Raised in Church… Still Lost?

Hello, friend. The story is told about a man who lived his whole life two blocks from the beach, grew up hearing the waves at night, walked past the water every single day, and never once learned to swim, closeness was never the problem, he had all the access in the world, he just never went in. That’s the warning Jesus hands out in Matthew chapter 12 and it’s aimed square at people like you and me who’ve been close to this our whole lives. Turn there with me verses 41 and 42 and let’s examine four things you find in the text. The city that barely got a warning. Look at verse 41. Jesus said the men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation and shall condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah and behold a greater than Jonas is here. Now, think about Nineveh pagan city, no Bible, no Sabbath, no temple. All they got was one weary prophet walking through hollering 40 days of judgment. That’s it, one sermon from a man who didn’t even want to be there.

And they repented, sackcloth ashes the whole city top to bottom. One sermon from the reluctant preacher and an entire pagan city turned. That’s what minimal exposure did for them. Now, so let me ask you, if one reluctant sermon was enough to turn Nineveh around, what’s your excuses for a lifetime of them? Secondly, Now verse 42, the Queen of the South shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold a greater than Solomon is here, the utter most parts of earth.

She didn’t have a car, a plane, a paved road, she crossed a desert on the back of an animal for several weeks just to sit and listen to a man talk about wisdom, and you’ve got wisdom greater than Solomon’s sitting on your nightstand, and some mornings you can’t be bothered to open the cover. We didn’t have to travel one mile for this Right. It came to us. Thirdly, close enough to touch Him, and they didn’t believe. Now, friend, look who Jesus is actually talking to in the room. Go back to verse 38. It’s the scribes and the Pharisees standing right there in front of him. Now these were not casual worshipers.

they kept track of every religious detail to the point that if their garden produced ten sprigs of mint, they made sure that one of them belonged to God. They kept the Sabbath to the letter. They had given their whole lives to guarding the law of Moses, waiting, watching, studying for the day the Messiah would come. And he was standing there, feet in front of them, not a burning bush, not still a small voice, but God in the flesh.

They could have reached out their hand in that moment and touched the hem of his garment. Closer than Nineveh ever stood to Jonah, closer than the queen of the south ever got to Solomon, even after that whole desert crossing. And these law-keeping, Sabbath-keeping scripture-quoting men looked God in the face and did not believe him. Here’s what I want you to see through. It wasn’t that they had no religion. They had plenty of religion. What they didn’t have was a relationship. You can perform every act of devotion there is and still be a stranger to the One you’re performing it for.

And you and I do the very same thing they did. We come every Sunday, we sing the songs, we know the books of the Bible in order. We can quote the verse before the preacher finishes it. And every bit of that can be true of us every single Sunday and we can still have no real relationship with Him or worse a relationship we’ve let go bad going through the motions with a heart that quietly pulled away a long time ago and nobody in the pew beside us ever knew it That’s exactly where the Pharisees stood, close enough to touch Him, and no relationship with Him at all. So ask yourself, honestly, is your religion the Pharisees’ religion, hands busy, heart a stranger to him? Then fourthly, the on the near and the far, and here’s what hurts. Go back to the front of verse 41 and 42. They shall rise up in judgment and condemn, not if all pagans getting condemned, the generation, the Pharisees, the ones standing closest to Jesus himself condemned by comparison to people who had far less and did far more with it.

And friend, this is not a scene that stayed back in Matthew chapter 12. Jesus tells us plainly that this very moment repeats itself on the judgment day. Look at Matthew chapter 7, verses 22 and 23, and hear what they said, Many will say to me, in that day, Lord, Lord have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy Name done many wonderful works. And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me ye that work iniquity.

Look at who’s talking. It’s not the atheists, it’s not scoffers, it is church people, religious people. People calling him Lord, Lord twice. people who prophesied who did wonderful works who were sure dead sure that they were standing in a right relationship with Him and he doesn’t say I knew you once and you wandered. He says I never knew you all that religious activity and no relationship ever existed behind it that is the Pharisees danger still of hanging around in the church clothes 2,000 years later.

So don’t let a lifetime of nearness fool you into thinking you’re safe. The Pharisees stood close enough to touch him. Some who call Him Lord, Lord, will hear, I never knew you. Don’t let that be your story. As I close, this week, this is for two kinds of people, and I want to speak to both. If you have already obeyed the gospel, believed, repented, confessed His name, and were baptized for the remission of your sins according to the Scriptures, examine your heart like Paul says.

is. Is it religion you’ve got these days or a relationship? If it’s going quiet, go rebuild it starting today. And if you have not yet obeyed the gospel, hear it, believe it, turn from your sin, confess His name, and be baptized. Don’t let a lifetime of sitting near church convince you that nearness was ever the same as obedience, it never was. Secondly, there’s a free resource, a free study guide for A Sign For All Time. It has a full scripture list and questions. The link is in the description. Thirdly, share this. If this one convicted you, send it to somebody who grew up in church right alongside you.

Fourth. And if you are new here, subscribe and tap that bell. Next time we step fully into Jonah’s own story, can you really outrun God? And may the Good God of Heaven bless you. And may he bless you real, real good.