The Justification Of Faith In Jesus by Apostle Michael Orokpo: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

The Central Role of Faith

Faith is not optional in the kingdom; it is the only currency of operation. Habakkuk 2:4 declares: "The just shall live by faith." This statement appears verbatim four times in scripture. Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, and Hebrews 10:38 all repeat it. This is the spirit's emphasis, reiterated over and over.

2 Corinthians 5:7: "We walk by faith, not by sight, not by sensory perception." In this kingdom, what is believed is superior to what is seen. A tumor is a fact. But the one who walks by faith refuses to allow that fact to become their ultimate reality. By faith, circumstances can be overridden. By faith, things that should not be present can be made to leave. And by faith, things that should be present can be commanded to arrive.

Faith is what brought salvation. Ephesians 2:8: by grace you are saved through faith. Grace avails salvation, but faith domesticates it. Faith is also what creates change in circumstances, sustains victorious living, and repels enemy attacks. Ephesians 6:16: take the shield of faith, with which you are able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked. Everything in the kingdom runs on faith.

The Faith Already Within Every Believer

All the faith required for a victorious life was already deposited at the point of salvation. There is no need to search for new faith. Romans 12:3: God has dealt to every man the measure of faith. Two things are revealed here:

• The faith required is present in full measure.
• It was given at the beginning of the walk with God.

Romans 10:16-17: faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. When the gospel was received, faith came with it. That is when the measure of faith was granted. Every subsequent message heard does not give new faith; it stirs and activates the faith already present.

Furthermore, the faith within every believer is not their own faith. Galatians 2:20: "The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." Paul lived by the faith of Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:13: "We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believe and therefore have I spoken; we also believe and therefore speak." The same faith that animated the apostles before Paul was at work in Paul.

2 Peter 1:1: Peter addressed those "who have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God." The faith Paul had was shared with the apostles before him, and the apostles declared that same faith was shared with the whole church. By implication, the faith every believer holds now is the same faith Jesus himself operated. The faith Jesus used to raise the dead. The faith Jesus used to multiply loaves. The faith Jesus used to rebuke the storm. The question then is: why are believers not doing what Jesus did? The answer is lack of understanding.

Believing In Him vs. Believing On Him

There are two distinct dimensions of operating faith that scripture uses interchangeably but carry different weight:

• Believing in him — This is trusting in his person, his essence, and his character. It is confidence in who Jesus is. Without this foundational trust, faith cannot function.

• Believing on him — This is reliance on the tokens he has given to deploy what his character has already made available.

Consider a practical illustration: a person needs land and is told that the FCT minister has the power to grant it. They learn that this minister is compassionate, generous, and faithful. That knowledge of character motivates them to wait at the door, to persist despite obstacles, and to present their case. That is believing in him. Then the minister gives them a letter to present to the relevant authority. Now the person's confidence shifts to that letter. They protect it, guard it, and present it boldly because it carries the authority of the minister. That is believing on him.

The minister's character justified the approach. The letter justified the demand. Both work together.

The Character of Jesus That Justifies Faith

1. Love and Compassion

   John 11:35: Jesus wept. At Lazarus's tomb, both sisters had doubted him. It was justifiable for him to walk away. But compassion would not let him. He could not leave Lazarus in the tomb, and he could not leave the unbelievers in their unbelief. So he acted.

   In Mark 1:40-42, the leper approached. In that day, lepers were required to cry "unclean" wherever they went. No one was supposed to touch them. Jesus had every right to keep his distance. But compassion moved him to stretch forth his hand and touch the one everyone else avoided.

   In John 8:1-11, the woman caught in adultery deserved judgment by the law. Jesus could have walked away. But compassion compelled him to find a way to save her. He dug into wisdom until a solution emerged.

   The faith of many believers lingers on because, somewhere deep within, they know God is loving. When everything is against them and everyone has turned their back, that knowledge keeps them holding on. If God was not compassionate, it would not make sense to depend on him in every circumstance.

2. Faithfulness

   Malachi 3:6: "I am the Lord, I change not." When Jesus says a thing, he stands by it even if it costs him his life. In Matthew 26:36-45, in Gethsemane, Jesus acknowledged that dying was not his personal will. The father could have released him. Yet the faithful nature would not let him back out. He had made a commitment, and he honored it to the point of death.

   In Matthew 4:1-11, Satan came with three temptations in the wilderness. These were temptations no man before him had resisted. But the faithful nature of Jesus would not allow compromise. Three times he rejected the offer.

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   When Jesus speaks to a situation, his integrity is invested. If what he declares does not come to pass, his name is compromised. That is why whatever he has spoken over a life, he is bound to fulfill it.

3. Authority

   No circumstance can defy Jesus. He has absolute authority. Faith becomes shaky when a problem is believed to be stronger than the one being trusted. The day a believer becomes fully convinced that he has absolute power, challenges will no longer require repeated declarations. Once is enough.

   Jesus demonstrated authority over sickness, Luke 13:16. He demonstrated authority over death, John 11. He demonstrated authority over circumstances, John 6:1-11; he multiplied five loaves and two fish. He turned water to wine at John 2:1-11. He cast out demons in Mark 5:1-20. He rebuked the storm in Mark 4:35-41. There is nowhere a challenge can come from that is outside his jurisdiction. Whatever approaches from the body, from nature, from Satan — he addresses it all.

4. Mercy

   While love draws Jesus toward a person to intervene, mercy takes care of everything that should have stopped him from reaching them. James 2:13: mercy prevails over judgment.

   Every person Jesus healed in the New Testament was a sinner. Even sin could not stop him from intervening. That is the operation of mercy. God does not reach people because of their performance; he reaches them through reliance on the finished work of Christ. There is no reason powerful enough to disqualify a person today from receiving what Christ has made available.

The Tokens of Faith

Once a believer knows the character of Jesus and trusts in him, Jesus gives tokens through which that faith is deployed. These are the channels that release what faith in him has already captured:

• The Word — When the word is declared, the provisions that faith in Jesus has captured are released. Psalm 107:20: "He sent his word and healed them and delivered them from all their destructions." The centurion in Matthew 8:8 understood this: "Just send the word." Jesus healed even the paralytic by his word. His physical presence was never the variable; the word was.

  Isaiah 53:5 and 1 Peter 2:24 both declare that by his stripes believers are healed. This is not a hope; it is a verdict. When a verdict is declared, no authority can legally defy it. The evidence of healing is not the absence of a symptom. The evidence of healing is the presence of the word. When a believer stands on the word, the symptom will vanish.

• The Name of Jesus — Acts 4:12: there is no other name given under heaven by which men must be saved. Mark 16:17: in my name cast out devils, heal the sick, take up serpents, drink deadly things without harm. John 14:13-14: whatsoever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the father may be glorified in the son. Every time his name is used, his integrity is on the line. He has invested himself in that name.

• The Anointing — Isaiah 10:27: the yoke is broken because of the anointing. Anywhere the anointing moves, yokes break. Yielding to the anointing is how it enters. When the name is heard, the response is amen. When the word is heard, the response is action. When the anointing moves, the response is yieldedness. Through these responses, what has been released is received.

The problem for many believers is not a lack of faith. It is that they neglect the tokens Jesus gave and instead depend on their own tokens: what they see, what they feel. He did not say when you feel it, you have it. He said in the name of Jesus you have it. He said by the word you have it. Respond to what he has released, and receive what faith has already captured.