Confessing Christ As we shall see, it is essential for one’s salvation to “confess Christ;” but what does it mean to “confess Christ?”  There are references which speak of a    specific time and action one is to make   before one is baptized.  Furthermore, there is an ongoing without-end confession that one is to make regarding one’s ongoing  relationship to Christ. Jesus speaks of confessing or acknowledging Him and denying or ignoring Him in Matthew 10:32-33.  He speaks with authority and you just know if you are one of His followers that you have to see things His way.  “Therefore whoever  CONFESSES (acknowledges)  Me before men, him I will also confess (acknowledge) before My Father who is in heaven.  But whoever denies (devalues) Me before men, him I will also deny (devalue) before My Father who is in heaven.”  It should be clear to all who will really love and obey Jesus that they MUST confess or acknowledge Jesus as being part of their life.  John the apostle writes in 1 John 4:15, “Whoever CONFESSES that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God.”  Again, the message from God is clear that the   confessor at the time of one’s acknowledgement of Christ does have an abiding (ongoing) relationship with God the Father. The confession is to be audible so it can be heard by both God and man.  Paul writes to the church in Romans 10:9-10 and reminds them and us that our mouth confession and our believing heart relate directly to our salvation.  “. . . that if you CONFESS with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth CONFESSION is made unto salvation.”  Now, we all know that there are those who cannot speak.  Yes, they can be saved.  The point for them and us is that our confession is to be active and not passive.  Most communicate their confession actively with their lips. However, we know that there are those who are active in confessing Christ with either sign language or the printed word.  This confession that  relates to us being saved and experiencing salvation has 1) a beginning point prior to one’s baptism (immersion) and 2) confession like salvation is to be ongoing and without end. There are those today who have tampered with God’s order.  Many have infants who obviously cannot CONFESS Christ, sprinkled, not immersed in what their church hierarchy defines as baptism.  Church hierarchies allegedly are supposed to help people to get closer to God.  However, by their doctrines and commands of men, they have led many to compromise the faith taught by God in His Holy Word.  The majority choose to substitute sprinkling for immersion and redefining baptism.  Are these improving on God’s word?  Are they helping God?  Did God make a mistake and church fathers had to help God out by changing baptism?  As an accommodation, some who teach the acceptability of sprinkling are ready to say that immersion, also, is okay.  Do you really think God sees mans command to sprinkle being as acceptable as His command to be immersed?  These, also, change the CONFESSION and now after they are so-called    baptized (sprinkled) somewhere around the age of twelve, they develop the doctrine of CONFIRMATION where they can CONFESS that what mom and dad did in having them sprinkled in their infancy was right and they now will CONFESS Christ. These things aught not to be for those who claim to love and obey Christ.  We IN Christ must help them.   We can help them not by being judgmental but by simply pointing to the rightness of God’s perfect and unifying word.  Many of these religious folks are sincere and believe they are okay with God.  We must honestly help them to see that we can be liars and that others, also, can be liars; but God and His word are always true (Rom. 3:4).  On Judgment Day it will not be my word or your word that will be the    standard.  It most certainly will be God’s perfect word (Jn. 12:48). Speaking of the Judgment, do you understand that on that day 100% of those   created in the image of God will CONFESS CHRIST?  They will acknowledge that He is, and that He is right and true and fair.  “. . . that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that EVERY TONGUE should CONFESS that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  (Philippians 2:10-11).  The acknowledgment of this fact on Judgment Day for the Christians will be joyful and a natural part of their being a child of God.  However, those who do not know God and do NOT obey the gospel of the Lord will confess the truth about the Lord but it will be too late.   Paul tells the evangelist, Timothy, to, “Fight the good fight of faith, laying hold of eternal life, to which you were also called and have CONFESSED the good CONFESSION in the presence of many witnesses.”  (1 Timothy 6:12) There is a point in time where confession is required, and it is just prior to one’s being immersed INTO Christ.  Consider what the evangelist, Phillip, told an Ethiopian in Acts 8:37, ‘Then Philip said, ‘If you believe with all your heart you may’ (be  immersed).  And the Ethiopian answered and said, ‘I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” ‘Faith, love, and obedience are in the Ethiopian’s response. Christian confession is a lifestyle which acknowledges the Lordship and power of Christ in ones life.  The power of Christ is evidenced by God and man in fruits or works.  Confessing Christ is no more of a chore for the faithful who love God than it is a chore to have a heart beat or breathe air or to drink water.  Are you confessing Christ in a way that pleases Him and honors Him who died for you?