In John 3, 6 Jesus says to Nicodemus, “Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.”
Something has to change in the very nature or essence of a person if they expect to enter into the kingdom of God. They have to be born of the Spirit. Their very nature has to be changed through a rebirth that only God can bring about through his Spirit. Evidence of such a change in one’s nature or essence is what Paul, in Galatians 5:22-23, calls “the fruit of the Spirit which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”
Those who have been baptized, that is born again of water and the Spirit and who have the new nature or new essence and evidence these qualities of God’s Spirit have the hope of Jesus’ promise of entering the kingdom of God.
Living Big In Jesus,
Keith