It is no surprise to us that one of the most important periods of time within human history took place when the silence of heaven was broken by the cry of an infant. All of human history had looked forward to that single event. And we can't stop talking about that event, but the Gospels are a perfect record of those amazing moments on Earth, those moments which paint for us details surrounding the most important person who had the most important ministry known to man. The Gospel era paints for us the coming of Jesus Christ, God the Son in the flesh. Robert Gromacki breaks down human history into three separate eras and I have that for you in your notes this morning as a helpful resource which highlights for you those three distinct eras within human history. Gromacki writes that the pre-Christ which would be from Genesis to Malachi, looked forward to the advent of the Messiah Redeemer, the Gospel era saw the presence of the Messiah Redeemer on earth, from his birth through his death and resurrection to his ascension into heaven, which is, of course, the Gospels, Matthew through John, and then the post-Christ era looks forward to the second coming of Jesus Christ, the Messiah Redeemer, which is from the book of Acts to Revelation, all of scripture centers around a person, Jesus Christ. The Old Testament is saying he's coming, the Gospels say he's here, he came, they give testimony to that, the rest of the New Testament says he came, he came. So it is to be noted when studying pneumatology that the Holy Spirit's work in ministry looks different within each of these unique and special eras that make up the whole of biblical human history. This becomes evident when we study what Jesus taught concerning the Holy Spirit and his involvement in ministry within the single realm of his interaction with mankind. We are in this study, we're moving in the direction where we are on the precipice of studying the work and the ministry of the Holy Spirit within the present, but as Gromacki pointed out, there was a gospel era that transpired before this post-Christ era, and within that gospel era, there are some notable things to highlight throughout this study. In fact, it's critical that we understand that there are some major differences involving the work of the Spirit within these two distinct eras. Now, Jesus taught that this would be the case. If you have your Bibles, I'd like to ask that you turn with me to John. Let's go to John, the Gospel of John, chapter 14. John 14, verses 16 through 17. And we know this passage as the Upper Room Discourse, where Jesus would comfort his disciples. before teaching them of his death and his resurrection, and the purpose for turning here before we get started is simply to highlight, it is simply to highlight for us the simple, basic truth that the work of the Holy Spirit looked different in the days of Jesus Christ. I want us to note that, all right? The work of the Spirit looked different in the gospel era, all right? So we're gonna pick it up, chapter 14, verses 16 through 17. And I've got it up here on the PowerPoint, otherwise you can follow along in your Bibles. It says here, I will ask the Father and he will give you another helper, that he may be with you forever, that is the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it does not see him or know him, but you know him because he abides with you and will be in you. Now, we can learn a lot about the Holy Spirit just from those two verses right there in isolation. However, towards the end of verse 17, Jesus talks about the indwelling ministry of the Spirit of God. And as Jesus would give these words to his disciples within the historical context, he spoke these words within the gospel era. And I want us to note here the prepositional phrase given here at the end of the verse. Jesus tells his disciples while living under the gospel era, that the Holy Spirit abides with you, but then he notes this change. And he goes on from there and he says that the Holy Spirit being with you, he changes it to in you. And Jesus says, but you know him because he abides with you and will be, future tense, in you. Will be in you. Notice that change teaches us that within the lifetime of Jesus' disciples, the work of the Holy Spirit would change, and the change here in this instance involved only one aspect of the Spirit's work. It involves the Spirit's indwelling. Well, today we're going to observe yet another aspect of the Holy Spirit's work within the Gospel era, and that work has to do with the filling of the Holy Spirit, specifically his filling within that gospel era. In fact, within the gospel era, the Holy Spirit impacted certain individuals. He impacted certain individuals surrounding the birth and ministry of the Messiah. And John Walvard makes a great point when studying the gospel era, as we will in our time together. He writes this, and I quote, these gospel passages were not intended to be a norm for the present age, but in general continue the ministry of the Spirit as it had been in the Old Testament. So, as we observe the work of the Holy Spirit today, we are going to see a lot of parallels between this Gospel era and the post-Christ era. Even though we have shifted into the New Testament, the work of the Holy Spirit in this Gospel era will look a lot like it did in the Old Testament. And I would encourage you, if you weren't able to listen to our last lesson, lesson number seven, dealt with the Holy Spirit and his work upon mankind in the Old Testament, some important points to catch there. But from our study of pneumatology today, we're gonna discover six individuals, six individuals who were directly impacted by the ministry of the Holy Spirit within the gospel era. Of course, we know that Jesus Christ had been impacted by the Holy Spirit as well, his ministry as well, and we're going to see that in our next lesson. We're going to see how the Holy Spirit worked in Jesus's ministry. That'll be next week, Lord willing. But these listed here for you today are individuals who were involved in some way with the birth and ministry of Jesus Christ. So we're going to begin with our first and most extensive individual that we have listed for you, which would happen to be the Holy Spirit and his impact, the Holy Spirit's impact on John the Baptist's life. The Holy Spirit's impact on John the Baptist's life. Now John's life and ministry had a significant impact on the people of his time and his ministry of repentance in preparation for the coming of the Messiah paved the way for Jesus' own ministry. Now Robert Gromacki elaborated on Jesus' ministry and he said of Jesus' ministry that John was to be a revivalist preaching repentance basically to Israel. He was to prepare Israel spiritually for the coming of the promised Messiah. John was born to Zacharias and Elizabeth, both of whom were from priestly families. According to the Gospel of Luke, Elizabeth was born barren and past childbearing age, but an angel appeared to Zacharias and foretold that they would have a son who would make ready a people prepared for the Lord. So dad was a priest, and mom's lineage could be traced all the way back to the first high priest being Aaron. I love Luke 1, verse 5, which says, in the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zacharias, and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. So this just very plainly gives us some insight into John the Baptist's background and something that is stated about John the Baptist by an angel in Luke chapter one. We see it in verse 17 and it compares what John the Baptist's future ministry would be to that of an earlier prophet in Luke chapter one verse 17. We read, it is he, referring to John the Baptist, who will go as a forerunner before him Jesus Christ in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. And some have speculated that the statement, in the spirit of Elijah, may be a reference to the Holy Spirit's enabling ministry in his life. His ministry certainly emulated Elijah's ministry. If you'll remember in that first chapter in the Gospel of John, there were those who thought that John the Baptist was Elijah. You'll remember that. There were some who thought that he was Elijah. Well, if John the Baptist's ministry could be confused with Elijah's ministry, then you know that God was in fact empowering John to do what God had called him to do. I have Luke 1.17 up on the PowerPoint. Just a few verses earlier, as John's dad, Zacharias, would receive this news from an angel, the angel said to John the following, for he, John the Baptist, or John's dad, for he, John the Baptist, will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother's womb. From birth, John the Baptist would be filled with the Holy Spirit and this should not be overlooked because as we've already observed in lesson seven in our study on pneumatology, we've already concluded that in the Old Testament the Holy Spirit came upon certain individuals and would also leave them. There was this oncoming, right, of the Holy Spirit. Different than the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament, you have this oncoming of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. Well, John would be filled with the Holy Spirit before his physical birth. And the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit was unique and special to John's life. Later he preached a message of repentance to his people, large crowds would come out to hear John's messages and many would be baptized and as we already know his ministry would culminate into the baptism of God's Son where the Holy Spirit would descend upon Christ and a heavenly declaration would be given, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. So John the Baptist's ministry was closely connected to the work of the Holy Spirit We need to note that it was connected to the work of the Holy Spirit as he was filled with the Spirit and his preaching and baptizing ministry was a manifestation of the Spirit's work. So we have here one individual who was greatly influenced by the work in the ministry of the Holy Spirit. That is an undeniable fact today as we look at the gospel era. The second individual who was impacted by the Holy Spirit and his work was John the Baptist's father, Zacharias. The Holy Spirit impacted Zacharias's life. Now this is the same Zacharias as John the Baptist's dad. If you have your Bibles, I'd like to ask that you turn with me to the first chapter in Luke. First chapter in Luke, we'll go back one book. And we're gonna be in Luke chapter one most of our time now. Luke chapter one, rather a large chapter. But we saw the announcement of the angel to Zacharias already towards the beginning. of this chapter, and I'm gonna have you turn with me to Luke 1, verse 67. Luke 1, verse 67. And to give us a little context here, Zacharias did not believe that Elizabeth would have a child. She was barren. And so, Zacharias, in his unbelief, was punished, and do you remember what his punishment was? He wasn't able to speak, right? You remember that. He wasn't able to speak. But that announcement was given around the time that the angel had given that announcement. Now after that punishment had been lifted and John was born, we read in chapter 1 verse 67, And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied saying, so he gave this prophecy. And in the first half of that prophecy, he thanks the Lord for his faithfulness. But in verse 76, there is this shift where he would talk about the ministry of John the Baptist. And he talks about the ministry that his son would have. Notice with me, Luke 1, verse 76, and we'll read through verse 79 together. Zacharias says of his son's ministry. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go on before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give to him his people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, with which the sunrise from on high will visit us, to shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace, And the child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel. And what Zacharias does here is pretty incredible. Through this prophecy, he became a prophet in the Old Testament sense of a prophet. His prediction concerning the future would be 100% correct, 100% accurate. For starters, he predicted that his son would be the forerunner of the long-awaited Messiah. But he also predicted the content of John's messages, saying in verse 77 that John would give to his people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins. Now, as a dad, if I could predict what my son's eight years old, If I could predict from this moment what my son will do in the future with his life, perhaps even with his ministry, if my prediction from this moment was 100% correct, that'd be amazing. That would be amazing. That's what we have here. Zacharias gives us prophecy concerning his son Zacharias, or concerning his son John the Baptist. And he gets it completely correct. And that's the work of the Lord. All right, the third individual. We find his impact, the Holy Spirit has impacted Elizabeth's life as well. And I have you here in Luke chapter one. And I would like to ask that you turn back with me to verses 39 through 56. Verses 39 through 56. We're now heading back in time to that moment where Mary, mother of Jesus, had visited Elizabeth and had stayed with her for about three months. And Mary was pregnant with the Savior of the world and Elizabeth, his forerunner. No doubt a special meeting, a unique meeting at that. And as we've already seen, John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit while in the womb. And it's worth mentioning that there is no biblical indication that Elizabeth was filled with the Spirit at her conception. However, there is a recorded moment in her life where she is filled with the Spirit of God. And that moment is right here, verse 39. Luke chapter one, verse 39, and we'll read through verse 40 together, says, now at this time Mary arose and went in a hurry to the hill country to a city of Judah and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. Both parents of John the Baptist, but watch what happens next, verse 41. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Now the Bible Knowledge Commentary makes a great point on the work of the Spirit while in the Gospel era. It says here, prior to the day of Pentecost, believers will be filled with the Holy Spirit for specific tasks. For specific tasks. And what would follow would be nothing more than amazing. Elizabeth would become a prophetess. Look with me, verse 42. Verse 42 says, And she cried out with a loud voice and said, Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how has it happened to me that the mother of my Lord would come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leapt in my womb for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what has been spoken to her by the Lord. This again is an amazing moment for both of these ladies. And by the fact that there is in verse 45 that Elizabeth was able to accurately predict the fulfillment of God's plans in Mary's life is again a testimony to the power of God. And I would, looking at that, I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall, to have heard that conversation between Mary and Elizabeth to have heard that discussion. There are moments like that in the scripture. You kind of wish you could be there. This certainly would be one of those. Gramacchi makes a significant point on this specific text. that I don't want us to miss. He noted this, Mary now had a double confirmation of the divine plan, one given by Gabriel and one by Elizabeth. In response to Elizabeth's prophetic spirit-filled utterance, Mary sang a remarkable hymn of praise. You go on to read that, you'll find that. that hymn of praise there in Luke chapter 1. Well, as we've seen, the Holy Spirit was at work within the gospel era within those who were closest to John the Baptist. And that brings us to the fourth individual that we have listed for you, where we see the work of the Spirit, and that is his impact on Mary's life, his impact on Mary's life. Now, when you study the birth of the Messiah, it's pretty amazing to consider the fact that we have seen the work of the Spirit upon Mary, but nowhere in Scripture do we find that Joseph was filled with the Holy Spirit. The birth of Christ was prophesied in the Old Testament. In Isaiah 7, verse 14, we read, therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call his name Emmanuel. Well, how would a virgin be able to have a child? This miracle would be known as the virgin birth. Luke 1, verse 30 through 34. Going back a bit again, but we see the work of the Spirit in Mary's life. Luke 1, verse 30 says, The angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High and the Lord God. will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end. Mary said to the angel, how can this be, since I am a virgin? That's the million dollar question. Verse 35 says, the angel answered and said to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, and for that reason, the Holy Child shall be called the Son of God. So it was that the Holy Spirit came upon Mary, and she conceived Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit. This was a miracle in the making, and it impacted Mary just as much as it impacted the Son of God, which we're gonna see in our next lesson. How all of that works out, I don't know. It's a miracle that we find in the scripture. The Holy Spirit would be a part of that. That brings us to the fifth individual. The fifth individual that we have listed for you this morning is the Holy Spirit's impact on Simeon's life. One author said that the Holy Spirit had an unusual ministry in Simeon. He came on him, guided him, and revealed truth to him. In fact, the text out of Luke chapter two, which involves both Simeon and Anna, emphasizes the fulfillment of Jewish law and the recognition of Jesus Christ as the Messiah by important religious figures. If you would, please turn with me to Luke chapter two, verse 25, Luke two, verse 25. We're going to read verse 25 together. And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. And this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. When it says here that he was waiting for the consolation of Israel, this is in reference to the fact that many Jews were waiting for the promised Messiah. They were looking forward to a leader who would bring peace and justice to their nation. They were, in many respects, looking for their soon-to-come king who would rule over Israel. So this was a man who trusted in the promises of God. He was expecting those promises to be fulfilled literally. He was taking God at his word when it came to the future and those promises that concern the future and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And we have a hunch as to why Simeon was looking forward to seeing the promised Messiah, verse 26, and it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord Christ. When it says here that he was waiting, or I'm not sure how the Holy Spirit revealed this to be the case in Simeon's life, all we know is that he was on the lookout for Jesus, and when he saw him, Simeon took Jesus into his arms, makes an amazing statement. I have it up here for you. It's in verses 29 through 32. Now Lord, Simeon speaking, you are releasing your bondservant to depart in peace according to your word. For my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light of revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel. Now in relation to salvation, Simeon says here that Jesus Christ would have a spiritual ministry to both Gentiles and Jews, which again is remarkable. Jesus' ministry to the Gentiles through the church was a mystery, as the Apostle Paul put it, yet hinted at throughout the course of history. I was reading some of Arnold Fruchtenbaum's thoughts on this verse, and he pointed out the following, that the Messiah will benefit the Gentiles because it was prophesied that he would be their light. So again, some of these initial statements by Simeon prove to be spirit-led. as he would come into contact with Jesus Christ. Well, that brings us to the sixth individual that we have listed for you, and that sixth individual is the Holy Spirit and his impact on Anna's life. Anna was also in the temple with Simeon as Mary, Joseph, and Jesus entered, which is recorded for us in Luke 2, verses 36 through 38. In fact, if you study her involvement with Jesus Christ, you're going to find that there is no direct statement that the Holy Spirit filled Anna, but Luke identifies her as a prophetess. So it is reasonable to assume that the Holy Spirit controlled her as she spoke. And as she would speak, she would become by default an evangelist for Jesus Christ, as Luke 2 38 says, she continued to speak of him, speaking of Jesus, to all those who were looking for the redemption for Jerusalem. How did she know that Jesus was the promised Messiah? After all, when she laid eyes on him, he was only 40 years old. Well, Jesus was an infant, but it was the power of God that gave her the convictions that she held onto. Now, in all of these, instances where we've witnessed the ministry and the work of the Holy Spirit in the gospel era, the common denominator between all of these individuals or the link between them involves a person. The common denominator between these six individuals within the gospel era is Jesus Christ. John the Baptist certainly had a ministry that was impacted by the power of the Holy Spirit. Both of John's parents had marvelous moments where the Spirit of God did a great work in their lives, and the same would be true for Simeon and Anna. But we must not forget his mother. Mary's submission to the Father's will stands out above all, and her life would be dramatically changed through the birth of this little life. which was empowered by the Holy Spirit. Well, today we've witnessed together six individuals who were directly impacted by the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit in the Gospel era, which brings us back to this main truth, that within the Gospel era, the Holy Spirit impacted certain individuals surrounding the birth and ministry of the Messiah. Well, even though we're not living in the Gospel era, There are some takeaways here for us as I was able to look at this unique time in history. I think that there are some takeaways here for the child of God in this church age of grace. And there are a couple of those takeaways. I want to mention a couple of them. The first takeaway for us from this lesson is, I believe, will be a natural result after choosing to yield to the Holy Spirit and His work in our lives. And that is, when we are yielded to the Spirit of God, the natural response from us will be that we will desire that Jesus Christ is glorified in our lives. We're gonna have that, we're gonna want that. We're gonna want that Jesus Christ will be glorified in our lives as we yield to the Spirit of God. I find it fascinating that out of all these truths, each one had that personal desire out of each of these individuals. John the Baptist said in the Gospel of John, speaking of Jesus, he must increase, but I must increase even more, right? I must decrease. John didn't want the spotlight on himself. His aim in the ministry was to elevate the one who is worthy of all. Second takeaway for us from this lesson is related to the Word of God and its influence in each of our lives when we are controlled by the Spirit. This is the second takeaway. When we are controlled by the Spirit, we will be biblically firm and we'll have an accurate understanding of biblical truth. dive into that when we step into the illuminating ministry of the Spirit in the present, down a couple lessons from now. But what amazes me about each of these individuals that we have listed here is that they all understood what the saving plan was that God had. And they properly applied that message to their lives. When the Spirit of God controls us, we're going to be able to accurately Point people to God and towards his biblical truth for our lives. That was certainly true within the gospel era Within these gospel era individuals and it will be true for believers today in this church age of grace. Don't miss that point Being spirit-led and biblically sound go hand in hand they go hand in hand together to close out our time together We've got in in the back of the sanctuary here two piles of notes. I have a bibliography one of the books that I've been reading Along with this series on pneumatology has been counterfeit kingdom. I Just want to encourage you guys. That is a great book and I would encourage you to check that out It's listed in the bibliography and I'm gonna say I recommend it in that book They describe some of the cult-like practices that take place and have gone on at Bethel in Redding, California, one of which I was able to look at on YouTube. Some of the church leaders, what they did was they had actually reenacted a Lord of the Rings scene where some of the church's leaders, they held onto a staff and dogmatically stated, thou shall not pass, three times to what they claimed was the demon of racism. And with the reenactment over, the demon of racism was allegedly defeated. The church's self-professed apostles were on that stage, and they were clapping. The audience erupted into cheers, and unfortunately, there are people who look at that reenactment, you can go on YouTube and check it out, and they will say, well, that was a spirit-led service. Well, what we learned from Jeremiah chapter 28 with that showdown between the false prophet Hananiah and God's prophet Jeremiah was that there are those who claim to be speaking for God when in fact they're frauds. And a general principle that we find throughout scripture in any era of time in relation to a spirit-filled person will be this. They're gonna wanna glorify God in their life, and they will have an accurate understanding of God's truth. And they're going to desire that. They're going to desire to have that accurate understanding of God's truth. As we have seen, this certainly was the case in the gospel era. Let me close in a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for these moments. We want to thank you for your word. It is living and active, sharper than a double-edged sword. Father, I wanna thank you that we can grow in our understanding of this very important subject as we look at the person and the work of the Holy Spirit. Father, and as we, before we begin to look at his ministry in the present, this is laying the foundation for us. And so I wanna thank you for this opportunity that is ours. I pray that as we go through this week, we would yield to him and his work in our lives. In your name I pray, amen.