A defining moment occurs when you come face to face with a truth, embrace it and your perspective, your lifestyle, your view of God or relationships is changed forever. A defining moment can happen in many different realms of life, but one of the most important arenas is in your relationship with God.

I want to look at an encounter Jesus had with one of the most influential Jewish men in Jesus day—a man named Nicodemus. The truth Nicodemus encountered was so radical that it overwhelmed him. Here’s the truth: Good people don’t go to heaven. How does that work for you? We pick up the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus in John 3:1-2: Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night…"

Nicodemus had a very impressive resume. He was a member of the Jewish Council that acted as mediators between the Jewish people and Rome. The Roman governor would pay council members big bucks to keep the Jewish people happy with Rome and Rome happy with the people of Israel. Not only was Nicodemus politically connected; he was also religiously connected as a Pharisee. The Pharisees were the intellectual guardians of the Old Testament Law.

So Nicodemus was considered to be a religious teacher by the people and a political leader by Rome. He was one of the great men of the nation who was in search of the truth. He said,

"Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him" (John 3:2). The word "rabbi" or "teacher" was a term of respect. Nicodemus had heard enough about Jesus’ miracles and his teachings to consider him an honored teacher sent by God, endowed with divine insight, but not divine.

So with great respect, Nicodemus approached this "sent from God" Jesus with the same burning question that every Jew had on their mind: "When would God send His Chosen One, the Messiah, to set up his kingdom, overthrow Rome and restore Israel to its glory days?"

John 3:3 says: In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." Here it is: no one gets into the kingdom or heaven unless something happens personally—a person must be born again or "born from above".

Rather than cut and run from the truth, Nicodemus responds as recorded in John 3:4-7: "How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!" Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit." Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.'"

I can hear Jesus saying, "Come on Nicodemus. You should know this. You’re a religious leader. You of all people should know that physical birth doesn’t gain you entrance into God’s kingdom. Something else must happen. You must have a spiritual birth or you won’t get into the Kingdom of God." This was very offensive to Nicodemus because he believed if you’re born Jewish and acted Jewish you were in.

Nicodemus believed that there is a cosmic scale that weighs the good and bad things we do. Some of us do big bad things while others of us do medium bad things. Then there are people like me who do tiny bad things that God probably doesn’t even notice or care about.

We’ve all made bad choices, but we’re not bad people. We’re good people with a few miscues, right? We’ve all done really big-good things and smaller good things. As long as the good deeds outweigh the bad then God is cool with us, right? And when we die, God is going to look at the scale and say, "come on in. You’re good outweighs the bad. You’re in -- right?

I have to hand it to Nicodemus. He could have run for the shadows, but instead he paused long enough in the bright light of Jesus’ truth to consider it. In John 3:9, he asks: "How can this be?" He really wanted to know and understand Jesus. But it didn’t take Nicodemus long to realize that Jesus wasn’t promoting the "scale method" where good people go to heaven and bad people go to hell. Jesus was saying that: Good people don’t go to heaven! That had to be disturbing to Nicodemus. Maybe it’s disturbing to you as well. It’s nice to wish in fairy tale land that it all works out and good people go to heaven. But it’s not what Jesus taught.

After Jesus had gotten Nicodemus’ attention, He brings up a familiar, yet bizarre Old Testament story. Back in the book of Numbers, chapter 21, the people of Israel were living in the wilderness, after escaping from slavery in Egypt. Many of the people were being bit by poisonous snakes and dying. God told Moses to make a replica of a snake out of gold and attach it to a pole. I know this sounds strange, but the Bible says God promised Moses that if anyone was bitten, all they had to do was give a look of faith at the golden snake and they would be saved from the effects of the poisonous snakebite. So, Jesus used this story as a backdrop to explain the way to heaven.

John 3:14-15 says: "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."

Jesus is essentially saying, "Nicodemus, the days of the scale method are over. Actually the scale method never worked. It’s a brand new day and a brand new approach. You don’t get to heaven by being good and keeping my laws. You get to heaven by looking and believing in Me, the Son of God who was lifted up on a cross to pay for our sins." To drive the point home, John who wrote this Gospel added this famous summary statement. John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." What a statement!

You don’t get into God’s kingdom or heaven by doing good things. You enter into heaven by the single good work of the one and only Savior who died on the cross for our sake. Any person who puts their trust in Jesus as their Savior will not earn entrance into God’s kingdom but be given it as a free gift, not because of what they’ve done, but because of what was done on their behalf.

You know what Nicodemus did? He stood long enough in the blinding light of Jesus’ truth and over time his eyes, heart and mind embraced this new truth and he became a Christ follower. His life was changed forever. In fact, he stood up for Jesus at the Jewish Council meeting. At a different time, following Jesus’ death, he made sure Jesus received a proper burial.

Some of you are where Nicodemus was, believing the "good people go to" principle. You’re considering the possibilities of what it takes to get to heaven. My challenge to you is not to run away from this truth. But let it get all over you long enough so you can understand Jesus’ way to heaven by faith. You owe it to yourself to investigate the "good people go to" approach long enough to determine whether it is true or not.

So when it comes to the "good people go to" philosophy: here are some questions to consider: 1. Who or what defines good? 2. Where’s the list of good and bad things to do? 3. What percentage of good deeds is needed for heaven? What’s the scoring system? 4. Who’s in charge and makes these decisions? 3. How do you reconcile Jesus’ teaching that good people don’t go to heaven?

Here’s Jesus’ message to us: Good people don’t go to heaven. But forgiven people go to heaven. That’s different. And forgiveness is found in the person of Jesus Christ. Some of you have been considering this for a while. Maybe today it finally makes sense: it’s not about what I do, but it’s about what Jesus did for me.

If you are at that point, I want to give you an opportunity to seal the deal by putting all your trust or faith in Jesus’ death on the cross as the payment for your sin. If you are ready, here’s a prayer you can pray—prayer doesn’t save you, it’s a way to express your decision to trust Jesus.

"Lord, I need a Savior. I believe Jesus died for my sins. And right now I place all my trust in Jesus as the full payment for my sins. Thank you for giving me the gift of eternal life."

And here’s a challenge to those of you who are Christ followers. It comes out of Hebrews 10 where the writer shares with us the benefits and challenges of knowing Jesus as our Savior:

We have, then, my friends, complete freedom to go into the Most Holy Place by means of the death of Jesus.  He opened for us a new way, a living way…through his own body… So let us come near to God with a sincere heart and a sure faith, with hearts that have been purified from a guilty conscience and with bodies washed with clean water.  Let us hold on firmly to the hope we profess, because we can trust God to keep his promise.  Let us be concerned for one another, to help one another to show love and to do good.