The world offers its own versions of being “born again,” reinvention through willpower or circumstance, but a man born of the flesh only stays flesh (John 3:6). Jesus told Nicodemus plainly that unless someone is born again, born of water and the Spirit, he cannot see or enter the kingdom of God (John 3:3-5), a birth accomplished not by human decision but by God, to those who receive Him and believe in His name (John 1:12-13).
This new birth is proven by a changed life: practicing righteousness and loving one another are marks of everyone born of God (1 John 2:29; 1 John 4:7). The sermon widens the picture further, applying “born again” not only to individuals but to whole nations discipled through the Great Commission, baptizing and teaching them to observe all that Christ commanded, with the promise that He is with His people to the end of the age (Matthew 28:19-20).