Mat 20:22-23 But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able. (23) And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.
It's so wonderful how God made everything easy for us. In context, the baptism the Lord is talking about is his passion, the death by crucifixion. He asked His disciples, Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? And they answered, we are able. A foolish answer you might say but true. And so the Lord said, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with.
The Apostle Paul explains in Rom 6:3-4 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? (4) Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
And so by water baptism, we are baptized with the baptism that the LORD was baptized with. He made everything easy for us wherein he took all the suffering and made us partakers of that, not making us undergo the same sufferings but just the submersion of the body in the water.
The requirement is that we believe: Col 2:12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
And baptism saves the principle being: 1Pe 3:21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And the promise being: Gal 3:27-29 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (28) There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. (29) And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
So much with the "Sinner's Prayer" or the "Prayer of Salvation." Faith has to come with action. It is through Baptism that we receive Christ. It is the prophetic act that lets the Word of God come to pass in the life of a person receiving Christ.
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