Why Religion Can’t Save You: What Does ‘Born Again’ actually mean? Pt. II

Dial In with Jonny Ardavanis

Jonny Ardavanis

Religion, Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.9 • 901 Ratings

🗓️ 31 March 2026

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What does it actually mean to be born again? In this episode, we dive deep into John 3 and Jesus' shocking conversation with Nicodemus — the most religious man in all of Israel — to unpack the biblical doctrine of regeneration and why it changes everything about how we understand salvation.

We cover:

Why religion is not enough to enter the kingdom of God
What Jesus meant by being "born of water and the Spirit" (John 3:5)
The connection between Ezekiel 36 and the New Covenant promise of a new heart
Why the human heart — not your upbringing or circumstances — is your greatest problem
The difference between reformation and regeneration
Why salvation is a miracle, not a merit system
How to know if you've truly been born again

Whether you grew up in the church, have all the right answers, and still wonder if you truly know God — or you're just beginning to ask who Jesus really is — this conversation is for you.

This episode is sponsored by The Master's University. To learn more about how you can invest in a college education devoted to Christ & Scripture, visit https://www.masters.edu

📧 Subscribe to the Dial In newsletter for first access to restocks and devotionals: www.dialinministries.org

Transcript

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0:00.0	The person next to you is not your greatest problem.
0:02.4	Your bad upbringing is not your greatest problem.
0:04.2	Your bad father is not your greatest problem.
0:06.3	Your own sinful heart is your greatest problem.
0:10.2	Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
0:15.4	Now, sometimes we come to verses in the Bible and we're like, I don't really know what that means.
0:19.1	Well, Jesus just said, unless you're born of the water in the spirit, you cannot see the kingdom of God, which means it's pretty important for us to understand because there's only one type of person in heaven, someone who has been born of water in the spirit. So we need to understand. And in order to understand, we need to look back to the Old Testament, to the prophet Ezekiel. If you don't understand this, you've missed the gospel.
0:44.9	Hank, how we doing?
0:45.8	I'm doing great, Johnny. How are you?
0:46.9	Good.
0:47.3	Hey, a couple things.
0:48.1	We're going to do a restock of the theology fuels doxology shirts soon.
0:52.2	Especially huge because mine got dried and it shrunk.
0:56.7	Stop.
1:00.9	If you are interested in that, we send it out first through the people subscribe to the newsletter.
1:05.3	So you can subscribe to the newsletter on dialin ministries.org.
1:08.2	Those are the devotionals that go out multiple times a week.
1:10.7	And we'll give first access to people that are signed up there. Question for you, though. Well, before I ask you my question. It does actually, it doesn't matter what you're going to ask me, because I have a separate question for you. Okay. Well, this episode is brought to you by the Masters University. If you are someone you know is interested in pursuing higher education, Master's University, that's where I went,
1:29.4	committed to Christ in scripture. You can go check out more information at masters.edu and use
1:34.1	our code dial in to waive the application fee if you are interested. Highly recommend.
1:39.1	Hang question for you. Favorite movie of all time. Remember the Titans. Separate question for you.
1:45.3	I'm curious to know your favorite movie.
	...

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