Repentance...Preparation For Baptism

Repentance "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; as it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face which shall prepare thy way before thee. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins." (Mark 1:1-4)
Soon after salvation should come water baptism. Once we understand the reason for baptism we should make preparation for it.
Now, in olden days, when a king and eastern monarch would get ready to go somewhere, they didn't want him to be inconvenienced at all. What they would do would be to prepare a road...a special road for him. They would fill in the low places. They would level off the high places. They would straighten out the crooked places, so this eastern monarch would just have an easy journey. John says, "We had better prepare like that for the coming of the Lord." He says that our Lord is going to come like that to the deserts and wilderness of our lives. What we need to do is make a road for royalty; we need to prepare the way of the Lord. We need to have a bulldozer that will straighten things out and make things ready for the coming of the Lord. That bulldozer is repentance.
Repentance—what does it do? It brings down mountains of pride. What does repentance do? It fills up valleys of failure. What does repentance do? It straightens out the crooked places of deceit. It makes a road and that road is the road through which the Lord comes into the wilderness and the parched desert of our lives to bring His reviving power. He comes on the royal road of repentance. John said that baptism is the outward sign that you have repented. If you haven't repented, then you've got no business being baptized. You see, the preparation for baptism is repentance. Repentance is not incidental; it is fundamental.
John preached repentance. What did Jesus preach? Jesus began His public ministry shortly after this. Verse 14: "Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God." (Mark 1:14) Well, you want to know what Jesus preached when He preached the good news of the Kingdom? "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel." (Mark 1:15) That's it, folks—repentance and faith. "Repent ye, and believe the gospel." Jesus said, in Luke 13:3: "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." Repent or perish. What is repentance, anyway? The Greek word repentance is the word metanoia; it literally means, "to change your mind." It is a turning around; it is a change of mind.
Repentance involves:
1.  A conviction of sin
2.  A confession of sin
3.  A contrition (Godly sorrow) for sin
4.  A conversion from sin
When the Bible says faith, it infers repentance. And, when it says repentance, it infers faith. When you turn from sin, you turn to God. When you turn to God, you turn from sin. That's the reason that repentance and faith are heads and tails of the same coin. That is the preparation for baptism.