You will find my text for this morning in verse 27 of Luke chapter 2. The first part of that verse says, He came by the Spirit into the temple. And He came by the Spirit into the temple. that is mentioned there is a man by the name of Simeon. We read of him and we hear of him nowhere else in the Bible or the New Testament. What we discover of him in this passage is that he was a resident in Jerusalem. We are told that he was a saved or a just man. That he knew much of the Holy Spirit's work in his heart and upon his life. Look at verse 25. Behold, there was a man in Jerusalem. So, he dwelt in Jerusalem. His name was Simeon. The same man was just. That means he was justified. He was saved. Pardoned from his sin and accepted by God. He was a just man. It tells us he was waiting on the consolation of Israel. That is, he was waiting on the Messiah to be revealed. And the Holy Ghost was upon him. There is a little summary of his life. Where he was from. The fact that he was saved. That he was waiting on the coming of the Lord. and the Holy Ghost was upon him. I want to pick up on that because it really leads us into our text. And I want to say to you this morning that the work and the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of a Christian, in the life of a believer, is real. He came, verse 27, our text. He came by the Spirit into the temple. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. He is very God of very God. He proceeds from the Father. But the Bible teaches us that His work and His ministry in the life of a Christian is real and substantive. and building up to our text. Let me remind you that a Christian is one who is born of the Spirit. We're born again, not of incorruptible seed, but we're born of the Spirit through the Word. Except a man be born of the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. It's not our natural birth that gives us everlasting life. It's not our works of righteousness that give us everlasting life, or birth us as children of God. It is the work of the Spirit. We are born again of the Spirit of God. I ask you this morning in passing, are you born again of the Spirit of God? Or do all you have, is all you have religious rites and rituals? Christian is not only born again of the Spirit, that's where the Christian life begins. But a Christian is indwelt by the Spirit. Know ye not, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 6 and 19, that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, and the moment you're born again of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God enters into your heart and soul, that indwells your body, and He resides there to seal you under the day of redemption. He abides within. He abides, He abides, we were singing. Hallelujah, He abides with me, and if you're truly saved, the Holy Spirit indwells your body. Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, and He dwells within. We are born of the Spirit, we are indwelt by the Spirit, furthermore we are assured by the Spirit. Romans 8 and 16, His Spirit, that is the Holy Spirit, testifieth with our spirit that we are the children of God. He gives us that assurance when we've been born again, we're trusting in the Lord. He gives us that assurance that we belong to Him and we are His children. And if at times you lack assurance, as sometimes God's people do, you pray to the Lord, Lord give me that assurance through the work of the Spirit and by Your Word that I am a child of God. We're born of the Spirit, we're indwelt by the Spirit, we're assured by the Spirit, we're sanctified by the Spirit. I'm only giving you examples of verses, there's many. that we could give. Romans 15 and 16 tells us we're sanctified by the Holy Ghost. That means we're set apart. When you're born again of the Spirit and indwelt by the Spirit and assured by the Spirit, He sets you apart to live the Christian life. You're not going to live like the world. You're not going to continue to engage in the sins of the world, in that disobedience from God. You're going to live unto the Lord, and it's the Holy Ghost that sanctifies you, that sets you apart as a child of God to live as He wants us to live. We're born of the Spirit. We're indwelled by the Spirit. We're assured by the Spirit. We're sanctified through the Spirit. We're taught by the Spirit. We sing the hymns, Spirit of God, my teacher be, showing the things of Christ to me. John 14 and 26, when He has come, He will teach you all things. Do you ever come to the Bible and maybe you don't understand it? Pray that the Spirit of God will be your teacher and lead you into all truth. He is the great teacher. We're taught by the Spirit. We're comforted by the Spirit. He is the blessed comforter. When the Comforter, even the Spirit of Truth has come, Jesus said. That's His great title. He's apparently the Comforter. And when you're discouraged, when you have grief, when you have sorrow or you mourn, He is the God of all comfort and it's the Holy Ghost who applies the Word of God and comforts our hearts. We're born of the Spirit, we're indwelt by the Spirit, we're assured by the Spirit, we're sanctified by the Spirit, we're taught of the Spirit, we're comforted by the Spirit, we're filled by the Spirit for service. Acts 2 and verse 4, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. So that what could they do? The filling of the Spirit was for them to go out into Jerusalem and to testify that Jesus was the Christ and that they must turn from their sin unto Him. And 3,000 were converted when Peter preached in the fullness of the Spirit, whatever your service is for God. It might be giving out the Gospel tract or slipping it through the door. It might be teaching the Sunday school class, or ministering in some way. It might even be in the temporal affairs of the church, as Bezalel and Aholiab built the temple in the Old Testament. So even the temporal tasks about the church, we can be filled with the Spirit to perform them. We're filled with the Spirit for service. But not only are we born of the Spirit and dwelt by the Spirit, assured by the Spirit, sanctified by the Spirit, taught, comforted, and filled by the Spirit, we are also led by the Spirit. We can be and we should be. And that's really what verse 27 is saying. He came by the Spirit, the Holy Ghost, led Simeon to come to where Mary and Joseph were with the six-week-old Christ child. Romans 8 and 14, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Another mark of the child of God Another mark that you've been born of God, and are a son or a daughter of God, a child of God, is that you will be led by the Spirit of God. You know, we hear much about that in this day and generation. We hear much today about people being led by the Spirit, and they say, you know, I was led to do this, or I was led to do that. And sadly, it's nothing more than the works of the flesh. Remember many years ago, A man saying, you know, if the Lord leads me to do a wee dance down the aisle of the church, I'll do it and no one will stop me. Well, he says, if you do that in our church, we'll dance you out the door. He said, we'll stop you. But the point he was making was this. The Holy Spirit will never lead you to do anything that's contrary to God's word. When He is come, He will lead you or guide you into all truth. What is truth? Thy Word is truth. The Holy Spirit leads us according to the Word of God. And He'll never lead you to do anything that is contrary to the Word of God. And so when someone says, I was led of the Spirit to do this, that or the other, but it's not in agreement to the Word of God, they're simply being led by their own imagination. I put it to you this morning, here was a man who knew much of the Holy Ghost upon him. The Holy Ghost was upon him. And one of the marks of the Holy Ghost being upon him was he was led by the Spirit. He came by the Spirit into the temple. And from this theme this morning, Being led by the Spirit. I want to challenge you, dear child of God. Are we being led by the Spirit in our lives? As I look at this man as an example, I just want to set before you three very simple marks of a man who was led by the Spirit. And I want you firstly to notice a place. He came by the Spirit into the temple. The Holy Ghost compelled Him. The Holy Ghost moved Him. The Holy Ghost, this wasn't just because it was Simeon's custom. Now sometimes the younger people look at the older people and they say, ah well they go to church every Sunday because they've been doing it all their lives and it's just a routine and it's just a ritual. And maybe the outsider would have looked at Simeon and they'd have said, you know, Simeon, he's going there, he always goes there. But it was the Holy Ghost the Spirit of God who was on him and in him and moving him and influencing his heart that even in his old age he felt he must go to the temple. The temple was of course the most significant of places for believers in Old Testament times in Israel. It was the permanent place of public worship. The temple replaced the tabernacle of Moses, was built in the days of Solomon and rebuilt in the times of Ezra, and it was the public place of worship in Old Testament times, right up to the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was the place where God dwelt among His people. You know, as I was studying during the week, I was noticing the various names given to the temple, the house. And the temple was where God dwelt among His people. That's why it was called the house of God. If I go to your house, I expect to find you there. It's your house. It's called the house of God because that's where on earth God particularly dwelt among his people. He said of Moses in the first tabernacle, there at the mercy seat will I meet with thee. Exodus 40 and 38, the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle. The glory filled the tabernacle and the temple. The cloud was the visible symbol of the Lord's presence in the Old Testament. And that's where it resided, the tabernacle and the temple. It's where God dwelt and met his people in a special way. It's why it was called the house of God. Their God dwelt among His people. Their God was worshipped by His people. You know, in 2 Chronicles, when Solomon built the permanent temple, in 2 Chronicles 7 and 12, it's called the house of sacrifice. And it's called the house of sacrifice because God's people can only worship Him on the basis of a blood sacrifice. And there was the brazen altar where the bullock, the lamb, the goat, the young goat, the turtle dove or the pigeons, their blood was shed and sacrifice was made unto God. It was a foreshadowing of Calvary. Our altar is Calvary. There God's people worshipped Him on the basis of the sacrifice. God dwelt among His people there in a special way. God was worshipped by His people there on the basis of the sacrifice, and God was sought by His people in prayer. That's why it's called the house of prayer, Isaiah 56 and verse 7. It's a house of God because there He dwells. It's a house of sacrifice because there He's worshipped. It's a house of prayer, because on special occasions, all the tribes, they came up to the temple or the tabernacle to call upon God at crisis times, in Judges 20, in 2 Chronicles 20 and 5, in the days of Jehoshaphat, in Isaiah 37 and 14, in the days of Hezekiah, under great threat from the enemy. The people all came to the house of God to seek Him in prayer. It's the house of prayer. It's the house of sacrifice. It's the house of God. Let me say to you it was the duty of God's people to attend there. Deuteronomy 16 and 16 tells us three times a year shall all the meals appear before the Lord thy God in the place where He shall choose. That was the tabernacle in the temple. Oh, every Sabbath they would meet for the preaching of the Word and for prayer, wherever they were from. Might have been in the north, might have been in the south, might have been in the west of Israel. But three times a year, at least, all the meals had to go up to Jerusalem for the appointed feast. It was their duty to attend there. And it was for those believers a great delight to be there. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, as I have seen Him in the sanctuary. Psalm 27 verse 4. Now let me say to you, and to my own heart, because we're not living in Old Testament times, The New Testament church is the house of God. It's the pillar and the grind of truth. And all that the temple was to the Old Testament people of God, the New Testament church is to the people of God. There God dwells with His people in a special way, where two or three are met together in My name. There am I in the midst, Jesus said. We worship Him publicly on the basis of The sacrifice. And here, this is our house of prayer, where we seek the Lord publicly with the saints of God, for our needs, the needs of the church and for our families. And when the Spirit is in control, and when the Spirit is leading us, He will always lead us to the house of the Lord. I think it's best that I just leave it there because I genuinely, folks, I don't want anyone to think that the preacher has any ulterior motive in the pulpit or is trying to get at any one individual or one individual family. I know there are reasons why at times people cannot get to the house of the Lord. But I am saying to you on the authority of this book When God's people are led by the Spirit, they will be attentive to the public place of worship, and they'll be in the house of the Lord. The second thing I want you to notice, not only a place, but I want you to notice the person. And this is wonderful, friends. It's not just about coming to a place. Because the place without the person is empty and meaningless. Would you look at verse 28. In fact, we'll read verse 27 and verse 28. And he came by the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him after the custom of the law, then took he, that's Simeon, then took Simeon him, that's Christ, then took Simeon Christ up in his arms and blessed God. At the same moment, you see, this is the wonder about being led by the Spirit. The Spirit moved him, not just to go out a ritual and routine, but the Spirit moved him to come to the temple for a specific purpose, for a specific time. And my, the world would say, it's a coincidence. Your mind, the old devil will tell you, it's just a coincidence, you're in the house of the Lord and you're hearing this today, and it's only a coincidence. Was it a coincidence that Simeon was in the temple at the very same time? He was led by the Spirit. And at the very same time, he's coming into the temple. There's Mary and Joseph, 40 days after the baby Jesus has been born. Mary has fulfilled her period of ceremonial purification. And she's there at the same time. And she has the little baby Jesus in her arms. And at the same moment, the Spirit leads Simeon to Jesus. And therefore we can say, the Spirit of God led the man of God to the house of God to encounter the Son of God. Say that again. The Spirit of God led the man of God to the house of God to encounter the Son of God. And that's the significance of the place, friends. Listen, if all we were asking you to do was to come here and listen to Daryl Abernethy or to pay in your envelope, it wouldn't be worth coming. And that's not what the Spirit of God leads you here to do. The Spirit of God will lead you to the house of God to meet with the Son of God. He's the God of the house. It's His house. And I would say to you that when we come to the house of God, we should encounter the Son of God in the house of God. If all it is is rituals and rules and you're not meeting the Redeemer, It's not what the Lord intended. The very ceremony should lead us to the Savior. We have an order, we have a structure led down by God. We worship by singing, by praying, by reading the Word, by preaching on the sacraments. But those means, those outward ordinances should lead us to the Savior. And when Simeon came to the public place of worship, he met the Lord because he was there by the Spirit. And you know, there's a very important lesson there. The Spirit of God always leads us to the Son of God. Jesus, in John 15 and 26, He said, When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me, of Christ. I send Him. He proceeds from the Father. He's one with the Father and with me. And when He comes, He will to testify of me. John 16 and 13 says he will not speak of himself. The Holy Spirit's work is to glorify, to uplift, to magnify, to testify, and to speak of Christ. That's why we believe in Christ-centered preaching, Christ-centered services, because the Spirit of God will lead us to Jesus Christ, to His work. I want you to notice something more about the person that the Spirit led Simeon to. The Spirit led him to embrace Christ. Look at verse 28, "...then took he up him in his arms." It's sad that the day and age we live in, if a mother's in a public place and some stranger comes, she's a little six-week-old baby in her arms, If a stranger comes to take up that child, mother wouldn't be giving, not in this day and generation. But oh, there in the temple, led by the Spirits, Simeon comes to take the baby Jesus off Mary, and she gives the child over to him, and he takes him up in his arms. What did the Spirit lead him to do? It led him to embrace Christ. I believe there's a picture there of when the Spirit's moving in salvation. Because when sinners are convicted of their sin before God, and they realize they're lost, and they're undone, and in their sin they'll perish for all eternity without Jesus Christ, and the Spirit's showing them, your only hope, your only plea for eternity is to have Jesus Christ. He moves the sinner. He draws the sinner to embrace by faith, to receive by faith, to take up by faith the Lord Jesus as his Savior. Have you done that? Am I speaking to a young person in the meeting this morning? You've been brought to this church from your earliest days, you can remember? You learned the little stories in Sunday school, and you were taught more in Bible class, and you've heard the preaching of the Word, and you know a bit about God and the Gospel, but you've never embraced, you've never taken hold of Him by faith and asked Him, be my Savior, take away my sin, make me a new creature, I want to be saved, I want to be in heaven. Have you ever embraced Him? Personally. When the Spirit's moving. I know Simeon was a saved man already, but I'm saying it's a picture, it's just a picture of what the Spirit, how the Spirit works when He's saving a sinner. He leads them to Jesus Christ, that they might personally embrace the Lord. If you haven't personally embraced Christ, do it today, friend. Do it now where you sit. call upon Him and ask Him to be your Savior. Aye, the Spirit led him to embrace Christ, but then the Spirit led him to exalt Christ. It says, then took he Him up in his arms and blessed God. That means he thanked God. He thanked God for the little babe. He knew. He knew this child will grow up to be the Messiah and the Savior, and He'll give of His life. A sword shall pierce through thine own soul also. He's speaking of Mary there, but the sword was going to pierce Christ's soul, and Mary would be heartbroken. There's a prophecy that Mary would see the sufferings of the Lord, and she did. She stood at His cross. He said, this child will be for the fallen raising again of many in Israel. He's the one who you'll either stumble at and perish, or he'll raise you up and you'll be in heaven with him. He was a savior, and he blessed and thanked God for him. Child of God, when the Spirit's leading you, He lead us to praise and to bless and to thank God for the Son of God and for His work. That's how Paul started his book, his letter to the Ephesians. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who have blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. I tell you, when we're led of the Spirit, yes, there's times we have to lament over sin and have to pray against it. But when we're led by the Spirit in praise and prayer, we'll give thanks to God for all that we have in Jesus Christ. Led of the Spirit, he was led to a place He was led to a person, and finally and briefly, he was led to a proclamation. I'll just summarize this very briefly in closing. From verse 29 to verse 35, he made a wonderful proclamation. He testified of personal peace. He said, Lord, now let us thy servant depart in peace according to thy word, for my eyes have seen thy salvation. God had revealed to him by the Holy Spirit he would not die until he had seen the Christ child, the Messiah. And he's an old man and full of days, and when he sees the little baby, he says, Lord, I'm ready to go. I'm an old man, I've seen it all, I've done it all, and Lord, now Your Word's fulfilled, I'm ready to go. Let me depart in peace, for I've seen Your salvation." He testified of personal peace facing death. I wonder if you had personal peace? When you come to face the valley of the shadow of death, can you testify to others, I'll walk the valley of death without any fear? Because I've seen and I've experienced and I've beheld and I've embraced God's salvation. Friends, I could preach a sermon on that itself. But when God's Spirit leads us, he will lead us to testify to others. We have no fear, we're ready to die. Because we've seen God's salvation. Have you that personal peace? led of the Spirit. And then he not only testified of personal peace, but he testified of the ministry of the Messiah. Verse 30 to 35, he tells Mary and Joseph all of the Savior and the Messiah's work. And they marveled, and Mary took note of it and pondered it in his heart. And if we're led by the Spirit, listen, we'll testify to others of the ministry and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He came by the Spirit into the temple. He was led by the Spirit. May each redeemed child of God know what it is to be led by the Holy Spirit.