Jesus answered, "Most assuredly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he can't enter into the Kingdom of God!
It will be noted from the discussion above that most of what is said relates to induction into Christ's kingdom, the receiving of forgiveness of past sins, the receiving of a clear conscience, and the receiving of the Holy Spirit - all of these things upon the occasion of baptism and contingent upon obedience to that ceremony - and all of which achievements are accomplished by God and not by the ceremony.  What does the ceremony do?  It demonstrates and proves that the faith of the believer is of a sufficient degree to save him; it is the sinner's acceptance of Jesus' promise of  Mark 16:16; it is therefore his "accepting Christ" by accepting his promise.  Those who speak of accepting Christ as if it were some kind of a subjective response are absolutely wrong.  Baptism is a renunciation of self in permitting the whole person to be buried under water as a pledge that self shall no longer rule in the life of the convert; it is the successful passing of God's ordained test of faith to determine if faith is sufficient to save; and, as such, it corresponds exactly with Abraham's offering of Isaac upon the altar, whereupon God said, "For now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son"  (Genesis 22:12).  In that God said, "Now I know," it is equivalent to saying that until that time he did not know (such language is accommodative and anthropomorphic, of course).  God did not justify Abraham until he offered Isaac (James 2:21); and, if God did not justify Abraham until he had passed such a test as offering Isaac, how could it ever be imagined that God will justify just any stinking sinner who believes, and purely upon the sinner's assertion of it?  Never!  Baptism, the water ceremony itself, is the terminator that separates between the saved and the lost; and as long as the faith of any person is insufficient to prompt his obedience to God's universal commandment of baptism, there is no way that such a faith could save.  That is why Jesus said, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved" (Mark 16:16), and, in regard to the quibble which says, "Well, Jesus did not say, `He that is not baptized shall be condemned,'" the answer that thunders from the New Testament is that the meaning is exactly the same as if he had said that!