No Turning Back John 12:12-19

Have you ever heard of the “point of no return”? Have you ever been there? If so, was it a good place to be, or would you rather have been somewhere else?

If you’re walking in the desert, and running out of water, and you don’t have enough water left to get back to where you started, then you’re at the point of no return. You have no choice but to go forward and hope that there’s water up ahead. There’s no turning back.

If you’ve accepted a new job in a different city or state, and you’ve already signed the contract, there’s no turning back. You’re committed. You have to move and start a new job and a new life.

If you’ve said “I do”, and made your vows before God to your spouse, there’s no turning back. You’ve committed yourself to that special person, to have and to hold, for better or for worse.

If you decide to have children, and become pregnant, there’s no turning back. Again you’ve committed yourself to another person, this time to your child, to love and take care of, and as a Christian parent, to raise in the ways of the Lord.

For Jesus, once he got to Holy Week, there was no turning back. He was committed; determined to go through with it.

But there was never any turning back for him; he was determined all along to fulfill his purpose for coming to earth, because he knew it was the right thing to do, and he knew that only He could do it; so he did it!

Sometimes, we can be determined to go through with things that we shouldn’t go through with. We’re just being stubborn and trying to prove a point; like that we can do what we want, or we’re our own person, or we can’t be controlled. So go through with it, even if it hurts us, or others.

Of course, the irony is that it’s at those times when we are being controlled, by our own emotions or stubbornness or rebellion or peer pressure or by, as we spoke about last week, our sinful flesh, or whatever it is that’s taking hold of us.

Contrast a determination to just do my own thing in life, with the determination to do the right thing, the thing that helps others, and honors God.

That’s the kind of determination we see from Jesus during Holy Week, as we follow him to the cross.

In our Gospel today, we heard the cries of “Hosanna” from the people waving palms and praising Jesus. “Hosanna! Lord, save us!”. Hearing their cries, Jesus was determined to help them, and help us.

Our Epistle today tells us that God’s Son was determined to set aside the glory of heaven, and come down to earth to save us.

He lowered himself to take on the form of a servant. He was born in a humbled form, like us, with our fallen bodies, only his was without sin; but it was humbled of its Divine glory, and therefore able to hurt and suffer like our bodies do.

He was determined to humble himself and die for us, even if meant the worst kind of death, death on a cross.

In our Old Testament today, Isaiah foretold how the Messiah would suffer and be disgraced by his enemies; they would strike him, and tear out his beard.

But it also says that in the midst of it all, he would set his face like flint; he would be determined to bear the pain for us.

And he did! There was no turning back for him; he loved us to much to turn back from saving us.

Because there was no turning back for Jesus, there’s no turning back for us.

Once we follow Jesus, there’s no good reason to turn back.

The devil is determined to call you back into a life lived for sin and self; he tries in every way he can to get you to backtrack; to undo what God has done in your life.

Some of the devil’s favorite methods are:

1)    Peer pressure, so called friends who ridicule you for having the determination to follow Christ, and the desire for a godly life;

2)    along with that, the fear of rejection, of being left out, that insecurity or fear of not being accepted by your peers;

3)    or the love money, or greed, the false notion that wealth can secure and fulfill your life;

4)    or just plain hedonism, an insatiable lust for worldly pleasures, for the purpose of escaping reality, instead of facing the challenges of life with sober courage, and godly conviction.

And the devil has many more temptations to try to convince us to turn back from the way of the cross.

But Jesus is our inspiration, and more than that, our salvation. He who saved us from sin and death, also saves us from turning back.

As he set his face like flint, set his heart on saving us, as he was determined to suffer and die for us as needed to be done, so He gives us courage and love, so that our hearts can be set on following him, and helping others.

For God did not give us a spirit of fear, Paul says, but of courage and love and self-control. Not a heart that’s controlled by these fears and insecurities we spoke of, but liberated from them, to be bold and determined to follow Christ.

It’s easier to give in and give up, to turn back to worldly ways, no doubt about that; that’s the path of least resistance; but it’s a turning back that you’ll always regret. Not believing in Jesus leads to that place of eternal, inescapable regret.

Better to be determined to go forward in the way of the cross; to follow Christ to that place of no regrets.                                                                                                                                        

In my experience in speaking with people, and learning from them, especially in the twilight years of their lives, I’ve never heard anyone have regrets for making godly choices in life, and for having the determination to follow and honor Christ.   

But I have heard many regrets about doing the wrong thing; doing my own thing, even when it hurt others, especially those who love us; regret for those times when we disappointed or embarrassed our family; or let them down.

Following Christ means two things about these regrets. First, it means letting go of them.

Jesus has won the right for us to let go of our regrets. That’s what His forgiveness means for us. It means he nailed our regrets to the cross, and left them there to die, so that we might live, with a clear conscience, a joyful spirit, and a greater determination to honor God, and do what’s right in this world.

The second thing following Christ means is having no regrets forever. Even though we know we’re forgiven, we still may struggle with regrets in this life. That’s how it is in this imperfect world. But God helps us to let go of them.

In heaven, they will all be let go of. Not a single regret will be taken with us into heaven. No regrets forever. It’s hard not to like the sound of that.

Following Christ leads us to an eternal place with no regrets, a place with only love, peace, and joy.

Believing that gives us the determination to walk with Christ, who had the courage to walk to the cross. There was no turning back for him, and there can be no turning back for us as we follow him.

What would we turn back to? The best is ahead of us, not behind us. So keep on going; keep believing, stay the course; be determined to follow Christ all the way home.

May God bless you with a heart that is committed to following Christ; determined to follow Him in the way of the cross.

And as you follow, the peace of God, which passes understanding, will guard your heart and mind, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.