Crossing Over (Acts 26:18)

Introduction

I want to begin this morning with a term we hear a lot. It’s the term crossover.

You might hear of it in relation to vehicles most often. And that is what we call the SUV, the sport utility vehicle, as a crossover, I guess, between a car and a truck, a van and everything all into one. It’s the perfect car for any need that you might have. We hear the word crossover as it relates to music. From one style to another style. Unfortunately, we hear it in relation to gender, because people can’t accept the one that God gave them. But that’s not one I want to belabor very long. Some crossover in terms of politics. Or even in basketball. I guess Blake and Thad could show you which one of them has the best crossover dribble. Let’s see who can do that, as they both believe they are good basketball players.

But I want to speak to you of a crossover of greater import. And I want to stamp just a single verse. If I could accomplish that, you know, we talk about a lot of verses in sermons. There’s a lot of biblical material that we’re sharing, trying to show how it all fits together. Sometimes when I preach, I simply like us to focus on one thing, one takeaway verse, and I do this in meetings a lot too, because I know you can’t remember everything, so if you could just remember one thing this morning, it would be this text in John chapter 5 and verse 24. Realize the importance of this. Put it in your memory card. Very truly, I tell you.

1. Crossed Over From Death to Life

Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me, Jesus says, has eternal life. And will not be judged. And I think the term judge there is being used in terms of a negative judgment. But you will have escaped a sentence that is negative. Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. That speaks to an ongoing condition, hearing Jesus’ word and believing in the Father who sent him and in him as well, has eternal life and will not be judged, but has crossed over. Has crossed over from death to life. Now we’re going to look at the context of this statement. First, Jesus is saying that he’s not merely a human agent, but his message emanates from above.

Read with me in John chapter 5 and verse 19. They believed he was making himself out equal with God because he was calling God his Father. He says, Truly I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself. He is working in concert with the spirit realm, with the Father. Unless it is something he sees the Father doing. For whatever that the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all things that he himself is doing. That’s why we need to pay attention to the Son. And greater works than these will he show him that you may marvel. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he wishes.

Oh, the resurrection of the dead. Something that is a foundation principle in this text. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son of Man also gives life to whom he wishes. For not even the Father judges anyone, but he has given all judgment to the Son. In order that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. It’s not an either-or situation. You can’t say, I choose the Father, but I reject you, because the Father and Son to reject one is to reject the other. And then Jesus makes this powerful statement about crossing over. A huge transition. Crossing over from death to life.

Of course, he is speaking of a figurative kind, not a literal resurrection from the dead, someone who has passed from this life and is raised again. Though both of those things are found in this context, truly I say unto you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear shall live. Well, that may sound like literal resurrection, but again, it’s building on this thought of crossing over from death to life. And a time is coming when you hear the voice of the Son, you respond to the Son, you live. You who were dead in your trespasses and sins, Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 1, are made alive. That was after Jesus’ resurrection, when the message of salvation was taught, those who were dead in their trespasses and sins were made to come alive and to sit in heavenly places with Christ.

We read in Ephesians chapter 2. And as we are buried with him in baptism, we rise to walk in newness of life. All figurative.

When sin entered the world, the result was not just spiritual death and separation from God, but it was physical death. And all men died. In the genealogies of Genesis chapter 5. And he died, and he died over and over again, emphasizing the result of sin in the world.

And so when we talk about the implications of the gospel, there is more than just the spiritual implications to our soul. It is the physical implications to our bodies, the death of our bodies. And Jesus has an answer for that as well. For just as the Father has life in himself, verse 26, even so he gave to the Son also to have life in himself. And he gave him authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this. For an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs shall hear his voice and shall come forth those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life and those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.

Very similar to Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 10. We must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ to receive the things done in our body, whether those things be good or bad. Just one more verse on this in Romans chapter 8 and verse 11. This verse may be the death nail to those who, well, there’s a lot of passages, but it’s certainly powerful to those who believe that the resurrection happened in AD 70 and there’s no resurrection after that. Because in Romans chapter 8 and verse 11, it says, But if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies, your mortal bodies through his spirit to dwellship.

So the answers that Jesus gives are both literal and spiritual and physical. He gives life to the dead. And you need that. And crossing over essential to possessing it. Great consequence and implications result when we reject the message of the resurrection. And Paul speaks of that in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Crossing over an instance of breaking into another category. As Paul would speak of his mission in Acts chapter 26 and verse 18. He said it was to people to turn people from darkness to light, the great crossover event, from the dominion of Satan to the dominion of God. And he speaks of believers in Colossians chapter one and verse 13 and says, He delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us. There’s your crossover.

2. Christians Who Have Failed to Cross Over

For he delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his dear son. Have you this morning crossed over from death to life in anticipation of a spiritual home with God and ultimately the crossing over from what is mortal to what is immortal in the presence of God forever. I want to begin with one point that I think needs to be made that is sad. There are a lot of people in our world who are Christians, but sadly, they have failed to cross over death to life. That sounds impossible to our minds, perhaps. How can people be Christians, devoted followers of Jesus as they see it? Who would speak openly of their love for Jesus and their love for his things and worship regularly somewhere among a religious group of people who claim to be so all in serving Christ and being loyal to him?

How is it possible that they could be, quote, Christians, but have somehow failed to cross over? Making this observation was necessary as I started working on this sermon.

After all, he is a murderer, tries to prevent people from embracing what is real and genuine and saving. Sadly, he does this by altering the message, by watering down the words of the Son to mean something or to say something that they do not say. And thus the crossover doesn’t happen. And so many find contentment in a religious response or in the embrace of a message that satisfies them, but not God. What a great tactic to convince people that they are Christians when they have not yet crossed over. What a horrible tragedy. And when I thought about what he does with the message, how he alters it, several things that are components of this message come to mind. Things that he wants to remove or extract or to change in this message.

And here are things that the religious world who claims to be Christian all around us might tend to minimize or to neglect altogether. Such concepts as repentance, one that is found all over the New Testament. A godly sorrow that produces repentance, a change in behavior, a change in life. There must be this turning to God that we saw in Acts 26 and verse 18. Repentance is removed. The concept of sobriety, you know, isn’t it true among most Christian people that you won’t hear any messages about at least recreational drinking or what we would call social drinking or alcohol consumption? Sobriety, that’s well, just don’t get drunk.

Self-denial. The concept of brotherhood, that there are very real expectations that God has about how we relate to others who are also in Christ, not just showing up in services once a week. Here I was, I did my religious duty, but that we are actually born unto a relationship of brothers. We read about that in 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 22, coming to that thought in a minute. In fact, you can go ahead and turn over there. We’re going to look at two verses there in just a second. 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 22 that emphasizes this idea of brotherhood as a result of crossing over. Diligence, endurance, these are concepts that are often removed or watered down to make the gospel something other than it really is.

And this is where I take you to 1 Peter chapter 1 and say this. If we are indeed born of the Word and born of truth, then the message that we believe becomes paramount or essential, does it not? If we are born of the word and born of the truth, then the nature of the message believed really determines whether or not we are truly Christians and have crossed over. There must be some process of moving from death to life. How do we cross over? Look at 1 Peter chapter 1. So many passages we could look at this morning. We already saw that we’ve been transferred into the kingdom of God’s dear son. Well, how does that transference or crossing over happen? Look at 1 Peter 1 22.

Since you have, in obedience to the truth, purified your souls. That’s how crossover happens. In obedience to truth, the message matters. Since you have an obedience to the truth, purified your souls, and this is where brotherhood comes in, for a sincere love of the brethren. Of all the things he could have said, conversion and baptism is unto, for some reason he says, in this place, unto a love of the brethren. Fervently love one another from the heart. For you have not been born again, for you have been born again, not of seed, which is perishable, but imperishable, that is, through the living and abiding word of God. That’s how a crossing over results. And so I want to spend a minute talking to you about the glorious crossover event.

3. The Glorious Crossover Event

If you miss Wednesday nights, you miss good stuff. If you didn’t get to hear Ted’s invitation Wednesday night, you missed something. Ted recounted his crossover event from several years ago. And it was memorable for me, one of the first people that I got to study with here when I moved back from Alabama. And ultimately was the fortunate one who got to baptize that very large man into Christ. Because we talked as he talked about that. I was amused in Ted’s telling of that, how he was afraid of public speaking. Did you notice the more he went, the more comfortable he seemed to appear? I think he’s after my job. I don’t know. But two things stood out to me in his talk about his crossover event.

Number one, all the fears that he had, which were very present that night, all the fears that he had were just temporary. And all the fears that we have about why we shouldn’t cross over from death to life and serve the Lord. Those are all just temporary, but we’re talking about eternal matters here. But the second thing that he said that struck me was he said it more than once. It was the single most important decision of his life.

No, but she agreed. Now, the second most important decision of his life was when he moved from Pennsylvania to Texas, of course, so that he could actually be with Amanda, who he was very much interested in when he moved here. And of course, getting from Pennsylvania or anywhere to Texas is a huge decision in your life. But the single most important decision of his life, and the single most important decision of your life is not whom you will marry, though that’s a significant decision. The most significant decision you will ever make is this crossover event. Salvation by faith, properly defined, trusting in God’s saving words. And the Son’s saving words are that we are to be baptized into him for the remission of our sins. Those are the words spoken by Ananias to Saul in Acts 22 and verse 16.

Corneas heard words by which he and his family were saved. Again, we’re born of truth and the word, as we saw in 1 Peter chapter 1, and in Colossians chapter 2, verses 12 and 13, the crossover event is clearly explained when it says, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were raised up with him through faith and the working of God who raised him from the dead. And when you were dead, spiritually dead in your transgressions, that’s why you need the crossover event. And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our transgressions. So this is the identifying mark that causes our faith to cleanse us through our contact with the saving blood of Jesus Christ.

I can then be confident in my relationship with the living God and my Savior. How do I know I’m a Christian? How do I know that I have access to the throne of God? How do I know that I can call upon Him at any time and He will hear? As I strive to hear His words and live them in my life, as we saw in John 5 24. I can be confident in my relationship because I know in these events, faith that leads me to repent and change my direction in life, to be baptized for the remission of my sins, rising to walk in newness of life. I then came into relationship with Christ. And I don’t doubt that. That’s the point at which I crossed over salvation by grace through faith.

4. Crossover Attitudes

The resulting fellowship should be valued above everything else. But I want to go back to John 5. Because I think there’s something helpful at the end of that context in John chapter 5 and verse 39 that I want to conclude on this morning. I want to talk about some crossover attitudes. This movement from death to life, this crossing over from death unto life, requires a certain mindset or attitude which tragically was not present in his audience who heard these words in John chapter 5. And so what we’re going to do is look at the negatives in them and find the positives for us. So that our crossover will be unto life going forward for us. John 5, verse 39. He says to his audience, the Pharisees, primarily, other religious leaders, he says, You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life.

And it is these that bear witness of me. You know, like the people I talked about under point number one so tragically, people who believe they’re saved, who believe they’re Christians, who study the scriptures. You search the scriptures because in them you think you have eternal life, but the implication of what Jesus is saying is, you’re not there. You don’t have it. He says, and you are unwilling to come to me. He says, these scriptures bear witness of me. So if you reject me, he says, You are unwilling to come to me that you may have life.

But I know you that you do not have the love of God in yourselves. I have come in my Father’s name, as we read earlier, and you do not receive me. If another shall come in his own name, you receive him. How can you believe when you receive glory from one another, and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God? Let’s stop right there. There are three things that we learn here that involve crossover attitudes that we must possess that Jesus’ audience did not. Number one, there must be an honest and humble approach to God’s message. Their failure to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God, 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 6, is the reason why they stumbled over Jesus and His message.

Secondly, he says, you do not have the love of God in yourselves. Crossing over involves having a primary aim to cultivate, to emulate and imitate the love of God. But why that was lacking in them is because they were more greatly in love with themselves. We must seek his glory, not our own. We must extol his power, not our own. We must advance his cause, not our own.

Conclusion

What did Jesus say in the parable of the sower? The good and honest heart is the one that receives the word and bears the fruit some thirtyfold, sixtyfold, a hundredfold. That’s the soil that works. There must be an honest and humble approach to God’s message. Without that, you cannot pass from death to life. You can’t crossover event is the vehicle that brings us to a loving relationship with our God and with his people. Why should you cross over? The time to cross over is right now. If you’ve not done so. All three of these things are a part of that. The time to cross over now. Because ultimately, because ultimately, if we do not take advantage of the opportunity, we will find ourselves like the rich man of Luke 16 in Jesus’ story, who never passed over from death to life, and found himself in eternal torment, longing for Lazarus, who he saw from afar.

Could he just drop some water on my tongue so that I may be comforted in this flame.

And to most.

And the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, if it is indeed a parable, the story of rich man and Lazarus is Jesus’ story. And there’s a statement in that story. There’s so many things that we can look at about they have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them, the five brothers of the rich man. They have the information that they need to respond to God adequately. The fact that he was in agony when he lifted up his eyes and wanted just a moment’s comfort because he had failed in this life to respond to God adequately, that stands out to me as well. But there is one other thing that stands out as he asked Abraham to send Lazarus over for that drop of water on his tongue.

And these are the words of Jesus. And what he said was there is a great chasm that none may cross over from there to you. There is a great chasm fixed. If you don’t cross over now, there will be no crossing over then. Take advantage of the time. Let’s stand and say.