SPOTS IN YOUR FEASTS OF CHARITY

Jude 12-13 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

The bible is filled with God's commandments - things that we are to do, and things we are not to do. It is filled with God's requirements for acceptable Christian conduct. God tells us repeatedly, in His Holy Word, how His children, that make up the church of Christ, are to teach the gospel message of salvation through Jesus to the world in which we life. The bible, in which we find His commandments, His requirements for acceptable Christian conduct, and His plan of eternal salvation, we also find His warnings against ungodly men (Vs. 4) - false teachers that, for selfish, covetous reasons, corrupt the word of God and lead as many others, as they possibly can, to follow their sinful ways, which leads to eternal death.

In the lesson text, Jude, by divine inspiration, throughout this epistle, continues God's warning against these corrupt, contemptible false teachers that silently, and without fanfare, enter the body of Christ unawares (Vs. 4). These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear. The inspired teaching of the apostle Peter paralleled this passage when he wrote: Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you (2 Pet. 2:13). Within the church of Christ, false teachers are "spots ...and blemishes." In order to preach and teach their own self-serving doctrine, false teachers enter the body of Christ, and participate in all acts of Christian fellowship, in which the congregation is actively pursuing good works of charity. Doing so, they feed themselves without fear of being discovered for their sinful, ulterior, and selfish motives.

Jude gives us this vivid description of the ungodly men - these false teachers. He says they are clouds ...without water, carried about of winds. They appear as "spiritual" clouds brought in by the prevailing winds that offer refreshing,"spiritual" rain, but, disappointingly, they are void of any good. They are likened to empty clouds that contain nothing that is spiritually nourishing. Empty clouds give only despairing hope.

Jude also compares false teachers to the uselessness of trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots. These ungodly men will destroy the good works of a church just as blighted trees are barren and fail to serves the purpose of bearing good, nourishing fruit which God intended of them.

Jude also likens false teachers to raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame. All are aware of the horrible destruction that raging seas often cause to coastal regions of this country, and others, throughout the world. The roaring sounds of their tumultuous, and gigantic waves, and the devastation they produce, is compared here by Jude to the bold and clamorous voices of false teachers, that bring nothing to a body of God's people but agitation, strife, division, and a shameful, false hope of eternal salvation.

In addition Jude says that these ungodly false teachers of error, are like wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. Although bible scholars differ on their meaning, a good description of wondering stars would be, what we term, "shooting stars," that appear for on moment of time, burn out, and then vanish from sight into black, etherealdarkness. Such are false teachers. Combining the teachings of Jude with those of Peter (2 Pet. 2:17-20), we can say that by the grand, pompous, showy nature of their oration, false teachers speak great swelling words of vanity. And, by their deceitful demonstrations, they allure through the lusts of the flesh. That is, they shine brightly for a time, draw as many hearers as possible to follow their pernicious ways, exact from them material gain to satisfy their covetous ways, and lead them into a spiritual, eternal darkness that has been reserved for the devil, his angels, and all that fail to obey God's will. To this the apostle Peter adds that while they (false teachers) promise them (fellow Christians) liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption.

It is false teachers, writes Jude and Peter, that enter unnoticed into the church of Christ, causing Christians to reject God, become entangled once again into the ways of the world, and jeopardize their souls.