Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
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From a testimony by Barbara Clark
“. . . that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus . . .”
Romans 10:9
Those who are born of God are not born of the will of the flesh, or born of the will of man (Jn. 1:13). We can all agree on that. But there is more to the truth than that, for nothing that is done in God’s kingdom is of the will of man or the will of the flesh. This includes our confession of Christ. When men, in themselves, confessed that they believed in Jesus, he did not trust them (Jn. 2:23-25). Confessing Christ is not possible to man, unless the holy Ghost is actually the one making the confession. This is why Paul wrote, “No man can say that Jesus is Lord except by the holy Ghost” (1Cor. 12:3).
“It is the Spirit that bears witness”, wrote the apostle John (1Jn. 5:6b). “The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit”, wrote Paul (Rom. 8:16). “By this you know the Spirit of God,” wrote John again, “Every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ has come in flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not of God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming, and now, already, it is in the world” (1Jn. 4:2-3).
With such statements, these two men of God were trying to remind us that Jesus still does not trust the confession of men without the Spirit. The holy Ghost is the only legitimate confessor, and until it confesses Christ through you, you have not confessed Christ at all.