There is being birthed by water, and there is also being birthed from above. Both are necessary to see the kingdom of God.
I'm largely convinced that most Christians in churches today only have the water part of 'water and Spirit'.
They know John's baptism for repentance, but they have not come to the end of themselves in the futile attempt to repent, and have not been born of the Spirit, yet. That doesn't mean they aren't in God's favor in some way. It means they have yet to move into the life of the spiritual rebirth.
Galatians 4:23 NAS
"the son by the bondwoman was born according to the flesh (in the natural way of repentance alone and trying to obey the commandments) , and the son by the free woman through the promise (in the supernatural way of transformation through faith in Christ)."
Repentance for the forgiveness of sins, John's baptism, births a natural man. But that man, if left in that state, does not inherit the kingdom. But faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sin births the spiritual man. Only the one born of, both, water and Spirit will see and enter into the kingdom.
And like I say, I think we have a church full of water only births. And I think that's because we push too many people too quickly to get saved. As a result we have a lot of Christians that still live pretty much unchanged in their old lives. Because repentance alone can not change the inward man. Only the additional spiritual birth can do that. And that happens when you come to the end of yourself after trying hard to repent of your sins and not being able to and realizing the only way you're going to get from here to there is by having your sins removed through the forgiveness of those sins. It is in this way that John's baptism of repentance prepares the way for the baptism of the Spirit, through Jesus.
"while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, 2He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. 3And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism. 4Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. 5When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied. " - Acts 19:1-5 KJV
Water first, then the Spirit.
These disciples had been born of the waters of repentance (John's baptism) but they had not been born of the Spirit by faith in Christ (Jesus' baptism), yet.