Nick At Night Series

Through his humor, Bill Waterson has a way to make you think about life. He’s the author of the Calvin and Hobbes comic strips; and some time ago, he drew Calvin (a little boy) hurtling down a snowy slope on a sled with his friend Hobbes (a tiger).

Calvin: I'm getting nervous about Christmas.

Hobbes: You're worried you haven't been good?

Calvin: That's just the question. It's all relative. What's Santa's definition? How good do you have to be to qualify as good? I haven't killed anybody. That's good, right? I haven't committed any felonies. I didn't start any wars. I don’t practice cannibalism. Wouldn't you say that's pretty good? Wouldn't you say I should get lots of presents?

Hobbes: But maybe good is more than the absence of bad.

Calvin: See, that's what worries me. (Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes, December 23, 1990; www.PreachingToday.com)

How good is good enough to enter God’s Kingdom? Well, one night, a very good man, by the world’s standards, came to Jesus to find out. So, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to John 3, John 3, where Jesus tells “good people” how to enter His Kingdom. If you don’t have your Bible, just listen as I read…

John 3:1-2 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him” (ESV).

This is all very flattering, but Jesus could care less. So He gets right to the issue.

John 3:3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (ESV).

As a Pharisee, Nicodemus kept the rules better than most people. He was a very good man by the world’s standards. But Jesus tells him that even he cannot see the heavenly kingdom, unless he is born again. Good or bad, if you want to see the Kingdom of Heaven...

YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN.

You must become a brand-new person. You must get a new life.

What does that mean? What is Jesus talking about here? Well, that was Nicodemus’ question.

John 3:4-7 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

Jesus is talking to a Jewish scholar here, using the language of the Old Testament, something with which he would be very familiar. It’s the language of Ezekiel 36, where God promised to “sprinkle clean water” on Israel, and “cleanse her from all her filthiness.” He also promised to put His Spirit within them and cause them to walk in His ways.

That’s what the new birth is all about. It’s being cleansed from all your sin (“born of water”) and having God’s spirit within (“born of the Spirit”). To put it simply, it’s having your life changed from the inside out. It’s getting a brand-new life!

In the movie, Air Force One, the President (played by Harrison Ford) and his family are taken hostage when terrorists hijack the president’s plane. The president, a former marine, eventually kills or disables all the terrorists but one.

However, there is no one left who can safely fly the plane, which is quickly running out of fuel. As time runs out, Air Force airmen attach a zip line from Air Force One to a military transport plane.

It’s a gutsy move, requiring exact precision, but all of the passengers make it safely to the transport plane, leaving the President and one terrorist aboard Air Force One. Just before the President hooks himself to the life-saving zip line, the terrorist comes out of hiding and struggles with the president. Shortly thereafter, Air Force One dives into the ocean.

The officials on the ground wait anxiously through the long periods of radio silence. Unable to see what is happening, they all gather anxiously around the radio for a report from the military flight crew. All they know from their radar screen is that Air Force One is down. A sense of defeat permeates the room as they assume the President has gone down with the plane.

Finally, the flight crew radios the anxious officials gathered in the White House war room to say, "Liberty 2-4 is changing call signs. Liberty 2-4 is now Air Force One!" The President had been pulled safely aboard the cargo plane just before his jet plunged into the ocean.