It is not the sacramental act that saves you. That “baptism now saves you” means so much more than the outward “removal of dirt,” (1st Peter 3.20-21). A sacrament does not carry magical powers to create inward change. It has meaning only because of the operative power of God’s grace through the sacrament on behalf of the true believer. Getting baptized, saying confession, choosing celibacy, or any other sincere sacrifice or good deed at all… none of that guarantees a home for me in heaven. Only the death and resurrection of Jesus makes eternal salvation and Christ-like behavior a possibility for me.
When I walk into the waters of baptism (as I did over fifty years ago) or take the communion bread and cup (as I do weekly), I receive an impartation of the grace of God to do the work of God through faith in the Son of God.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast,” (Ephesians 2.8-9).
