Well, hello, children. Welcome to Spring Branch Academy, where we are seeking to instill wisdom and inspire worship in every student to the glory of God. Do you know what we are saved from if we believe in Jesus? We're saved from God's wrath, aren't we? Both now and in eternity, from our addictions to sin and from our punishment in hell. And if we believe in Jesus, it's because we are saved because of the great exchange. He takes our sin and we get his righteousness. He is reckoned as if he was a sinner and is numbered among the transgressors, among the rebels. And we are numbered among the righteous as if we have never sinned. That's because Jesus was punished in our place. Well, salvation starts with being reckoned righteous, being justified. Then we begin to grow and the Holy Spirit transforms us. That's called sanctified. And then someday when we're resurrected or when Jesus comes back, we are glorified. These three are the stages of salvation. Justification, sanctification, glorification. Say it with me, please. Justification, sanctification, glorification. Justification is when we are saved from the penalty of sin. Sanctification involves being saved from the power of sin. And glorification is when we are finally saved from the presence of sin. We don't have any more sin left in us. Our body is made spiritual in Christ. And so this is a great work that God does outside of us, in our status, being reckoned righteous, inside of us, making us alive, and then changing us, and then someday all of it together and being glorified. Well, in logic, we've been learning about formal logic, deductive logic, and also inductive logic, We've looked at some fallacies. Today we're looking at moral logic or moral reasoning. Moral logic can be taught from the Bible. How does God want us to think about doing what is right? Doing what is right, children, is always based on what is true. Righteousness and lack of truth opposites and so the Bible says love rejoices in what is true and it does not rejoice in unrighteousness. So here's how we say it, what is right conforms to what is true and what is true corresponds to reality. As God defines reality we need his word to help us Again, what is right conforms to what is true, and what is true corresponds to reality as God defines reality. An example of that would be the Shema in the Old Testament. Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one. That's true. There's only one God. If you're a believer, he's your God. The result is, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. Well, why should I love God with all my being? Because there is only one God and he's my God. Just like a man should love his wife with his whole heart and not any other woman because he has one wife. Ah, we have one God. There's only one true and living God. That's why loving God is the greatest commandment and loving him with all my being is right. It conforms to what is true. In our scripture memory, we're in the book of Romans today. And Paul said, the great apostle, for I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, Romans 1 16. Being ashamed is being embarrassed. We get embarrassed about things that are lacking, that aren't good. But the gospel is powerful. It saves people. It's what produces the salvation we just talked about. And so Paul was proud of the gospel because of what God, good news, what God's good news does. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. And that includes you, children, Everyone who believes if you believe in Jesus, then you too will be saved Romans 3 23 tells us of our problem for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God Again for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God The word fall short literally means lack That's why we need glorification to be glorified, to receive glory. We lack it. Romans 6.23 tells us of the two options. The wages of sin is death. That's what'll happen if you die without Jesus. but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. So you can either earn what sin deserves, eternal death, for the wages of sin is death, or through Jesus, you can receive the free gift of eternal life. I like to say, sometimes when I preach this passage, I like to say, and where is salvation or eternal life found? in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nowhere else but in that person. You must go to him to have eternal life. You know, one of the conversations Jesus had with his disciples provoked them to say, increase our faith And maybe you have felt that too sometimes. You're afraid of certain things or you're doubting, and so you know that your faith is small or lacking, and you say, oh God, increase my faith. It's interesting, Jesus directed his disciples away from the size of their faith to the size of their God. It doesn't matter, ultimately, if my faith is big or small. The results are actually dependent on the size of God. Even a mustard seed of faith, which is really, really small, can move a mountain or command a mulberry tree to be uprooted and thrown into the sea. And so take heart, children. You may be a child and your faith may be small, but it's all that's needed. It's because God is faithful and God is strong. He can accomplish salvation for us. The other thing Jesus corrected them on was that sometimes when we obey God, we may think that he should thank us, as if we did him a favor. Actually, obedience is what's required of us. If we don't obey, we owe him a debt. And that's why the wages of sin is death. It sinks us down to hell. And so when we obey, after becoming a believer, we should always say, I am an unworthy servant. I don't deserve to be a Christian. I sinned, but God in his great favor forgave me for Christ's sake. So I should say I'm an unworthy servant. I only did what I was told to do. I didn't do extra. I just did what God commanded me to do. That's how Jesus says we should think when we obey our God. And so keep that in mind. We owe him. God does not owe us. Salvation is a gift. In math, we're looking at regular polygons today. A regular polygon is a polygon is little line segments connected end-to-end. So it's like head-to-toe, head-to-toe, head-to-toe, and you make a straight little line and then you connect it to another straight little line, kind of like when you do connect the dots and you draw those little pictures. Regular polygons is when all the sides are the same length and all the angles are the same length, are the same measure. And so an equilateral triangle, a square, which is equilateral, equiangular, quadrilateral, that's a mouthful. And then a pentagon, you've probably seen that. A hexagon is like the head of a bolt. An octagon, well, that's a stop sign, isn't it? Well, these are the ones that I would like you to know. Triangle, which is three sides, a square, four sides, pentagon is five sides, hexagon is six sides, and an octagon is eight sides. Maybe the easiest multiples are the ones we have today, the multiples of 10. 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, and 120. In biology, we actually have two main categories that have been brought together by modern biology. If you were to go back in the 1800s, you would have people studying zoology and people studying botany. Then around 1900 they were brought together when people started learning about genes and what was in the cell. These words are still used, so I want you to know them. Botany refers to the study of plants. Zoology refers to the study of animals. Another distinction in biology is anatomy, which is the study of structure, and physiology, which is the study of function. So, if I were to do an anatomy study of your face, I would say you have a nose, and you have ears, and your head is a certain shape. I see a skull, there's structure. But then if I were to ask of physiology, how does it function? How does your face function? How does your head function? We might start talking about about the function of your ears picking up sound and the functions going on in your cells and how blood is being pumped and nutrients are given. Maybe talk about those kind of functioning things and what does this structure do? How does it function? Now I'm not a biologist. I think I'm telling right. But if you meet a biologist and they tell you something different than that or something more precise, you thank God that you have run across a biologist. The bonus here is cytology and histology. Cytology is the study of cells and histology is the study of tissues, which is made up of cells. Well, in history, we're learning about the missionaries. Remember those three missionaries from America? Jonathan Edwards, David Brainerd, Adoniram Judson. And do you remember where they went? Edwards to Western Massachusetts in Stockbridge. Brainerd to New Jersey to the Delaware Indians, and Adonai R. Judson all the way across the world to Burma, especially the Karens, the Karen people. Well, we also learned about four missionaries from Great Britain, William Carey, who went to India, and David Livingston, who opened up the middle of Africa for Europeans. And John G. Payton in the South Seas at New Hebrides. And I forget the last one. I had it just in mind. Hmm. Well, you remember what it was, what that name is, don't you? It was Hudson Taylor who went to China. Today we're learning about three British leaders back in Great Britain who did different things. William Wilberforce, who reformed the slave trade and the manners and helped to reform the manners in England. In other words, he wanted people to be genuinely born again. And then Charles Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers. George Mueller, who ran an orphanage, not primarily for the good of children, though he did for their spiritual good and bodily good, but primarily to demonstrate the glory of God in his faithfulness in answering prayer. He was concerned that Christians were relying too much on their own efforts to So he's very much like Hudson Taylor. In fact, both men were faith missionaries and they looked to God to support their needs through prayer. And George Mueller was, I think, the greatest supporter for Hudson Taylor in his missions to China. then behind all these are some monarchs. And so I want you to learn about the kings and the queens of England so that you would at least have some background framing in the political realm for Great Britain. Great Britain The providence of God was used mightily in the 1800s to spread the gospel because their empire went all around the globe. I'm not justifying colonialism or imperial conquest, having an empire. I don't favor that. The Bible talks about adding fields to fields as a bad thing. And so gaining all that ground is something that God did not look upon with favor in the Old Testament. And so we were given land and to be content with it. Well, God used it though, didn't he? Because that was places where the gospel could go. And so we have to recognize just like Joseph being sent to Egypt through slavery, led to the people being fed. And just like Jesus being falsely accused and put on a cross led to our salvation, God uses things that are not good to spread his gospel. So keep that in mind when I teach you about the kings and the queens of England. I'm not saying England did everything right. I'm not saying America has done everything right. And I'm definitely not saying I've done everything right. So here are the kings and the queens. You have William III and Mary II. As you enter the 1700s, often they're called William and Mary. And Queen Anne is the last of the Stuart monarchs. She had no heir to the throne, a natural offspring. And so they actually brought in a German-speaking king, George I. It is said that he didn't speak English. Apparently, he did learn and did speak some English, but I can imagine it probably sounded very German, with a German accent. George II was the king when Handel wrote his Messiah, and seems to be a story about him standing up when the Hallelujah Chorus was sung. It's probably a story, but it makes a good point. earthly king should stand before the heavenly King Jesus. George III is the longest reigning king of England, and he was the king when America gained its independence. That's the King George that you often hear about in American history. George IV was a very unpopular king. He overspent and kind of indulged his flesh. And so he's not a very respectable man. And his brother, William IV, was better, but still immoral, but at least toned down the opulence of spending. And then he had no heir, and so the throne went to his niece, 18-year-old Queen Victoria, who had a very long reign from 1837 to 1901. And that's the Victorian England that people talk about. And that culture was Christianized largely through the evangelicals in the revivals coming out of the 1700s, but mainly the 1800s. People like William Wilberforce were trying to push the gospel, promote the gospel and culture, And it had a good result. The culture actually was Christianized. And so God be praised for the work of faithful servants like Wilberforce, faithful preachers like Spurgeon, faithful servants like George Mueller, who desired to see God glorified in their day. May that happen now in our day, too. In our country and around the world, we need men and women who would speak for Jesus in their setting when they're called upon. And so, God grant you to be one of those faithful servants of Christ too, children. Here's your timeline. Two revolutions, one freeing, one killing. Hegel, romantics, industrial milling. Edwards and Brainerd, then Carey and Judson. Wilberforce, Livingston, Taylor and Payton. Spurgeon and Mueller, Austin and Dickens, British expansion, a strange mix indeed. The field is the world, the gospel the seed. God bless you children.