CONFESSING THE LORD JESUS BEFORE MEN
Believers also need another kind of confession, not only the confession of sins but the confession of the Lord. They have to confess the Lord Jesus before men. From now on you must confess, you must tell others, that you belong to the Lord. Now you have become a Christian, a believer. Confess the name of the Lord Jesus, and confess before men that Jesus is the Lord and your Savior. Romans 10:9 says, “That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” We confess Jesus as the Lord with our mouth.
It is very strange that throughout the whole earth—in the East and in the West, in Europe and in Asia—people have a feeling of shame when confessing Christ. If someone says, “Now I believe Christ; I confess Jesus is Lord,” there is to some degree the feeling of shame. It is also very strange that when people follow Confucius and tell others about it, they have a feeling not of shame but of boldness. This sin of shame comes from the devil, Satan. We have to fight the battle by the grace and mercy of God to overcome this feeling of shame. Sometimes in the past I told Satan, “Satan if you keep giving me this feeling of shame, I will shout my confession.” The devil is frightened by this, and he runs away.
The proper believing in the Lord Jesus includes the step of telling people that from this day you are no more an unbeliever. From today you are a believer in Jesus. You have received Jesus as your Savior and as your Lord. From this day you confess that He is the Lord and that you belong to Him. After you believe in the Lord Jesus, you need to go back to tell your parents, relatives, friends, and neighbors and make a thorough confession of Christ. Young students, after you believe in Christ, you should go to your schoolmates to tell them, “Now I am different. Yesterday I was without Christ, but today Christ is within me.”
There is a need for a real repentance and two different kinds of confessions: the confession of sins before God and the confession of Jesus Christ as Lord before men. You should not try to be a hidden Christian, a secret Christian, or a nice Christian within but with no appearance without. Learn to be released by the confession of Christ before men. In China I saw certain brothers do something very interesting. You may say that this was too much, but if you were in that environment, you would realize that there was the need for it. After they were saved, some brothers put a label on their clothing that said, “I am a Christian today.” In many cases that helped them. Others would say, “Do not go to him for certain matters, because he is a Christian. Do not try to convince him, because he is a Christian. Do not ask him to play certain games or go to the movies with you, because he is a Christian.” In order to be a living, prevailing, powerful believer, you have to make a public confession of Christ before people.
BEING BAPTIZED
You also have to be baptized. To be baptized means to be buried. After you believe in the Lord Jesus, right away you have to be buried, because you realize that you are so sinful, good for nothing but death. You realize that you have been crucified with Christ on the cross, so you are dead already. You have been dead for two thousand years. Since you realize that you are dead, you must be willing for the church to give you a funeral, to bury you. This is very necessary.
From my youth I was raised in a semi-Christian home. I heard many stories of the gospel, and I was educated and brought up in a Christian school. However, it was not until I was nineteen years old that I was saved. Before that day I knew many things about Christianity. I knew almost all the stories about Jesus in the four Gospels. We were taught these things in the Sunday Schools. Sometimes we would even make jokes about those stories. However, when I was nineteen years old, I experienced a real salvation. On that day I realized that I was sinful and that with me there was no good thing. Within me, every bit is evil. I did not like myself; I hated myself. I realized that this man is good for nothing and that he must truly be buried.
As a member of a so-called church, however, I already had been baptized by sprinkling. At that time I had not repented, and I had not believed or prayed. I had not realized that I was a sinner, and I had not truly known that Christ was my Savior. I only knew something about Christ. Nevertheless, the pastor told me I had to be sprinkled. He told the congregation, “This young man is a member of a Christian family, with a very nice mother and sister. Therefore, we have to sprinkle him.” This kind of sprinkling did not mean anything. Later when I was saved, I realized that I was a dead person, good for nothing, and that I had to be buried. I was anxious to be buried, so I went to some Christians who loved the Lord. I asked them, “Is it right that I have to be baptized? I have already been sprinkled.” They told me it was one hundred percent right for me to be baptized. I said, “Then we had better do it right away. Bury me!” After you believe in the Lord Jesus, if you seek the Lord within you, there will be the desire to be baptized, to be buried.
In a certain place a small native boy became a member of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church did not allow people to eat meat on Friday, but they allowed people to eat fish. One Friday the little boy went out to hunt, brought home a deer, and began to cook it. While it was cooking, a priest passed the house and smelled the meat, so he came to the door and scolded him. That little boy had been given the name of Johnny. He said, “A few years ago I was not named Johnny. I had a native name, but one day you brought me to your church and sprinkled me. From that time you told me, ‘That is no longer your name; now you are Johnny.’ This morning I went out and tried to catch fish. I could not catch any, but I took a deer, sprinkled it, and said, ‘You are no longer a deer; you are now a fish.’ I believed what you told me, so why do you not believe what I am telling you?” We do not baptize people in this false way, to put some water on them and change their name. Rather, to be baptized means that you realize that you are dead with Christ and in Christ. Now you are allowing the church to bury you by putting you into the water. Friends, after you believe in Christ, you need to be baptized. You cannot baptize yourself; you must be baptized.
(Preaching the Gospel in the Way of Life, Chapter 6, by Witness Lee)
