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Repent of your sins and let the old you be buried and be raised up a new creature in Christ (Acts 2:38; Acts 3:19; 2 Corinthians 5:17)

Who?
- Who needs to repent? Anybody that has ever committed a sin (any sin) needs to repent. A. Do I need to repent Repenting before salvation B. Is there such a thing as "Once saved, always saved?"
- Who has sinned? Everybody has sinned at least once, except Jesus Christ. When God commands us to do something, and we disobey Him, that is sin. This includes anything that God commands us, not just the ten commandments. When God told Adam not the eat the fruit of that certain tree, Adam sinned by breaking that commandment. At some point in time, every one of us has broken at least one of God's two greatest commandments that Jesus mentions in Matthew 22:37-39:
  1) Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
  2) Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
  3) Inheritance of the Kingdom of God. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 gives a warning to those who are already believers, telling them "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God."
  4) Temptation. Lust. Sin. Death. James 1:12-15 Speaks of enduring temptation because being drawn away by lust leads to sin, and sin to death.
  5) Walk in the Spirit. Forsake the Lust of the Flesh. Galatians 5:16-26 lists the Works of the Flesh & Fruit of the Spirit.
  A. Works of the Flesh (Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these;)
  - Adultery
  - fornication
  - uncleanness
  - lasciviousness
  - Idolatry
  - witchcraft
  - hatred
  - variance
  - emulations
  - wrath
  - strife
  - seditions
  - heresies
  - Envyings
  - murders
  - drunkenness
  - revellings
  - and such like
  B. Fruit of the Spirit ()
  - love
  - joy
  - peace
  - longsuffering
  - gentleness
  - goodness
  - faith
  - Meekness
  - temperance
  C. The Flesh Works Spirit Spectrum
  "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." Galatians 5:16
  Good fruit is the result of a healthy tree. It is getting the nutrients, sunlight, and water that it needs, and is not corrupted or diseased. In this case, this fruit is of a spiritual nature. And you may look at yourself and see if you are exhibiting the works of the flesh or the fruit of the Spirit. Where you are lacking the fruit of the Spirit, you will likely find that you are doing works of the flesh, because it is as though they are on a spectrum, where the further to the left you go, the further from the right you will be, and vice verse. The more of the works of the flesh you are doing, the less of the fruit of the Spirit you are likely to exhibit. "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." Galatians 5:17
  
  We are not called to be weak, thinking that we cannot escape sin or the works of the flesh. We have access to the Spirit, and we are created anew, and do not need to be the old man, which was weak and controlled by sin. In Christ, we are free from having to serve sin, because it is no longer our master. So we must be wise to not return to knock on sin's door, seeking to serve it again. After sin has let us down, and robbed us of the things of God, and abused us and caused us to abuse ourselves, what wisdom would there be in us going back to it and deciding to serve it again after we have been freed from it. As far as sin knows, we are dead and gone and it must go find another servant. Why would we then go and present ourselves to it again, when God has given us the power not to, but rather to go and serve God and have the fruit of the Spirit, rather than the inconvenient works of the flesh? What wise person, after they have been freed from slavery, and is dead to his old master, who cannot drive him anymore, because what master can drive a dead slave... what wise person would go back to knock on his old master's door, showing himself able to be used and abused again after he has forgotten about him, seeing him dead? Therefore, pray for wisdom, and get knowledge and understanding of the things of God, and use the strength of God that has been made available to you, since you have joined Him. Appreciate your new nature, as God has created you new, and know there is no need to feed the desires of your old self, which is dead, because there is no consequence for not feeding sins to your old sinful self, because he or she is already dead. And the dead do not eat. And do not breathe the breath of life that is now in you into your old dead self to resurrect him or her.
  "that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." -Ephesians 4:22-24
  Go be free and do free people stuff, instead of hanging around being concerned about what the dead man did.
  And this also applies: "God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." -2 Timothy 1:7
  
  Do not say "We are only human." No, we are not. We once were, but now we have become members of the body of Christ. How can you say you are weak, when God has given you the spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind? Love God and yourself as you love others, and do what is loving toward yourself and for them. It is your old self who was weak, and how can your new strong self be overcome by your weak old self who is dead. I've never seen a dead man overpower one that is living. You don't need to jump down in the grave and wrestle with your old self and your old sins, lest you jump down there and twist your ankle and have trouble getting back out, when all you had to do was walk away. Walk away and go get something to eat; feast on the Word of God. Pick up your Bible and put that in your spirit. Do the things that you can now do, being free, that you could not do before. Get used to your new freedom, and cherish it. Yes, it was natural for the old man to sin, but the new man has a new nature. And what is natural for the new man is to be free. But be wise to not go entangle yourself again. Jesus was not teasing when He said "go and sin no more." If says to do it, you can do it. Believe Him more than you believe me.
  "Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." -John 8:34-36
  It says free indeed, not free in theory, not having a certificate of freedom, not a promise of freedom at a later date, but free indeed. Do not listen to them when they say you cannot be free while alive in this body, because because it is not true, and is not what the Lord Himself teaches us.
- Who can repent? Anyone can repent. Even before Jesus walked the earth, people were made aware of their wrongdoings, and in some way repented.
- Who must perform the baptism? At the very end of Matthew (the last two verses, 28:19-20), Jesus commanded His eleven disciples to teach all nations and baptize them. He also told them to teach them to observe all things that He commanded them, which we may assume includes baptizing. As with leading others to Christ, it appears that the common Christian is also permitted to baptize, but He doesn't appear to clearly command each individual believer to be a baptizer. The apostle Paul baptized Crispus and Gaius (1 Cor 1:14). The prophet John the Baptist baptized people, of course, and so did Jesus. An evangelist named Philip baptized people in Acts 8. The scriptures do not say baptizing must be performed by an "ordained minister" or pastor.
- Who needs to be baptized? Only believers in Christ (Christians) are expected to be baptized, but everyone, including non-believers, has a need to be baptized. However, it must be understood that baptism is not enough by itself. Repentance is also required. By repentance, I mean one must decide to turn away from their old ways, bury their old life and live a new and different life... a life in Christ. Because of that, it is basically pointless for a non-believer to get baptized if they intend to remain a non-believer. If they have no intention to change their life and be born again in Jesus Christ, that would be like a drug addict going to finagle a certificate of completion from a rehab clinic, with no intentions to ever quit using the drug. In fact, they used the drug on their way to and from the clinic, and then went home and hung the certificate up on the wall. The cerficate would be pointless; it wouldn't help them one bit. In the same way, a baptism wouldn't help a non-believer who is not willing to repent and be born again. But they still have a need to repent and be baptized and leave the sin life behind, just as the drug addict still has a need to actually complete rehab and leave the drug life behind. Believers in Christ, on the other hand, have already decided to walk away from the drug life (sin life) and live a new life in Christ, and leave their old self dead and buried.
- Can infants be baptized? The scriptures never speak of any infant being baptized, and baptism is not performed by sprinkling water on someone. Infants are not able to comprehend and make a deliberate decision to be baptized, and for the right reason. From looking at Acts 8:13,20, we see that baptism itself is not what saves a person from perishing. And since there is only one baptism (Ephesians 4), this decision shouldn't be taken from someone when they are an infant before they even decide to follow Christ and be born again.

What?
From Matthew 3:6, it appears that part of repenting is confessing one's sins. But repenting is not simply confessing one's sins, but turning away from them and going the other way.

It is not specified in scripture, to my knowledge, of whether one must repent of specific sins, or to repent of sinning altogether. However, the individual offense is of less importance than the great offense. For example, the individual offense for Adam was eating the fruit. What the great offense was, however, is that Adam disobeyed God. As far as what I know, what's really most important is to repent for the great offense, disobeying God. When we do not obey God, we are, in essence, denying His Lordship. We are saying, "God, you're not in charge; I'm in charge." This is why it doesn't really matter whether someone's sin is telling a little lie or murdering someone. Whether it is a big sin or small sin, doesn't much matter in determining the punishment. The wages of sin is death, regardless. Whether one has lied, murdered, or committed adultery, what they've really done was disobey God. And once we repent, we should not continue to disobey God. Because of this, one's intention must be to obey God. If one repents for their actions, but intends to continue to disobey God, the repentence is pretty much pointless, because their heart is still disobedient. In repenting, they should then be willing to change their heart permanently. What is more permanent than to death? This is where baptism comes in. It is, to my understanding, the laying to death of the old person (the sinful heart) and resurrection of the new person (the righteous, obedient heart)... this resurrection is the second birth... being born again. This is in accord with what Jesus did on the cross when He took on our sins and died, and then rose again justified and to have eternal life, having conquered death and paying for the sin that was upon Him (us). This is the essense of what baptism is. It is not the water that does the trick, it is the work of Christ on the cross and Him raising from the dead that accomplishes the baptism. Because of this, there is actually blood involved, although the person's own blood is not shed. Christ's blood was shed. And this is like a consummation, the entering into a blood covenant, where before they were two, and they rise up being one, having been joined together. To my understanding, communion is related to this as well, but includes the coming together (or consummation) of other believers with each other, as well as with Jesus Christ, being that they (we) are in common union with one another.
When?
In Ephesians 4, the Bible says there is one baptism. It is not a way to join a local church and is not required to be done when one switches from one church house (or pastor) to another or from one denomination to another. It is to be done when one is born again. Some say it is the means by which one is born again, while others say it is just symbolic that one has been born again, but again remember that it is the work of Christ on the cross and his burial and resurrection that accomplishes our salvation.
Although some ministries require people to complete a class (or series of classes) on baptism before they can be baptized, there is no such requirement in the scriptures.
Where?
Baptism is a spiritual thing. Geography is of less importance. Whether the water is clean or dirty is of less importance. Whether it is in a baptismal pool in a church owned building or a river or lake is of less importance. What is of importance is where one is spiritually.
(ethiopian eunuch - Acts 8:36-39)
Why?
In Matthew 4:17, Jesus said to repent because the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
One must be baptized in order to show their death and resurrection in affiliation with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. My understanding is that baptism is the visible image and defining point of what is spoken of in Ephesians 2:2-6 and 4:22-24; Colossians 3:5-10). Baptism shows the burial of person that you used to be, and the creation (or birth) of the new person that God has created you to be (a new creature / creation). This is what 2 Corinthians 5:17 is speaking about. As anything born, it is first a baby, and is not born fully mature. Neither does it remain a baby. This is why we are supposed to mature and grow up into Christ in all things, as spoken of in Ephesians 4:15. || Learn more... Christ is the head, and we, being members (body parts) of His body, must feed and help each other so that we can grow up and mature together. If somebody has a grown left leg and a baby right leg, they're not going to get too far. I'm saying this to point out that being baptized is is necessary like being born is necessary, but one still must grow afterwards. So if you don't come up out of the water being a mature Christian, don't worry. You are free from who/what you used to be, and free from the chains that you used to be slave to, but the new you must still grow and be strengthened. If you choose to go back to doing the sinful and harmful things you used to do, recognize that it is a new choice that you are making; it is not because those things still have any control over you. You don't have to do it anymore. It is like the slave escaping from the plantation and then choosing to go back to the plantation (for old time's sake) to pick more cotton because he's bored, and he knows how to pick cotton, and he misses his cotton picking friends. Then when his fingers start bleeding again, he remembers why he escaped in the first place, but... now he needs to break free from the plantation again. I'm not sure, but perhaps he can still get out of there again before his old master realizes that he's back, and finds himself enchained again. And this time those chains are going to be tighter and heavier, with new locks. And old master is going to keep a closer watch on him to try to make sure he doesn't escape again.

Even the children of Israel, almost decided to go back to being slaves in Egypt after God freed them, because they were not accustomed to being free, and eventually turned away from God to serve a golden calf idol (Exodus 15:24; 16:1-3; 17:3; 21:5-6; 32:1-35).
How?
(ethiopian eunuch - Acts 8:36-39)
in Jesus' name
sprinkling does not show a death and resurrection.

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