Covenanter Witness Vol. 53 - Rparchives.org

sweet"end."TheCovenanter JuniorMrs. Philip MartinTHE BOBCAT WEST CLUBGood afternoon, Juniors,Our contests at Grinnell are over andeveryone did fine. You have had theproof-texts for these last three questions, but let's just continue our studyeven if we aren't working for a contest.We have been studying about threeblessings or benefits which come in thislife to those who are effectually called.Wilbur, what are these? That's fine.JUSTIFICATION, ADOPTION, andSANCTIFICATION. Who gives usthese blessings, Sarah Lee? Yes, theHoly Spirit. Now two of these blessingsare acts (they happen once)and oneis a work (it continues the rest of ourearthly life). Which one is the workof God's Spirit, Carol? Yes, SANCTIFICATION. Now there are some blessingswhich come from Justification, Adoption, and Sanctification.Suppose we let Mrs. Effectual Callingbe the grandmother. She has three children, Justification, Adoption, and Sanctification. And these three children,too, have children which are Mrs. Effectual Calling's grandchildren. It's thesechildren of Justification, Adoption andSanctification that weabout today.want to talk(1) First of all, let us look up I John3:1 and I John 4:9, 10 and read themtogether. The fact that God justifies usin His sight and adopts us into Hisfamily shows His (what) for us, Virginia? Yes, it shows His love for us.God also sanctifies us. He does this inmany ways.Sometimes when Motherand Daddy want us to be good, theyjust need to speak to us. But sometimesspeaking doesn't help and they have tospank us or "chasten" us. God also hasto " chasten"His children. Ronnie, whydoes God chasten His children, in Hebrews 12:6? Yes, "Whom the Lordloveth."And so we can be sure thatGod loves us. We have an ASSURANCEOF GOD'S LOVE. That's the firstgrandchild.(2) Now let's find another grandchild in Romans 5:1. Also let us lookup I Thessalonians 5:23; Ephesians 2:14, 15. When we are justified in God'ssight what blessing does God give usin Romans 5:1, Mary?Yes, "PEACEwith God." This means that we are nomore condemned to hell. But the olderwe grow we find that many times wedo not have peace in our hearts. We areconstantly having to fight againstSatan and peace seems to be far away.But when we daily ask God to washaway our sins we know that God isfaithful and just to forgive us our sinsand we know in our hearts that we areat peace with God. We have PEACEOF CONSCIENCE.(3) The address of the third grandchild we want to meet this afternoonis Romans 14:17. This child was toldabout back in Isaiah's time in Isaiah65:14. What blessing is promised to theservants or children of God, John? Yes,"JOY of heart", "JOY in the HolyGhost."Now this doesn't mean gettingout on the sidewalk and jumping upand down, clapping our hands. Toooften some sadness comes along and wecan no longer jump and clap our hands.Sometimes the tears flow freely. But thejoy we are meeting today is way downdeep in our hearts. It is a blessing putthere and kept by God's Spirit, so thatno matter how strong the wind is andno matter how high the waves mayrise, yet we can rejoice in God. Stephenhad joy in his heart even though cruelmen were stoning him, because he sawJesus standing and waiting to receivehim. What a blessing it is to have JOYIN THE HOLY GHOST!(4) And now we come to a grandchild that just won't stop growing. Ifyou add 2 plus 2 plus 2 plus 2 you get8. At least that was the way whenI went to school. But if you multiply2 times 2 times 2 times 2 you wouldget 16. And this child grows not byaddition but by multiplication. In James4:6 we find the blessing which Godgives to those whom He has justifiedand adopted and whom He is sanctifying. What is it, Bruce? Yes, it isGRACE. And if we turn to I Peter 1:2and II Peter 1:2 we find that grace andpeace are multiplied. Grace is a blessingof God which we don't deserve. Whenwe sinduring our time of sanctificationthere is no reason for God to forgiveus except His Grace. And besides this,He gives us the grace to forgive otherswhen they have wronged us. He givesus the grace to not "answer back" ourteachers or our parents. He gives us thegrace to "keepmates make fun of uswhen our schoolfor going tochurch, or not saying bad words, or fornotdancing, smoking, playing cards andso on. God gives us an INCREASE OFGRACE.(5) These are wonderful grandchildren, but I want to introduce you toone more. And this is a child whichstays with us through thick and thin.and never leaves us till we die. Themeaning of her name is found in Philippians 1:6 and John 10:28, 29. Thedevil never likes to see any of his children adopted into God's family, and heis constantly trying to find ways ofkidnapping God's children. Oh, sometimes he draws us to the very edge ofGod's kingdom. But, oh, how we needto thank God for John 10:28, 29. "Theyshall never perish,neither shall anypluck them out of my hand." Of course,Jesus is speaking only of His childrenhere. He does not do this for everyone.Do make sure, children, that you arein God's family by answering His call,repenting of your sins and receivingJesus Christ into your hearts. In theseverses Jesus said, "shall NEVER perish."How is this idea expressed inPhilippians 1:6, Myrene? Yes, "until theday of Jesus Christ.'' Until Jesus comesto take your soul to be with Him. Thischild's name is PERSEVERANCETHEREIN TO THE END." Haven't wea lot of blessings that don't stop whenwe die, either? But we will talk moreof that the next time.And now for our proof-text, we willchoose Romans 8:28.This has been a long study but we'llask "W.S.C." to sum it all up for us."W.S.C.,""What are the benefits whichin this life do accompany or flow fromjustification, adoption, and sanctification?""The benefits which in this lifedo accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification, are,assurance of God's love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increaseof grace, and perseverance therein totheNATIONAL JUNIOR PROJECTSAs we begin another two years together, let us remember that we arelittle missionaries for the Lord JesusChrist. Let us remember our JuniorPledge to pray and read the Bible everyday. If I were writing the Junior Pledgeover again, I would be inclined to adda little to it and suggest that we memorize either a verse of Scripture a day ora passage a week. Would you like toknow what we are doing? We arememorizing the book of I John. OnSabbath afternoon we gathertogether,choose just how many verses we aregoing to memorize in the week, and then(Continued on page 93)August 11, 195489