The one hundred twenty disciples had five characteristics. First, they had received the forgiveness of sins. Second, they were separated from the world. Third, they lived in resurrection. Fourth, their hearts and their entire being were in the heavens. Fifth, they lived a life of prayer as their practical living. They were before God and they entered into God.
Anyone who has these five characteristics will be filled outwardly, economically, with the Holy Spirit. Many Christians earnestly seek the outward filling of the Holy Spirit. However, we need to see that as long as a person has the five characteristics of having received the forgiveness of sins, of being separated from the world, of living in resurrection, of living in the heavens, and of living a life of prayer, he will surely receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Whoever has reached such a state will be filled economically with the Holy Spirit.
Those who desire the economical filling of the Holy Spirit for the preaching of the gospel need to experience the forgiveness of sins based on the shedding of the Lord’s blood on the cross. They also need to be severed, separated, from the world through the resurrection of Christ. The world should have no place in them. Rather, they should be weaned from the world. They must know resurrection and what it means to live in resurrection. They should have an inward realization that the One into whom they have believed is not only the incarnated Savior who became a man, lived a human life, and was crucified for redemption but is also the resurrected Christ who was raised from the dead and became the life-giving Spirit to enter into them. In addition, they should know what ascension is and know that the life they have received is a heavenly life. They should be aware of the fact that they have ascended into the heavens with the Lord and are thus heavenly persons (Eph. 2:6). Outwardly, they are still living on the earth, but inwardly, with respect to their inner life and mood, they are in the heavens. Finally, in their practical living on the earth, they must be persons who pray continually by coming before God, entering into Him, and living in the light of His face. If this is our condition, we must believe that the Holy Spirit has come upon us to fill us outwardly. This is a fact whether or not we have the feeling that the Spirit has come upon us.
My burden is neither to describe the feeling of being filled with the Holy Spirit nor to help others seek this feeling. Although we may have a feeling when the Holy Spirit comes upon us, we should not care for this feeling. Rather, we need to believe that if we have the five characteristics of the experience and living of the one hundred twenty, the Holy Spirit will come upon us. This economical filling of the Holy Spirit will result in the overflow of life from within us. No matter what the manifestation of this filling is, once we are filled, we will be full of power and burden to the extent that we cannot help but flow out what is within us. This is the gospel, and this is the power of the gospel.
When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we receive an inward burden, and this burden is the Lord Jesus Himself. The Spirit with whom we are filled is the Lord Jesus Himself (2 Cor. 3:17). At such a time, what fills our entire being is the Lord as the Spirit. We are filled with Him to the extent that others may think that we are drunk with wine (Acts 2:13). However, we will not be full of wine but full of Christ, full of life, and full of the Holy Spirit. Thus, we cannot help but overflow.
This is the normal situation required of everyone who would preach the gospel. Our gospel is the overflow of life, the discharging of Christ as our burden from within. It is neither the issue of being stirred up in the natural man nor the result of our enthusiasm. We do not preach the gospel merely because we see the urgency of tens of thousands of souls who need to be saved and the misery of people in bondage. This is not the focus of our work. Our gospel issues from the need to unload Christ, to impart Him into others, because we have been filled with Him inwardly. We preach the gospel because we have experienced Christ in the forgiveness of sins and in being separated from the world. Furthermore, we have experienced Him as the resurrection life and as the ascended Savior. Because we have experienced Christ in such a way, we live before God and in God. Because we are in such a condition, all that is in the Holy Spirit has come into us and overflowed upon us. Inwardly and outwardly we are filled; what is in our mind, our concept, our mood, and everything related to us is entirely Christ and entirely the Spirit. Thus, we cannot help but rise up and preach the gospel.
Stirring others up is useless, and our natural enthusiasm is in vain. Every one of the saints needs to have dealings with God concerning the five characteristics of the one hundred twenty disciples, until each one is able to declare, “I know that my sins have been forgiven; I am a saved person, and my sins have been dealt with. The earthly things have no place in me, and I have no worldly entanglements. All the earthly things are under my feet, and I have left the world behind me forever. I can testify that the One into whom I have believed is not only the incarnated and crucified Savior but also the resurrected Christ. I live in Him, and He lives in me. I know the resurrection life, and I also know the power of Christ’s resurrection and ascension. Just as the Lord is in the heavens, I also am in the heavens, and my disposition is altogether heavenly. There is nothing between God and me. I am living before God and in God, and my practical life on earth is a life of prayer in the shining of God’s countenance.” Then we will be able to preach the gospel. Some may say that in order to have the power of the gospel, we need to have the outpouring of the Spirit. However, if we take care of these five characteristics and meet these five conditions, we can have the assurance that the Holy Spirit has already been poured upon us, without any other requirements.
If the Lord’s blood has washed away our sins, if His cross has separated us from the world, if we have experienced resurrection and ascension, and if we are living before God, it will be difficult for us not to have the outpouring of the Spirit when we pray. When this is our situation, we will be filled with an inward burden, which is nothing less than the Lord Jesus, and we will bear Him to others by preaching the gospel.
In our preaching of the gospel, our desire is not to have a great gospel move. Rather, it is that many saints will go before God to pursue and to have dealings until their condition matches that of the one hundred twenty disciples on the day of Pentecost. In this way the saints will have their sins forgiven, the world will have no place in them, and they will be people in resurrection and ascension, living before God and in God so that they may receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and be mingled with God as one. When this is their condition, they will be manifested as a testimony of the gospel. When they speak concerning sin or forsaking the world, they will not speak mere doctrine. Rather, even without saying a word, they will stand as a living testimony of the reality of what they speak.