches today. You can identify these false teachers by their denying of the power of the cross, they deny the work of Jesus Christ. There are many pastors in the pulpits who never preach against sins of greed, lust, sexual immorality in adultery, premarital sex, homosexuality or any other form of perversion. Never show the glory of Christ Jesus over the sin in their lives. If there is no revelation of sin in our lives there can be no glory of the power of Christ over sin.

When heretics come into the Churches of our Lord Jesus it should be with fear of being exposed for the heresy they teach. Stay in God’s Word, pray, asking for God’s wisdom and knowledge. He will give it to you.

The Lord willing, there will be more on these verses for your reading.

-Tim A. Blankenship