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Answers for Weapons of Spiritual Warfare: Humility, The Spirit Of A Son; Questions

Weapons of Spiritual Warfare: Humility, The Spirit Of A Son
Dr. Mary Craig

Answers compiled by Wanda B. largely based on the previous lesson by Dr. Mary Craig. Hear complete teaching at www.mcmtffr.org

Question 1. Jesus, conscious of the power of the Spirit within, subordinated Himself as Son to Father. He lived in relationship. Look up Colossians 2:9; John 5:19, 20; John 8:28; John 5:30; John 8:50; John 5:31; John 7:28; John 8:42; John 14:10; John 7:16.
Identify 7 examples of Jesus’ humility as He lived in voluntary subordination to the Father.
***Student Answer****
(1) He did nothing on His own initiative but only what He saw the Father do. (2) He never sought His own will and so never asserted His will against or counter to the will of His Father. He honored His Father. (3) Jesus never sought His own glory (4) and He refused glory from men. (5) He didn’t come here of Himself, but was sent by the Father. (6) He didn’t even speak from out of His own “self,” but only what the Father gave Him to say. (7) Even His teaching was not His, but of Him that sent Him.

Col 2:9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;
Joh 5:19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, (1) the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.
Joh 5:20 (1)For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.
Joh 8:28 Then Jesus said to them, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that (1) I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.
Joh 5:30 I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because
(2) I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.
Joh 6:38 For
(2) I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
Joh 8:50 And
(3) I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges.
Joh 5:41
(4)"I do not receive honor from men…”
Joh 7:28 Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, "You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and
(5) I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know.
Joh 8:42 Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God;
(5) nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.
Joh 14:10 Do you not believe that
(6)I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.
Joh 7:16 Jesus answered them and said,
(7)"My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.

 

Question 2. The Bible tells us that we who are believers in Jesus Christ are being conformed to His image.
List three areas we learn from Christ about conforming to His nature. (Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 5:18; Philippians 3:8)
***Student Answer****
(1) Acknowledgment that self has nothing of value to assert.
Gal 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
(2) Surrender to be empty vessels filled with the Holy Spirit.
Eph 5:18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,
(3) Refuting any and every claim of self to be or do anything.

Php 3:8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.


Question 3. Jesus humbled Himself…therefore God highly exalted Him (Philippians 2:8, 9). Look up Matthew 23:12; James 4:6-10.
What do these passages tell us about the benefits of humility?
***Student Answer****
(1) We are to humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord, and then He shall lift us up.
(2) God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble, and thus
(3) we are to submit to God, resist the devil, and draw near to God.
(4) We are to cleanse our hands, purify our hearts and be single-minded.

Php 2:8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
Php 2:9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,

Mat 23:12 And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and (1) he who humbles himself will be exalted
.
Jas 4:6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: (2)"GOD RESISTS THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE."
Jas 4:7 (3)Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Jas 4:8 (4) Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Jas 4:9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
Jas 4:10 (1) Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

Charles Spurgeon has stated: "Growing Christians think themselves nothing; full-grown Christians know that they are less than nothing…The more grace, the more the need of grace is felt. He may boast of his grace who has none, he may talk much of his grace who has little; but he who is rich in grace cries out for more, and forgets that which is behind."
Discuss.
***Student Answer****
Spurgeon reflected on humility. He gave an allegory of corn growing in the field. While green, it stands with head erect, but when mature, the ripened ear hangs its head graciously. Also, with fruit trees, branches bow as the fruit ripens providing access to food and seed for planting. To see Jesus in His humility is to see the death sentence to our natural souls. To see all our life in Christ, He must increase, and we must decrease.

Joh 12:24 Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.
Joh 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease.

Class Discussion. When we are new believers, we think we are really doing something. Further along we become more and more aware of how we need grace, of how we are offensive to a holy God. Yet, He loves us and sanctifies us instead of casting us away. That is why this line by Charles Spurgeon. We may talk about God’s grace but mature Christians know we live by grace and depend on Him for our next breath. We really need the grace of God and the Holy Spirit because there is very little left of us as we mature--and finally none of us when we die.
Die to self and repent. As we are more and more convicted of sin we will be more and more repentant. If we turn to God, He does forgive us. The more mature the Christian the more consciousness of sin we have. When we are new Christians, we take pride in ourselves.


Question 4. In the New Covenant we see the glory of the ministration of the Spirit. In the New Covenant the Spirit of God’s Son is given into the heart of the believer. All is by the Spirit, who works in the believer the spirit of a son.
Review and summarize what Paul writes in Romans 8:12-17.
***Student Answer****
As the children of God we can neglect and grieve the Holy Spirit or we can trust and yield to Him. We are to honor Him by expecting and accepting all that He desires to do in us. True believers who have received the spirit of a son are not under bondage to live according to the sinful nature and die, but are led by the Holy Spirit to put away the deeds of the sinful nature and live. They do not receive a spirit of slavery resulting in fear, but a Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out Abba Father. The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are God’s children, His heirs and joint heirs with Christ, if we suffer with Christ in order that we may be glorified together.

Heirs with Christ
Rom 8:12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.
Rom 8:13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Rom 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
Rom 8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father."
Rom 8:16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
Rom 8:17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

 

Question 5. List five characteristics or names of the Holy Spirit.
***Student Answer****
The Holy Spirit is:
(1) The great promise of the New Covenant.
(2) God’s gift proceeding from the Father and the Son.
(3) The teacher dwelling in the believer’s heart.
(4) The Spirit of faith, enabling belief.
(5) The Spirit of grace and supplications, suppling the power for obedience and fellowship with God.


How does He transform a person?
***Student Answer****
The Holy Spirit is the One who transforms the heart of rebellion into the spirit of a son. The transition takes place by a death. As God raised Jesus so also God redeems believers and frees them to make them partakers of Christ’s resurrection life. God works all. Sin demanded Blood, the Blood of Jesus, surety of the New Covenant. Jesus mediated this covenant to obtain for the believer peace with God, purity from sin, and power over every enemy of God. In the New Covenant the outpouring of the Blood prepares the way for the outpouring of the Spirit, who ministers the Blood in power. The Blood was shed for our redemption and sprinkled to cleanse the heart from an evil conscience.
The conscience cleansed from dead works is released from the tormentors. When we forgive, God forgives us as well. In Christ we die to sin, the Law, self.

To what do we die?
***Student Answer****
In Christ we die to sin, to the Law, and to the “self.” All self effort, self-righteousness, self-aggrandizement, etc. must die.

To what and to whom do we live?
***Student Answer****
The soul will surely have eternal life whose faith and trust are in Christ alone.

For what purpose?
***Student Answer****
God said “I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them. They shall be My people, and I will be their God”
Hebrews 13:20 21, Hebrews 9:14, 10:22; Rev. 1:5; Ezekiel 37:23, 26.

Heb 13:20 Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
Heb 13:21 make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Heb 9:14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Heb 10:22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Rev 1:5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood,
Eze 37:23 They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. Then they shall be My people, and I will be their God.
Eze 37:26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore.

 

Question 6. How does the Holy Spirit come to the believer?
***Student Answer****He is sent by the Father and the Son.
Joh 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
What do the following verses tell us about Jesus?
***Student Answer****
The spirit of a son comes to the believer as Jesus mediates the New Covenant. (Hebrews 8:6, 9:15, 12:24); is surety for it (Hebrews 7:22); is its messenger (Malachi 3:1); and is Himself called a covenant (Isaiah 42:6, 49:8)..

Describe the struggle
***Student Answer****
Jesus came to establish and proclaim, to guarantee and safeguard the terms of the New Covenant. Christ is all. With a sense of sin comes a longing for liberty in the believer. Then, in the struggle to surrender, all hope of pleasing God dies as the Holy Spirit reveals the iniquity of the human heart. Only as the faith of Jesus interceding as our High Priest comes before the Father, as Jesus stands in advocacy in our behalf, do we find Jesus proving His dominion, moving in divine power, undertaking all that God requires and all that we need. The Holy Spirit works in the heart, Spirit to spirit, deepening the consciousness of Christ’s righteousness as our only plea. To Jesus goes all the glory and praise as even our faith proves finite and limited before an infinitely holy God whose love is unlimited.

Heb 8:6 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.
Heb 9:15 And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
Heb 12:24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.
Heb 7:22 by so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant.
Mal 3:1 "Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming," Says the LORD of hosts.
Isa 42:6 "I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness, And will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, As a light to the Gentiles,
Isa 49:8 Thus says the LORD: "In an acceptable time I have heard You, And in the day of salvation I have helped You; I will preserve You and give You As a covenant to the people, To restore the earth, To cause them to inherit the desolate heritages;

 

Question 7. Jesus transmits from God to us the gifts and powers of the heavenly sphere. Trusting Jesus becomes the believer’s way of life.
Identify three assurances we can embrace given in the teaching.
***Student Answer****
(1) The Love of God, an infinite love, a covenant love, a pure love, a holy love, a bonded love.
(2) The sufficiency of Christ’s redemption, based upon His finished work.
(3) The Holy Spirit dwelling in the heart as Lord.
What Christ has undertaken He will perform. God is faithful, and He also will bring it to pass. God gives the grace that we might obey through faith working by love.

 

Question 8. What is the place of obedience in the New Covenant compared with the Old Covenant relationship?
***Student Answer****
The spirit of a son (1) delights to obey and keep the commandments of God. (2) understands that in everything the surety of the New Covenant gives power to maintain the obedience, that such obedience is possible. (3) says with Jesus, "I have come to do Your will, O God." (4) hears God saying, "I will be Your God, and you will be My son." (5) understands success to be obedience to the command of God, not out of slavish fear or slavish bondage, but out of loving relationship, out of kinship.(see note below)This obedience is by faith which works by love. In its very nature, it is blessedness and joy. It is a delight, a "may," not a "must." As the Old Covenant taught the absolute necessity of obedience for a life of blessing and God’s favor, so it also taught the failure of man to obey and keep it.
Note: It is not that I get to do whatever because God loves me. We are to have a healthy fear of the Lord, submitting in reverence and awe. Paul said in Romans, consider the goodness and severity of God. Jesus said, if you love me keep my commandments. To love Jesus is to have supreme loyalty and attachment to Him—fidelity. The Lord is awesome—with one word or event He can change everything. We recognize who God is, He is holiness.


How does this obedience come?
***Student Answer****
This obedience comes by grace (1 Peter 1:2); The spirit of a son trusts in the grace of God. (1 Corinthians 15:10); And we can be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 2:1).

1Pe 1:2 elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.
1Co 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
God's grace is not in vain
2Ti 2:1 You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

 

Question 9. The spirit of a son stewards the Word of God, the grace of God, the blessings of God, the love of God. Look up John 17:17, 19; Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 1 Thessalonians 3.13.
What do these verses say about the believer’s desires related to stewardship, honoring God, and holiness?
***Student Answer****
The spirit of a son desires:
(1) To have, maintain and express the thoughts and intents of a holy heart (John 17:17, 19);
(2) To glorify and honor Christ as it is indwelt and filled by the Holy Spirit and live in personal fellowship with the Father, honor Him, and honor the Holy Spirit who works all within (1 Corinthians 1:2; Romans 1:7);
(3) Holiness because the Spirit of holiness has been given to bring holiness. (1 Thessalonians 3.13).

Stewardship of the spiritual is more responsibility than of the physical. God looks at how faithful we are in little things. We are to manage in the physical and spiritual also by His supplied grace.

Joh 17:17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
Joh 17:19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.

Rom 1:7 To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1Co 1:2 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:
1Th 3:13 so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.

Question 10. If we desire to embrace and enter into the spirit of a son, trusting Jesus Christ alone for life in Him,
What might we pray?
***Student Answer****
Humbly ask God to continually give you by His Holy Spirit grace to obey through faith working by love. Ask God to give you the vision of the heavenly life of wholehearted love/loyalty and obedience in Christ. Ask God to reveal all that the Father desires you to be and all that He has provided for your being. And then offer yourself to God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, without reservation, to be loved, to be sanctified, to be made whole, to be made holy unto the Lord. Believe for a vision of the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Cease striving in your own strength, serving in bondage. Surrender to Christ anew, confessing and giving up all that is of self and sin, of iniquity and soulish. Accept and be willing to experience what grace will do by the Holy Spirit, whatever the cost to the old. Let the Holy Spirit love you.

Look up Luke 1:68-75.
What reasons are given for blessing God?
***Student Answer****
See reasons for blessing God bolded in scriptures below. (Zacharias’ song blesses God and traces the advent of Jesus our Lord back to the early covenant of God with the fathers and looks to the effect of the advent to the end of our days.)

Luk 1:68 "Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited and redeemed His people,
Luk 1:69 And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of His servant David,
Luk 1:70 As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, Who have been since the world began,
Luk 1:71 That we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us,
Luk 1:72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant,
Luk 1:73 The oath which He swore to our father Abraham:
Luk 1:74 To grant us that we, Being delivered from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear,
Luk 1:75 In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life



Discuss the importance of serving God “without fear.”
***Student Answer****
We are delivered from our enemies to serve God without fear in holiness and righteousness. He promises to protect us and give us eternal life.
It is not our righteousness and holiness as “If it’s going to be, it’s up to me.” But by His grace and wisdom, we are to serve in obedience and leave the results up to the Lord—we are to trust and obey.

Mat 10:28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Luk 12:32 "Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Luk 1:68 "Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited and redeemed His people,
Luk 1:69 And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of His servant David,
Luk 1:70 As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, Who have been since the world began,
Luk 1:71 That we should be saved from our enemies And from the hand of all who hate us,
Luk 1:72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers And to remember His holy covenant,
Luk 1:73 The oath which He swore to our father Abraham:
Luk 1:74 To grant us that we, Being delivered from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear,
Luk 1:75 In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.

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