Let us look again at the difference between the outpouring and the
set aside. So that when those who have been dealt with by the cross do the work of God, they have the power of resurrection within and the power of the Holy Spirit without. As a consequence, though today we are talking mainly about the Spirit's outpouring, we must not lay aside the truth of the cross heretofore mentioned. For this truth of the cross is most essential because it alone can enable the believer to walk in a clean path.
In helping brothers and sisters, we must be sure that we first help them to experience the victorious life and then lead them to seek the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This advice should never be reversed, for having the power of the outpoured Spirit without also having the resurrection power within is dangerous. Before a person receives the Spirit's outpouring, we should tell him to exert a certain degree of control lest he become totally disengaged. We must teach the brethren how to cooperate with the Holy Spirit. Until people can cooperate with Him we must teach them the basic truth.
3. The difference between the outpouring and the infilling of the Holy Spirit.
Let us look again at the difference between the outpouring and the infilling of the Holy Spirit. The outpouring is for all the saints, whereas the infilling is for a special group of people: those who have emptied themselves. While studying the Bible, we should notice the contrasting connection there is between words. For example: resurrection is linked with death, filling with emptying. By bringing related words together we come to the accurate knowledge of a given word. People who are filled with the Holy Spirit are those who have emptied themselves, for filling is linked to emptying. Before Pentecost, one hundred and twenty disciples were assembled at one place. They all received the outpouring as well as the infilling of the Holy Spirit because they had been dealt with by the risen Lord (see Acts 2.2,3-4). For this reason, they could gather for ten days and pray with one accord. The three thousand on the day of Pentecost also received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, but the Scriptures did not say that they had experienced the Spirit's filling. The one hundred and twenty had both the outpouring and the infilling, whereas the three thousand had only the outpouring. Later on, another five thousand received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, but they too had not received the filling of the Holy Spirit.
How do we know that the three thousand and the five thousand received only the outpouring and not the infilling of the Holy Spirit? Because in the church at that time, if all the people had been filled with the Holy Spirit, the
problem of daily ministration could not have arisen. But "there arose a murmuring of the Grecian Jews against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration" (Acts 6.1). This incident proves that these disciples were not filled with the Holy Spirit. Due to this problem, the apostles appointed seven to serve tables. These seven, we are told, were all persons full of the Holy Spirit (see v.3). Had the entire congregation been filled with the Holy Spirit, the infilling would have been so pervasive among these new believers that there would have been no need to choose. But because of the fact that not all among these many thousand believers were filled with the Holy Spirit, there needed to be the choosing of the seven. This proves that though many at that time had experienced the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, they had not had the infilling of the Holy Spirit.
As regards the Spirit's outpouring, the ascended Lord pours forth the Holy Spirit upon us because of our faith. Yet it has little relationship to life. But with respect to the filling of the Holy Spirit, it is the risen Lord who infills us because of our obedience. It requires a holy life in us.
If you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit you must empty yourself: you must be hungry and unsatisfied. Only in this way can you be inwardly filled and satisfied. There must always be an emptying, always a hungering. Then you can always be filled with the Holy Spirit. Never accept what you have already received as being sufficient. To the contrary, let the cross work daily in your life so as to be daily filled. The moment you fail to live victoriously, at that moment you forfeit the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Today you are filled with the Holy Spirit because you experience the dealing and emptying of the cross and live a victorious life.
Once I was having a meal in a brother's house. I finally decided I had eaten enough. But that brother continued to add food to my plate, and not just once or twice but twenty-odd times. I thought to myself, When will he stop adding? Now this is just the way it is for us in the state of grace. For the supply of God is always something to be experienced more and more. In God's grace, it is a matter of grace upon grace, an abundance of His grace. The more we experience victory, the more we are filled with the Holy Spirit. We are to be filled numberless times. But we must never reach the point of being content with what we have received, for the Holy Spirit can fill us more and more. The measure of the first filling is different from that of the second, the second from the third, the third from the fourth, and so on. The deeper you are dug into by the cross, the fuller you shall be filled with the Holy Spirit. The deeper the cut