Now he defines how to repent (“strip yourselves of all uncleanness”), followed by sincere baptism (he warns against being “baptized unworthily”) and then pursuing a righteous life. He specifies “not partak[ing] of the sacrament of Christ unworthily.” (See commentary accompanying 3 Nephi 18:26–29.) Baptism and the sacrament connect believers with the powers of heaven and therefore must be engaged in worthily by those who are sincerely repentant. If we do so, then these ordinances will lead us to eternal life with Yahweh. If we have not repented, they will do us no good, and we will be “cast out.” Although Yahweh recognizes the ordinance, it is only an external witness to the internal change in our souls. Neither the baptism nor our renewal of that covenant in the sacrament can change us. Only repentance does that, confirmed by these ordinances, and operationalizing the atonement in our behalf.