The Ultimate Crossover

Transcript

Week 4 of the series God's Crossover. Transcribed from the service recording and lightly edited for readability.

Declaration Statement

Let's read the declaration statement, and then we're going to jump into the word this morning:

I am a Christ chaser. I am here to be transformed. I am here to hear the voice of God. God, clear my mind and open my heart to receive Your word. Jesus, do not let me leave the same way I came. I am ready to be changed. Amen.

Scripture Reading: Luke 23:32–43

This morning's scripture comes from Luke chapter 23. We're really going all the way through Luke 24:12, but I ain't going to put you through all that this morning. Let me just read a portion, starting at verse 32.

Two others — criminals — were also led away to be executed with him. When they arrived at the place called The Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals, one on the right and one on the left. Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing." And they divided his clothes and cast lots.

The people stood watching, and even the leaders were scoffing: "He saved others; let him save himself if this is God's Messiah, the Chosen One!" The soldiers also mocked him. They came offering him sour wine and said, "If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself!" An inscription was above him: This Is the King of the Jews.

Then one of the criminals hanging there began to yell insults at him: "Aren't you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!" But the other answered, rebuking him: "Don't you even fear God, since you are undergoing the same punishment? We are punished justly, because we're getting back what we deserve for the things we did, but this man has done nothing wrong." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." And he said to him, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise."

— Luke 23:32–43

The Ultimate Crossover

The Ultimate Crossover: When the Cross Changes Everything.

We've been talking about the crossover, one of the greatest moves in basketball. When a defender gets what we call crossed up, the crowd goes wild. To see a professional just break his ankles, go in the wrong direction, and get passed by, the crowd loses it. Why? Because it's such an amazing feat to see a grown man do that to another grown man. The defender committed too early. He thought he knew what was about to happen, thought he was going to stop it, and then he couldn't.

The Series So Far

Throughout this series, we've been looking at God's divine crossover. At the Red Sea, God crossed the Israelites from slavery into freedom. In Jacob's blessing, God crossed his hands, and the younger son was blessed over the older. In Paul's ministry, God crossed over his travel plans and sent him to Europe instead of Asia. But today we're going to talk about the greatest crossover in history. It didn't happen on a basketball court. It happened on a hill called Golgotha.

Friday Looked Like Defeat

On Friday afternoon, Satan thought he had won. The disciples scattered. The religious leaders celebrated. The Roman soldiers mocked Him. Darkness covered the land. The Savior breathed His last breath. From every human perspective, the game was over. Hell thought it had forced God into defeat. Death thought it had claimed another victim. The enemy began to celebrate, because on Friday it looked like defeat. But they didn't realize the greatest crossover was going to happen on Sunday morning.

The Cross Was Never the End

The cross was never the end of God's plan. This is the crossover that changed everything.

Passover: Another Crossover

So here we are in Jerusalem at the time of Passover. Passover celebrated another one of God's crossovers. When the Israelites painted blood over their doors, God passed over their houses and went on to the Egyptians to take all the firstborn. And here is the Lamb of God, going to celebrate the Passover, where they sacrificed a physical lamb for the forgiveness of sins. Yet before the celebration could even begin, He gave the ultimate sacrifice. The cross looked like defeat, but God was working victory.

What looks like defeat in your life? What looks impossible? "This is not going to happen for me. Nothing is going according to the plan I laid out. It's over for me." The disciples were the same way. They thought everything was lost. "We've been following this man for the last three years. He's supposed to be the Messiah. He's supposed to save us, and now He's dead." The boys went back to fishing.

But God knew where redemption begins. Sometimes redemption is going to start at the defeat of what you're currently going through. Joseph's brothers thought they had defeated the dreamer by selling him into slavery. But that was just the beginning. Your business might be struggling right now. You might be going through hell on your job right now. But I'm telling you, this is just the beginning. I told y'all, this God we serve is crazy. What looks like defeat is actually God's strategy. And as much as I love to preach feel-good sermons and make y'all feel good about coming to church, the thing is, God's greatest victories often begin in painful places.

The Cross Made No Sense

Friday made no sense. "You're God. You're the Creator of the universe. You can do everything. So how do You kill Your Son? You couldn't come up with anything better than this?"

The cross was not just a death sentence. It was an extreme method of torture. I don't even like paper cuts, let alone a nail going through my hands and through my feet, holding me up on a piece of wood. It's so torturous because you're still alive. You're feeling this pain, and even with a nail through your feet, you have to push up off that nail so you can breathe. Why? Because the human body wants to survive no matter what. So you're going through this constant cycle: Do I take the pain, or do I suffocate? Do I take the pain, or do I suffocate?

Two Criminals, Two Choices

But even in that excruciating pain, you've got these fools next to you arguing. Isn't that the human experience? Even when we're suffering, we want to make other people suffer so we can feel better.

But here's the thing: there is hope. God's plan is bigger than the present moment. Temporary pain often serves an eternal purpose. And God always puts us in situations where He wants to see how real we are. "Do you really want it? Is this really what you're praying for?"

"Come here, Abraham. You're going to be the father of many nations." "Then You give me a son, and now You ask me to kill him?" But Abraham said okay. I don't know what he was thinking, but in my imagination it goes: "If You can give me a kid at a hundred, You can bring this kid back to life. You said this is the promise. And if You want me to kill the promise, there has to be some way to resurrect the promise." If God has promised you something and you're currently going through what feels like hell, I promise you He has a resurrection for you.

The Sealed Tomb

All right, let me jump ahead. The resurrection changes the outcome. God always has the final word. The religious leaders sealed the tomb. I don't know if it was plaster or whatever, but they put a rock in front of it. It's sealed. It's locked. "He ain't getting out of here." They've got people watching. And this is my thing: if the religious leaders really thought He could resurrect Himself, why did they kill Him in the first place? I'm just saying.

God has a way of doing the miraculous, but He has to set the situation up for it to appear miraculous. So He puts us in what seem like impossible situations, because otherwise He won't get the glory. I've got this business plan. I put it together, write it down, take it to the bank. They say, "Cool, that sounds like a good plan," and give me a loan. I get the money, I make all the moves, everything works out, the bank gets back their money plus interest, and I've still got a ball in my pocket. Guess what? God never gets the glory. Why? Because I did it myself.

All right, let me lighten the mood for a minute with a joke. There's a man (he was like Quentin) driving around the parking lot looking for a spot. After driving around for so long, he says, "God, come on, please help me get a parking spot." He turns down the next aisle, and a car backs out. "Oh, God, never mind, I see one."

Ain't that how we are sometimes? We see the opening and think, "Never mind, I don't need to pray anymore." We see the door open: "Never mind, I don't need to read my Bible anymore. I don't need to go to church as much anymore." Why? "Because I got my answer." God created you to have intimate fellowship with Him. He didn't create you to give you stuff. He created you so He could get glory. The stuff is the icing on the cake. The relationship with Him is what makes it all worth it.

This is what we've got to realize: God's power is greater than every enemy. Every enemy. The resurrection defeats sin. The resurrection defeats death. The resurrection defeated Satan. Every enemy. The word says every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. But do you want to do that from hell? I want to be on the front side, not the back side. And through what we go through in life, the struggles, we can know that God is real, and we can give Him the worship and praise for doing it for us.

We Can Live Victoriously

Because of Christ's crossover, we can live victoriously. What does it really mean to live victoriously? We jump in the baptism pool, we get out, and then what? By Monday morning, you're going to feel the same. You might feel some jubilation when you come up out of the water, but Monday morning you feel the same. Somebody cuts you off in traffic, and you're still going to feel like cussing them out. You might not, but you might. But if we're victorious, it's because of what Christ has done for us.

From Death to Life

We have crossed from death to life. And as a church, we have to get better at understanding that we've crossed from death to life, which means there's no more condemnation. We went from condemnation to grace. So we have to give grace.

There are still a lot of folks in the church who won't share their testimony, because they know the person next to them won't treat them the same anymore. But the only way to grow this thing we call the body of Christ is to let people know it's safe to share where you've been and where you're coming from.

I'm off track, but I've got to go here. We are the body of Christ, which means we are a family. We're together. We're a union. So whatever God has delivered somebody else from, guess what? You're part of that deliverance. We should be celebrating what God has delivered others from. And some of us should be even more thankful that we didn't have to go through what they went through, because it could have been us. The right situation, the right day, that's you. "I can't believe Pastor D was a dope dealer!" I wasn't, but if I was: and? Why do we care so much about where people have been, instead of being happy for where they are now? Christ didn't die for us to keep condemning other people.

The world needs to be resurrected, but the only way they can receive the resurrection is to see the resurrected life in us. And the only way they can see it is if you show it.

From Fear Into Hope

We have crossed from fear into hope. The empty tomb gives believers confidence for both this life and eternity. That tomb being empty is something to smile about. If He were still in that grave, we'd be in trouble. But because the tomb is empty, because Christ was resurrected from the grave, we know He can change any situation we're in. We really don't have to struggle with this thing.

It's something I'm still working on. When a problem arises, I give it to Him. And if I give it to Him, then what do I do? I keep doing what I was called to do: serve my purpose. The rent's due? Here's the bill. I keep doing what I'm supposed to do. If I don't have the money, I can't go hustle in the streets to get it and deny everything He has already brought me through. I give Him the bill and I stand on it. I'm still working my purpose. I'm still going to work every day, waking up every day, and I'm going to have a good time. Kids are sick? "God, Your child is sick." "Derrick, what are you going to do?" "I'm going to keep serving." I'm going to keep living my life, going through whatever I'm going through, and letting everybody know that God is alive and real and actively working in my life.

Come here, Peter. Why were you asleep in that jail cell, knowing good and well you were about to die tomorrow? "I gave it to Him." But Peter, didn't you see what happened to the others? "Yeah, James got killed. Oh well, my turn might come someday, but tonight I'm going to sleep." Why? Because what's going to happen is going to happen, and we don't have anything to do with it.

God decided to send His Son to live on this earth, to experience everything we experience. Persecution? He experienced it. Hunger? He experienced it. Having to feed people without knowing how He was going to feed them? He experienced it. But every time, God didn't just show up. He showed out. You've got a few fish and some loaves of bread, and five thousand people, and they had leftovers. You can't make this up. If Derrick were doing it, everybody would have had just enough. There wouldn't be any leftovers.

Even when He called His disciples (I told you they were fishermen), He was about to take these breadwinners away from their families to go serve the world. But what did He do first? They caught a haul of fish with full nets. Why? So there was enough for their families to survive while they went on the mission. God provides.

So even when it was time for Christ to die, Christ in His humanity showed He was human. He said the same thing I would say: "God, if there's any other way... I know this is the plan We wrote, but have We come up with anything else yet? No? Okay." And He did it. He died there on the cross.

Something Different About This Man

And when He did, there was something about the way He died. Even the men crucifying Him began to realize, "Wait a second. There's something different about this man." One of the men on the cross next to Him said, "Wait a second. There's something about Him. I've been around criminals before, and He doesn't hang on this cross like anybody else. There's something different about Him." Even others walking by said, "There's something different about Him. Maybe this is the Messiah. Maybe this is the one. But if He's the one, why is He doing this?"

Somebody sent me a story recently, and I think it's a close picture of what happened. A king had some items stolen. He declared, "Whoever stole these items is going to get forty lashes." They searched and searched, and it turned out his daughter was the one who stole them. Now he's in a peculiar situation. He wants to be a just king, but he also wants to be loving. So as a just king, he says she has to take the forty lashes. They tie her down, they're about to deliver the lashes, and he goes over and covers her back. "What?" "She gets the lashes, but I'm going to take them for her."

That's the Ultimate Crossover

We deserve everything that's coming our way. But Christ says, "I've got this." That's the ultimate crossover. We did what we did, and we deserved death. But Christ says, "Because I live, you now have life."

On that Friday, Satan thought he had Him. He believed he'd won. Jesus is hanging on the cross. The crowd has gone home. The disciples are hiding. The tomb is sealed. The stone is rolled into place. The enemy thinks the final buzzer has sounded. But while hell was celebrating, God was preparing the greatest comeback in history.

The Crossover Was Complete

Early Sunday morning, the stone rolled away. Not so Jesus could get out, but so the world could see in and know He was gone. The tomb was empty. Death was defeated. Sin had been conquered. Hope had been restored. The crossover was complete.

Church, here's the good news. The same God who crossed Israel through the Red Sea, the same God who crossed Jacob's hands over Ephraim, the same God who crossed Paul's plans to Macedonia, is the same God who crossed us from death into life.

Maybe today you feel like it's Friday. Your prayers haven't been answered. Your heart is broken. Your future seems uncertain. Your dream feels buried. But remember: Friday is not the end of the story. God specializes in Sunday mornings. The enemy may think he's won this quarter, but God hasn't finished the game. Your setback is not your conclusion. Your cross is not your coffin. The grave is not your destination, because God performs crossovers. Death becomes life. Defeat becomes victory. And what looked like the end becomes a new beginning.

This is something only God can accomplish. He's got you in the palm of His hand. And that's what I love about it. When I think over my life, I wasn't a wild kid, but every now and then I was wilding out. And I know that even when I was wilding out, I never left the palm of His hand. He always had me.

Weekly Challenge

• Reflect: What area of my life feels like Friday right now, and how does the resurrection remind me that God is still working?
• Act: Share the hope of Christ's resurrection with one person this week by telling them how Jesus has brought life, hope, and victory into your own story.

Prayer

"Father, thank You for the greatest crossover in history through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Help me to live each day in the victory He has already secured. When life feels like Friday, remind me that Sunday is coming. Give me faith to trust Your plan, courage to walk in Your power, and hope that never fades, because Jesus is risen. In Jesus' name, amen."