Let's go before the throne of grace. Holy Father, we beseech Thee in the name of Thy Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, that Thou wouldst bless this gathering of Your people this day. We're thankful that You've brought us back to Your house today. We have been cheered by the presence of Your people to be able to sing with them and to be able to see their countenances. And now as we come to this time of the service that Your Word is to be proclaimed, I pray, dear Lord, that we might approach this hour more than just the schedule on the clock and the calendar. Dear Lord, please deliver us from ever preaching just because it's our time to preach. Please deliver us from the formalities of religion. We just read in the 51st Psalm that you delight not in the formality of sacrifices, but broken hearts and contrition. You delight in that. And so I pray, dear Lord, that our worship might be today a spiritual exercise and not just a formality. We pray now that you'd bless the preaching of the word. Please give me wisdom and skill in your word. Please accompany my labors, precious Holy Spirit. Father, you sent your Holy Spirit into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father, your Holy Spirit is indwelling us. And I pray now that through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit that you would make your word powerful and real to us and give us understanding. Blessed Holy Spirit, You are our teacher and guide. And so we implore Your help now and pray that Thou would guide us into the truth of Your Word and shed light upon this truth that is before us. Please bless Your minister to be a blessing to Your people. Please cause the Holy Spirit to work inwardly and not just externally upon us. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. I want to begin by reading from the Confession of Faith in chapter 10 under effectual calling. Today we come to section 4. Section 4. Others not elected, although they may be called by the minister of the Word, and may have some common operations of the Spirit, yet not being effectually drawn by the Father, they neither will nor can truly come to Christ, and therefore cannot be saved. Much less can men that receive not the Christian religion be saved, be they never so diligent to frame their lives according to the light of nature and the law of that religion they do profess. And the name of our message this morning will be Common Operations of the Holy Spirit. Turn now to Hebrews chapter 6, and we'll read verses 4 through 6. Hebrews chapter 6, reading verses 4 through 6. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance, seeing they crucified to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame." And of course, the part that we wanted to call your attention to in this text is in verse 4, where it speaks of those who were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, yet they apostatized." We have preached on this passage before. and dealt with the doctrine of apostasy. It's not our main subject this morning, but we do see that those who remain unregenerate and thereby are not preserved in Christ and do not persevere in grace, that it is possible for them to apostatize, and they have been made partakers of the Holy Ghost in some way. And this, our Confession refers to as common operations of the Holy Spirit. Now, we've already seen in chapter 10, under the doctrine of effectual calling, we saw that there is a calling which is outward, which is in the letter, which goes forth by God's ministers and is to every rational creature that we can reach. And there's that gospel or general call that's to all men. But then there is an effectual call whereby sinners, elect sinners, are brought savingly to the Lord Jesus Christ. And this we call effectual calling. While God's ministers call all men to Christ outwardly, Then the Holy Spirit works inwardly and secretly and calls the elect of God to actual salvation and joins them savingly to Christ and thus they come to Christ most willingly. And then we had a message on the doctrine of regeneration, how that this work is a sovereign and irresistible and immediate work of the Holy Spirit, and how that the work of regeneration itself, the quickening or giving of life within the soul, that this is a work that's done without means, is done by the power of God. But then we noticed, following that, we had a message on the doctrine of conversion, and that's the That's the other side of the coin. In the coin of effectual calling, there are two sides to it. On one side is regeneration and the other side is conversion, and you always have both. tenaciously to the doctrine of immediate regeneration. We hold just as tenaciously to the doctrine of conversion through the gospel, that God will get the gospel to his elect and call them by the means of the gospel that they will believe in Christ and come to Christ. And then last Lord's Day we took up the mysterious and mostly secret doctrine of elect infants and showed how that there is much hope for the infant and showed on the fact that God's work of regeneration is done sovereignly and mysteriously and immediately, and showed two cases in scriptures where we believe some, at least two, Jeremiah and John the Baptist were regenerated from infancy, that we have hope for the infant and looked at other scriptures concerning that. But now, the confession of faith makes it plain, lest anyone should take some of the mysterious actings of God too far, The confession goes on while having allowed the hope and certainly recognizing the power and ability of God to regenerate his elect wherever they may be found and whatever station they're in. And in Section 3, under elect infants, it said also, all other elect persons not capable of being called outwardly by the word, of which the framers of the Confession had in mind the severely retarded who never get past infancy in their intellects. And so, lest anybody would try to go any further with that, or go out on unscriptural tangents, Section 4 makes it plain that unless a person is affectionately called, they cannot be saved, no matter what religion they profess. And surely, and most certainly, none can be saved who do not believe in Christ. None can be saved apart from the Christian religion. So it's certainly plain that the Framers of Confession were not including the so-called enlightened heathens, or the enlightened pagans, or anything like that. Now, in section 4, they refer to what is called as common operations of the Holy Spirit. And that's what I want to deal with this morning, common operations of the Holy Spirit. And I believe that this will help us to understand some things in the Scriptures when we tie it together and see that there is such a thing as common operations of the Holy Spirit. By common operations of the Holy Spirit, we mean some are influenced by the Holy Spirit's work without being regenerated. Some are influenced by the work of the Holy Spirit without being regenerated. Such were the characters that are described in Hebrews chapter 6 verses 4 through 6. Now again, this is a passage that we've preached on before, but just to look at it again, Hebrews chapter 6 verses 4 through 6 talks about the possibility of a falling away, and if such fall away, those who were once enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, if they fall away, it's impossible to renew them again unto repentance. The awful doctrine of apostasy is taught here. And just to remind you, Hebrews 6 is not talking about the failures of God's people, it's not talking about the backslidings of David or the backslidings of Peter, nor is it talking about mine and your backslidings, but it's talking about a final renunciation of Christ, is what it's talking about, or such going into ungodliness, wholesale, and a complete renunciation of the Christian faith by profession and by life. It's not talking about Christians who sin and repent or anything like that. It's talking about those who embrace Christ and then count the blood of the covenant as a unholy thing, as it goes on in chapter 10, which is closely connected to it. But the part we're noticing today is that these characters, it says of them that they were made partakers of the Holy Ghost. They partook of the Holy Ghost, but they were never regenerated by the Holy Spirit, nor indwelt by Him, so they fell away. Those that are truly regenerated and those that are indwelt by the Holy Spirit can never fall finally away. That's not what's under consideration in Hebrews chapter 6. There was a falling away from a profession but not from possession. Those who are truly joined to Christ can never fall away. Jesus says in John 10, my sheep hear my voice and they follow me and no man is able to pluck them out of my hand. And Paul says in Romans 8, 35, that nothing shall separate us from the love of God. And we won't go back to all the scriptures on preservation and perseverance, but we note that false professors can and do fall from their profession, and even to such apostasy as is spoken of in Hebrews chapter 6. And so these characters that are spoken of here in Hebrews chapter 6, They were partakers of the Holy Spirit. They were enlightened in their intellect, but not in their souls. This would be common operations of the Holy Spirit. Common operations of the Holy Spirit is when a person is enlightened in their intellect. Now, when we think about being a partaker of the Holy Ghost, or common operations of the Holy Spirit, This is far different from the Holy Spirit working inwardly, efficaciously, and secretly in the elect of God. Let us think of it this way. Whenever the Word is being preached, when the Word is going forth, God's minister is preaching the Word like it is today. We have in our hands God's Word that was inspired by the Holy Spirit. You see, that's a work of the Holy Spirit. The preaching of the gospel is ordered by the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit enlightens the word that is preached, and He deals with God's people and causes the truth to be precious to them. And as that word is going forth, and as God's elect are receiving it inwardly and feeding it upon it, then some who never are regenerated, they're under the influence of the word, and their intellects are being enlightened. They can have some understanding of the word. An unregenerate person can have much understanding in the letter of the word, in the intellect. Yet there's never any spiritual. There is never any spiritual enlightenment. Their enlightenment is only in their intellect. They tasted of the heavenly gift and the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, but they never fed on Christ. Notice how it says it here in Hebrews 6, that they tasted, but they didn't feed on Christ. Let me show you something here. Let's notice a couple of things. Look in John chapter 6. Look in John chapter 6 and notice in verse 35, Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. See, God's people do more than taste. They feed on Christ and they believe on Christ and they're nourished by Christ. He's the bread of life to them. Notice back in John chapter 4 in verse 10. In John chapter 4 and in verse 10, Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. See, God's people, they don't just taste of the bread, they don't just taste of the water, but they drink it, they eat it, they feed on it. But here, these false professors who fell away and apostatized, They just taste it. We fear it is the case with the vast majority of professing Christians and church members today that they have never been operated on by the work of the Holy Spirit, that they have been operated on by the work of the Holy Spirit, but know nothing of the regenerating work experimentally. Many professors of Christianity today have been operated on by the work of the Holy Spirit, but they have not been operated in by the Holy Spirit. There's a difference. This is what we mean by common operations. The work of the Holy Spirit is so profound that multitudes are outwardly affected by His work in others. And quite frequently the case is that when people are being converted, other people are impressed by that. When there's a change of life in in some, then others are affected by that and become religious while they are not converted themselves. So the work of the Holy Spirit is a profound work, is a powerful work. Those of us that have been converted, we know that to be true. And it's such a profound and powerful work that sometimes it has, and generally does, have an outward effect even on those that it doesn't affect them inwardly. Many are called outwardly by the gospel, who are never called inwardly. Thus our Lord says in Matthew 22, 14, many are called, but few are chosen. Now the general call of the gospel itself, and in Matthew 22, 14, our Lord is talking about, when he says many are called, he's talking about the general call of the gospel, but few are chosen. There he's talking about the effectual call of the gospel. the general call the gospel, while it does not quicken in and of itself, yet there is an enlightening effect upon the hearers of it. And by hearing the general call the gospel, unconverted, unregenerate people are brought to much intellectual knowledge of the word, and may even come to some doctoral understanding, may even consider themselves as being quite astute in doctoral matters. We have known a few in our time who studied and read and knew the scriptures and knew the writings of good men and advanced far in theology and so forth and then fell away themselves. They had a common operation of the Holy Spirit, enlightening their minds, but their souls never were enlightened. They never were enlightened in their souls. The sending forth of the gospel is an operation of the Holy Spirit. Wherever the gospel is preached outwardly, there is the operation of the Holy Spirit. As the gospel goes to the many, the Holy Spirit effectually calls the few, and the many may be operated upon outwardly. When the elect hear the word, When the non-elect hear the Word, it may have an outward effect, or when they witness others being converted, or when by reading the Word they feel alarm for their souls, but are not granted repentance. All these are common operations of the Holy Spirit. What I want us to do, having given a general introduction to our subject and what we mean by common operations, I want us to now look more particularly at some cases in the Scriptures and teachings in the Scriptures which open up for us the fact of common operations. And I want to begin with Luke's account of the parable of the sower in Luke 8 and call attention especially to the stony ground hearers of verse 13. In Luke chapter 8 and in verse 13, call your attention to the stony ground hearers. They on the rock are they which when they hear receive the word with joy and these have no root which for a while believe and in time of temptation fall away. And so we see from the stony ground hearers what we mean by a common operation of the Holy Spirit that produced in the stony ground hearers both a kind of faith and a kind of joy. You know, there's something that's joyful about the gatherings of God's people. I can remember when I was an unconverted child that there was a certain joy of the singing of hymns and of the congregating of godly people. There was something about that that even brought joy to me even as an unconverted person. You see that in the stony ground here is that there is much joy accompanied. They receive the word with joy. They're like pliable. They're like pliable in Pilgrim's Progress who, hearing of the celestial city and of the joys of the world to come and of hearing of the good things of salvation, he said, I think I'll go with Christian. I think I'll go with Pilgrim. I'll go on pilgrimage myself. He had a temporary joy. And it says of the stony ground hearers that they believed for a while. but they did not persevere in their faith. They had a kind of faith, but it was a faith that did not save. It was a faith that was not the faith of God's elect. It was not the precious faith of God's elect. It was not faith that was a gift of the Holy Spirit, but it was a faith that only came in the intellect and in the mind, a faith which was only outwardly, and it was not saving. Let's look at another example that's given to us in Acts chapter 8, reading verses 6 through 24, the account of Simon Magus, or Simon the Sorcerer, or Simon the Magician. He's known by all three of these names. And I'll start reading in verse 6 of Acts chapter 8, And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them, and many taken with palsies, and that were lame were healed, and there was great joy in that city." That would be a joyful thing, wouldn't it? If all sorts of sick people were being healed and crippled people were being raised, that would be a joyful thing. Well, it was a great joy in the city. But there was a certain man called Simon, which before time in the same city used sorcery and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one, to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God. And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries. But when they believed Philip concerning the things concerning the kingdom of God, in the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Then Simon himself believed also." Note that. Simon believed also. And when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done. Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John, who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost. For as yet he was fallen upon none of them, only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. then laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost. And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands he may receive the Holy Ghost. But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast need the partner a lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent, therefore, of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thy heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.' Then answered Simon and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which he hath spoken come upon me." Now don't you notice what's going on here? the work that had begun on the day of Pentecost down in Jerusalem, this glorious advancement of the kingdom of Christ of multitudes being converted. Three thousand on the day of Pentecost and then multitudes more were being converted. Now the work spreads to Samaria and is a great work of the Holy Spirit that's going on there. And many believed and were baptized. And the extraordinary work of the Holy Spirit and His extraordinary gifts as was upon the early church were there. And then this magician, this sorcerer, Simon, he was affected in such a way as the Scriptures tell us that he believed. And he was baptized. I believe that Philip was no doubt a discerning man. And no doubt he acted in good conscience in administering baptism to Simon. No doubt it was a, at first glance, a joyful thing. Here's one who is a terrible, notorious sinner who is converted and says, who professes to be converted. Let's say that. Because he was not genuinely converted as we see. What we see in the case of Simon the Magician is that, again, there is a kind of faith which is not saving. There is a kind of faith which is not justifying. There is a kind of faith which is not the gift and the fruit of the Holy Spirit. But it says he believed. In other words, he professed that he believed, okay? And Philip, it was credible enough that Philip baptized him. And so then when Peter comes down, then when the apostles come down, Peter and John, and the extraordinary work, the extraordinary gifts begin to be manifest that was on the early church and the apostles. And so then Simon Magician He said, well this would be a good thing if I had this power. And so he offers him some money. It doesn't say how much, but he offers him some money. He said, I'd like to have that gift and I'll pay you to bestow it upon me. And notice what Peter said, thy money perish with thee. Because you thought that you could purchase the gift of God with money. So it was shown that Simon Magician was not a true believer. He was not truly regenerated. He was only a believer in his head. He was only a believer in his intellect. He didn't have the faith of God's elect. He didn't have that light, precious faith of God's elect. But he had a faith which was only carnal, outwardly, worldly, intellectual, and a faith of profession. He professed to believe. And the fact was his heart was not right in the sight of God. He was in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. Now you should notice what Simon says that shows his true colors. He doesn't begin to repent and say, pray for me that the Lord may grant me repentance. He doesn't begin to cry out tears of contrition like Peter did when God broke his heart in repentance. He says, pray that none of these things that come upon me. See, he saw the judgment that was upon him and he feared that. And that's the end of the story. As far as we know, the man was left in his awful state, in his awful apostasy, and died that way as far as we know. He's in hell now as far as we know. What I want you to see in this is that Simon was influenced by the work of grace in Samaria. Multitudes there were genuinely converted. Multitudes were baptized upon a true profession of faith. The Holy Spirit was working inwardly in God's elect, but outwardly on Simon the magician. It was a common operation of the Holy Spirit. Though he believed, he remained in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. A common operation. Again, he's being affected by what's going on in others. You see, the Holy Spirit never worked inwardly in him. The Holy Spirit never took up His abode in Simon the Magician. He never knew what it was to have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He never knew of quickening, regenerating, divine grace brought by the Holy Spirit. Let us look at another example in 2 Peter 2. 2 Peter 2, reading verses 21 and 22. 2 Peter chapter 2, reading verses 21 and 22. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness. Let me back up to verse 20. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after they have known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them, But it has happened to them, according to the true proverb, that August turned his own vomit again in the cell that was washed to her wallowing in the mire." Now, here are some characters who escaped the pollutions of the world. And it was through the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Through the knowledge of Christ, they escaped the pollutions of the world. In other words, there was a reformation in their life. There was a reformation in their habits. There was a reformation in their manners. They escaped the pollutions of the world. And it was through the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, through a head knowledge of the Gospel. Through an intellectual knowledge of the Scriptures. By hearing the Gospel preached. By hearing the Word brought forth. The characters are described here. They heard the truth of, they were warned of a wrath to come. And so they said, we don't want that to happen to us. They said, I don't want to go to hell. And so they began to reform. And they heard the truth of how Christians ought to live. And so they began to do some of that. And they began to put off the sins of the flesh, and they escaped from the pollutions of the world. But then it says of them that they became entangled in them later. It says of them their latter end is worse for them than the beginning. This awful pronouncement upon them. It had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after they had known it to turn from it. That's a profound and powerful statement and a great warning to us that after we have professed Christ to continue to persevere in the faith. But then he gives the proverb, and I'll just use the second one, of the sow, the hog, that has been washed. And the picture here is that there was a cleaning up on the outside. There was a whitening of the sepulcher. There was a washing of the outside of the cup, as it were. And by the way, I will tell you one time, I went and bought a hog from one of my neighbors that was in the hog business. And he had a modern hog parlor with his hogs on a concrete floor and a modern hog parlor. And I went and bought a hog from him. I brought him back and put him in my old timey hog pen, and you know what that hog that had been washed up and kept clean did? He went straight to the mud hole. He showed his nature. Well, that's what Peter's talking about here. That through the outward operations, through common operations of the Holy Spirit, there was a reformation and a change of life, but yet it didn't last. And it went back to the old, the nature, the washing of the sow didn't change the nature. And so escaping outward pollution of the world and the knowledge of the gospel just in the mind did not change the nature. It was a common operation of the Holy Spirit. Common operations of the Holy Spirit may produce a kind of faith, as it did in Simon Magician, and in the stony ground hearers. It may produce a kind of joy, as it did in the stony ground hearers. And it may produce a reformation of life. as we see in the characters here in 2 Peter 2. But then let us notice also that common operations of the Holy Spirit may include spiritual gifts. Look in Matthew chapter 7 and in verse 22. In Matthew chapter 7 and in verse 22. In Matthew chapter 7 verse 22, Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works. Now here are some who apparently maintained their profession and their hypocrisy all the way to the end. So far we've read about those who were exposed in this life. The stony ground hearers, in time of temptation, they fell away. Simon Magician, he was exposed for his love of money. The characters there in 2 Peter, they followed for a while and then went back to their old ways because their nature hadn't been changed. But here are some that are spoken of that apparently maintain their guile and their profession and keep their mask on all the way to the end. Be sure your sin will find you out. Be sure you will finally be exposed to what we really are. And so it was with these, they had to wait until the end to find out and to be exposed to what they really were. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in their name? Have we not preached the gospel? Have we not prophesied? Have we not even cast out devils in thy name? Spiritual gifts have done many wonderful works, ordinary and extraordinary works. But then the Lord will say to them in verse 23, I never knew you depart from me, ye that work iniquity. They had spiritual gifts, but they didn't have spiritual life. Now that is an alarming truth, is it not? That a person may have spiritual gifts and not have spiritual life. Do you realize it's possible to be a preacher of the gospel and be an unconverted person? Do you realize it's possible to be a well-liked and well-known, maybe even a useful preacher in some ways? and yet not have spiritual life yourself. What a warning that is. Come to 1 Corinthians 13. We're looking at the fact that common operations of the Spirit may include spiritual gifts. Look at 1 Corinthians 13. In 1 Corinthians 13, look at verses 1 and 2. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become a sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing." Now you remember the the context in which this is given to the church at Corinth, because there was much ado being made about the extraordinary gifts. There was a great hubbub there about, especially the gift of tongues, that was upon the apostles and the early church, this extraordinary gift, which has ceased and is no longer with us. But they were having a great argument, a great hubbub there in the church about it. And so in dealing with that, Paul talks about that in chapter 12, and continues on in it in chapter 14, but in the middle of this, he just stops and begins to show us that charity is the main thing, that is, that supreme love to God and man. And he says, though I have the extraordinary gift of tongues, though I have the gift of angels, if I could speak in an angelic tongue, If I had that and have not charity, he says, I'm nothing but sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. And though I had all these other gifts. And he says this in such a way that it's possible for the person to have the spiritual gift and not have spiritual life. Our Lord tells us in Luke 11 and verse 20 not to rejoice in spiritual gifts, but rather to rejoice that our names are written in heaven." You remember the 70 returned? If you turn and read that account there in Luke 11, the 70 returned, they said, Lord, the devils are subject to us. Boy, wouldn't that be a wonderful thing? Wouldn't that be a glorious thing to be able to go out and cast out devils? They said, Lord, the devils are subject to us. You remember what the Lord said? I beheld Satan fall from heaven as lightning. Then He said this to them, Rejoice not that the devils are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. those gifts that were on the early church, those extraordinary gifts that were upon the apostles and their deputies in the early church. That was a glorious and a wonderful thing. It was a sign that the gospel was real and that Christ was real and that what they were saying was true. And it was a sign to an unbelieving world to believe that the gospel is a wonderful thing. But Jesus said, don't rejoice in that. Don't rejoice in extraordinary gifts. Don't rejoice in something that's going to pass away one day. as extraordinary gifts will, but rather rejoice in something that will never change, that your names are written in heaven. So it told us don't rejoice in spiritual gifts because spiritual gifts are not necessarily a sign of spiritual life. Common operations of the Spirit may include spiritual gifts. Fourthly, let us consider that common operations of the Spirit may provoke zeal. Again, in 1 Corinthians 13, in verse 3, And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. You see, zeal without spiritual life only produces fanaticism. See, a person can be so zealous as to be a fanatic, as to suppose that by being some kind of a martyr, that Things are right between them and God. People have given their lives as martyrs for the unholiest of causes. There have been people so dedicated to communism that they gave their lives for communism. There have been Buddhist monks that set themselves on fire. There have been people who have gone on hunger strikes to prove a point, starved themselves to death for all sorts of unholy causes. And so we're warned here that zeal by itself, zeal without knowledge, is not a sign of spiritual life. It may be only a common operation of the spirit. Though we would be so giving as to give everything we had to the poor, though we would even give our body to be burned, and have not charity. We have not salvation. It's only fanaticism and not a godly zeal, and it's only a common operation of the Holy Spirit. Fifthly, I'll notice that common operations of the Spirit may provoke righteous indignation. Look in 1 Samuel 11, verses 1 through 6. 1 Samuel 11 I want to read verses 1 through 6. I want to see how the common operations of the Holy Spirit may provoke righteous indignation. Then Nahash the Ammonite came up and encamped against Jabesh Gilead. And all the men of Jabesh said unto Nahash, Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee. And Nahash the Ammonite answered them, On this condition will I make a covenant with you, that I may thrust out all your right eyes, and lay up for reproach upon all Israel. And the elders of Jabesh said unto him, Give us seven days' respite, that we may send messengers unto all the coasts of Israel, and then if there be no man to save us, we will come out to thee. Then came the messengers of Gibeah of Saul, and told the tidings in the ears of the people, and all the people lifted up their voices and wept. And behold, Saul came after the herd out of the field, and Saul said, What aileth the people that they weep? And they told him the tidings of the men of Jabesh." And get this now, and the Spirit of God came upon Saul, came upon Saul, it didn't come in Saul, it came upon him, when he heard those tidings and his anger was kindled. Saul had a righteous indignation. There is such a thing as a righteous indignation. Be ye angry and sin not, we read in Ephesians 4. There's a cause for God's people to be righteously indignant in the sin of the world. We should be righteously indignant at the baby murdering that's going on in our country. We should be righteously indignant at the promotion of perversion that's going on. By the way, did you notice this past week our Congress passed a bill, or at least a committee passed, I don't think it's passed, it hasn't become a law yet, but it's being proposed up in the Congress in the recent hate crimes legislation that would be granted protection to pedophiles. That's how far this thing is going. God's people ought to be righteously indignant over those kind of things. We ought to be righteously indignant over the ungodliness of the courts. We ought to be righteously indignant when the courts mistreat one of God's children, when a woman is deserted by an adulterous husband, and then the courts treat her like she's the offending party. And when the magistrates will not promote the peace by upholding the law of God, we ought to be righteously indignant about those things. But what we need to see is that all righteous indignation is not of the Spirit of God. Saul had an indignation, and it was a righteous indignation. Ammon was Israel's enemy, and the leader of the Ammonites, Nahash the king, his threatenings against Israel, that was something that God's people should have been indignant over. And so Saul was righteous in his indignation, but yet it was only of an outward work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit came upon him. Saul was not a regenerated man. We've seen in the life of Saul that though he showed in places like this some promise in his early days, yet he ended his life in disgrace and shame, in suicide. One of the last acts of his life was consulting with a witch of Endor. And his life, instead of growing in grace, was growing in unholiness, growing in the flesh. showing forth that he was not one of God's elect. So common operations of the Holy Spirit may provoke righteous indignation. Everybody that joins the pro-life movement is not a Christian. I would just have to tell you, quite frankly, from the pulpit, one of the reasons that I became less active in the pro-life movement was having to apparently fellowship with Roman Catholics and other heretical groups. Now we can be co-belligerents with people who are not Christians, okay? There's a difference in being a co-belligerent. But I think we need to be careful of how far we go of making people think we're having fellowship with them. We can join in a civic cause or in a righteous cause, and we are We are working in the personhood amendment initiative here in Mississippi. We appreciate Brother Leslie Riley and others that are doing more than we are. We appreciate that. And we're willing to work in such efforts. And we know that there are heretical groups and Roman Catholics and possibly Mormons and others that are involved in that initiative. And we need to be careful that we don't leave the impression that by joining the pro-life movement, that you're a Christian, that things are well with you. You see, you can have a righteous indignation and not be saved. You can have a righteous indignation, which is a common operation of the Holy Spirit. Common operations of the Spirit, sixthly, may provoke an interest in eternal happiness. As Balaam said in Numbers 23.10, another character that we know was a lost man. You know, it's interesting how you read things in the Old Testament that you have to go to the New Testament to get the full story. You know, I think about how, while you're finding your place there in Numbers 23, let me just mention this. We have to go to the New Testament to get the whole story sometimes. You know, if all we knew about Lot was what we read in the book of Genesis, I wouldn't have much encouragement that he was a believer. But if I go to 2 Peter chapter 2, I read where it says, that Lot was a righteous man, so I know he was a believer. And you know, if all I read about Balaam was what I read here in Numbers 23, you know, I might even think that Balaam might have been a believer. Because he said this in verse 10 of Numbers 23, Who can count the dust of Jacob and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his. But listen to what the Bible says of him in the book of 2 Peter. In 2 Peter it said of Balaam, which have forsaken the right way, 2 Peter 2.15, which have forsaken the right way and are gone astray following the way of Balaam, the son of Boser, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, but was rebuked for his iniquity, the dumb ass, for bidding with man's voice for bad, the madness of the prophet." And you go and read about him in the book of Jude. He was not a believer. He was an unconverted man. He was a lost man. For as we know, he died the way he lived. But here in verse 10, we see that Balaam was a man who had common operations of the Holy Spirit. He came in contact with Israel enough to know that Israel was being blessed. He says, who can count the dust of Jacob and the number of the fourth part of Israel? This is a people that God's blessing is upon them. No doubt he had heard the stories of how God had brought them out of Egypt, and the plagues, and the parting of the Red Sea, and all the things that God was doing. These things were noised abroad amongst the people. So he saw that God's hand was upon these people. And so he's made to say, let me die the death of the righteous. How many of an unconverted person has had desires for eternal happiness? How many people that never did no saving grace sang songs about going to heaven, and how many people we have known that showed little or no evidence of being converted, that if you talk to them about what would happen to them after this, we're just confident that they would die the death of the righteous, that they would be in heaven, that things would be well, yet showing no evidence of true conversion. And so it was with Balaam that he was operated on by the Holy Spirit in a common way. The common operations of the Spirit may be resisted. Look in Acts 7.51. This is where we'll end up and I'll come to my conclusion. In Acts 7.51, Stephen is preaching. And by the way, he doesn't have a congregation like I have today. My congregation today loves me and wants to hear what I've got to say and is in general agreement with what I preach. But it wasn't that way with Stephen. He had a congregation that hated his guts and hated what he was saying. He had a congregation of unregenerate people. And this is what he says in verse 51. Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost, as your fathers did so, do ye. Somebody would say, how do you fit Acts 7.51 into the doctrine of irresistible grace? How do you fit Acts 7.51 into the doctrine of effectual calling? Well, it's this. Stephen is speaking of common operations of the Holy Spirit. Unconverted people do resist the Holy Spirit, okay? Unregenerate people do resist the Holy Spirit when they reject Christ. When they reject the Gospel, when they reject salvation, when they reject the message that comes to them, when they reject Christ and His Gospel, they are resisting the Holy Ghost. But see, the Holy Ghost is not dealing with the non-elect in the way He does the elect. Because as we've seen in all these operations, there are common operations of which the Gospel and the truth of it is only going to them outwardly. They're only sensing with their natural senses, you see. There's only natural sensation, not spiritual sensation. And so, men may reject the common operations of the Holy Spirit. They may reject, and they do. And so it was with these, and so it is with all those who never know of regenerating divine grace, that as they resist the gospel, as they reject it, They are said to be resisting the Holy Ghost. Men cannot be saved unless they are effectually called. Men cannot be saved except they receive the Christian religion. Let us always keep in mind that there is a two-fold working of the Holy Spirit. There is a special work which is in God's people, and then there is a common work which is amongst all sorts of unregenerate people. There is an extraordinary work whereby salvation is wrought in the child of God. And there's an ordinary work that never brings true salvation. There's a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit, but there's also a natural work. There's an internal work and there's an external work. There's an irresistible work and there's a resistible work. There is a saving work and there is a work that is not saving. May the Lord be merciful and operate specially, extraordinarily, supernaturally, internally, irresistibly and savingly in each of us. May the work of the Holy Spirit in this place be shown in the final day to have been a special work and not a common operation. May the Lord bless His work. May we Receive His Word, and may the Holy Spirit bless the Word to you today. Let us pray. Father, we're thankful for Your Word, and I thank You for letting me preach the Gospel today. I thank You for the little flock that You brought together in this place, and I thank You for letting me be their servant. And I pray that Thou wouldst bless the Word I've tried to bring today. I pray that you would teach us and open our understanding, enlighten our understanding, that we might see what your word says. And now, precious Holy Spirit, please have dealings with each of us, and I pray that your work might be inward and savingly in each of my hearers this day. In Jesus' precious name we pray. Amen. God bless you, and we'll be dismissed for a little while.