False Teachers Are Hidden Reefs In Your Love Feasts – Jude 1:12 Series

FALSE TEACHERS ARE HIDDEN REEFS IN YOUR LOVE FEASTS – Jude 1:12

INTRODUCTION

We have some people here who did not hear the first two messages given on Jude. Just very, very briefly, Jude’s father was Joseph the carpenter and his mother was Mary, known as the virgin Mary. We know the names of all four sons who were half brothers to the Lord Jesus. Mary had 5 sons and some daughters. James who wrote the letter near Hebrews is the full brother of Jude and the half brother of Jesus.

Look at verse 3. {{Jude 1 v 3 “Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you, appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all delivered to the saints.”}} Jude was sending a letter to his readers when it became necessary to change the whole tone and direction of his letter because he had to confront news of error that was coming into the churches. His most earnest appeal to his readers was to contend or fight for the faith that had been delivered to the saints. Those who want to contend for the faith do it on two fronts. They must strongly oppose error, and they must encourage and educate the believers to establish them, and make then wise to error.

Jude 1 v 12 These men are those who are hidden reefs in your love feasts, when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit doubly dead, uprooted; Jude 1 v 13 wild waves of the sea casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.

The NASB and the ESV translate “hidden reefs”; the NIV uses “blemishes”; the Holman uses “dangerous reefs”; the KJV uses “spots”.

Verses 12 and 13 go together with 7 descriptions of these evil teachers who act in the way of Cain, Balaam and Korah. They are murderous, self-willed; make merchandise of God’s things; and are rebellious. Jude does not hold back on the attack against these men because he knows we are in a battle, and the purity of the Church and God’s redeemed people are at stake.

All this goes back to verse 3 which I ask you to note carefully. It has been a while since we looked at verse 3. It was there that Jude was saying he wanted to write to the saints, the Christians, about the common salvation we all share in Christ, but while he was beginning that, the urgency of pure doctrine, and the danger of the false teachers weighed heavily on his mind. The necessity to write to Christians about this great threat was what compelled him to write his letter. He was constrained by the evil and damage these wolves represented. He urged all the believers to contend, or fight for the faith that has been delivered to us. Too many Christians are asleep; either they don’t care, or they are not interested in knowing what this precious faith is.

Jude explains that these false teachers, who are the tares promised by the Lord, and confirmed by Paul to the Ephesian elders, have crept into the churches; came in as creepers and thieves who sneaked in unnoticed and now are causing great damage.

Some time ago I noticed the fan in my Nissan X Trail was making a severe rattling noise and Graham suggested that it might be a leaf caught up in the air duct. When driving to a shopping centre some days later I was aware of an unpleasant smell all through the vehicle, and when I arrived at the parking area, I looked under the bonnet and discovered a big woolly collection sitting on top of the wheel strut near the motor. I had no idea what this was, but thought something had to be making it, or someone put it there. I threw it away and later that day called into Nissan, and there, I was told that the cause was probably a rat that had been building a nest. What had happened, was that this rat had crept into the vehicle and was doing its devious and destructive work unseen. It had been chewing off the linings and padding under the dashboard, going in and out with the material to build the nest. It got stuck in the air fan motor ducting and died, or was caught by the fan once it started and got chewed up. However, this creeper had done its damage. The bill to repair that was $900. These false teachers who make a mockery of the gospel, are just like that rat which crept in unnoticed to do the damage.