{"id":5633,"date":"2026-05-22T18:40:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T18:40:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/?p=5633"},"modified":"2026-05-22T18:40:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T18:40:19","slug":"pentecost-means-power-to-repent-and-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/2026\/05\/22\/pentecost-means-power-to-repent-and-run\/","title":{"rendered":"Pentecost Means Power to Repent and Run"},"content":{"rendered":"

[In anticipation of our joint Pentecost service, consider this modified excerpt from my (Jacob) sermon on Acts 1:4-5 which anticipates the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost for your edification. The full sermon is available here<\/a>.]<\/p>\n

Acts 1:4\u20135\u2014And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, \u201cyou heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now\u201d (Acts 1:4\u20135).<\/em><\/p>\n

The Promise of the Father<\/em>
\nThis passage is just two verses. But there is a ton of theology packed into these two verses. In fact, there is so much, that we just won\u2019t get to all of it here. But to begin to get a handle on the truths in our passage, we must remember to read in light of the bigger story that Luke continues to tell as a follow up not only to his gospel. Remember the message of Acts\u2026<\/p>\n

The risen king Jesus acts through his people of the Word, the church, by the Holy Spirit in order to fulfill God\u2019s kingdom promises through their witness<\/em>.<\/p>\n

And remember the immediate context…<\/p>\n

Our two verses point us back to some things we\u2019ve just seen in vv. 1\u20133, particularly with regard to Jesus’s resurrection and the kingdom of God. That is, if you recall Jesus is the culmination, the climax, and the fulfillment of all the OT (cf. Luke 24:27, 44\u201347). This is what Jesus told his disciples in the forty days he was with them before his ascension (cf. Acts 1:3). This is what he talked about. Our passage connects with this.<\/p>\n

And<\/em>, our passage also aims at, looks forward to, and anticipates Acts 2, the day of Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit, what our passage also calls, \u201cthe promise of the Father\u201d (Acts 1:5). Why is the Holy Spirit coming referred to as, \u201cthe promise of the Father?\u201d Where do we see God make this promise? This is our driving question: \u201cWhat all goes into the promise of the Father, the coming of the Holy Spirit?\u201d<\/p>\n

To answer this, we must also remember the wider canonical context…<\/p>\n

To fully grasp all that Luke lays out for us, we must read in light of the OT. Luke continues the story that God started writing through the OT authors and prophets. What they foresaw, longed for, and hoped for, is what our passage anticipates in Acts 2. What they foresaw, longed for, and hoped for, is what you friends are living in because he is living in you.<\/em><\/p>\n

When we consider the full breadth of Scripture, we find that built into the promise of the Holy Spirit are three promises:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The Promise of Purity<\/li>\n
  2. The Promise of Presence<\/li>\n
  3. The Promise of Power<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Purity. Presence. Power. These are some essentials to the promise of the Father, the coming of the Holy Spirit, that our passage anticipates. The promise of the Father, the gift of the Holy Spirit delivers to you unmatched, new covenant: purity (holiness), the very presence of God with and in you (relationship), and power (to overcome sin and be his witness).<\/p>\n

    For our purposes here, I want to draw your attention the promise of power<\/em>. Specifically, the promise of power to overcome sin.<\/p>\n

    The Promise of Power<\/em>
    \nThe third and final aspect to the promise of the Father, the promise of the Holy Spirit is power<\/em>. God will advance his kingdom through his Holy Spirit empowered people. Now, there is so much we could delve into on this topic, but let\u2019s consider this power specifically with regard to obedience.<\/p>\n

    The Holy Spirit gives power to increasingly overcome temptation, sin, and the flesh. The Holy Spirit gives power to obey God. Though we have been purified, made holy, and declared justified by Jesus through the Holy Spirit, we are still being sanctified. We still battle sinful flesh. We still must overcome sin and join in the Holy Spirit\u2019s ongoing, purifying and sanctifying work. And the Holy Spirit empowers us to do so.<\/p>\n

    OT prophets foresaw and longed for a day of such unprecedented power to obey God. Ezekiel foresaw and longed for Holy Spirit empowered obedience in God\u2019s people,<\/p>\n

    And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules (Ezekiel 36:27).<\/em><\/p>\n

    The reality is, under the curse of Adam we are unable to not sin. Think of that. Every work anyone has ever done no matter how good, apart from the aid and sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit is stained with sin. Fallen man is a slave to sin. So your work is sinful work. But with the coming of the Holy Spirit a new day has dawned. Those in Christ are no longer slaves to sin to do all that sin commands. Those in Christ are able to not sin<\/em>. And, more than that, those in Christ\u2014those in whom the Holy Spirit resides\u2014are able to work righteousness. How? By faith in the promises of God. The promise that he has perfectly purified, will perfectly purify, and will provide power through the Holy Spirit to turn from sin and do righteousness.<\/p>\n

    The Holy Spirit gives power to overcome sin and power to obey God. So how do we properly respond to this grand reality? In two ways: repent and run<\/em>.<\/p>\n

    First, repent<\/em>. Are you harboring sin? Let God\u2019s Word examine you. Ask God to search and reveal to you any grievous way within. Where you find unrepentant indwelling sin, repent<\/em> and begin the process of bearing fruit in keeping with repentance by killing it (Luke 3:8). Don\u2019t harbor sin. To refuse the rebuke and offer of forgiveness in the gospel by continuing in sin is to quench and grieve the Holy Spirit in you (1 Thess 5:19; Eph 4:30). Does the power of the Holy Spirit seem to allude you in your life? He is not dodging or juking you, but you may be delivering blows against and striking him with your unrepentant sin.<\/p>\n

    Second, run.<\/em> Run in the Holy Spirit obediently. The psalmist proclaims in Psalm 119:24, I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart.<\/em> With the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost the hearts of God’s people were enlarged<\/em>. With the coming of the Holy Spirit into your heart at your conversion, your personal Pentecost, your heart was enlarged to obey God, to run in the way of his commandments<\/em>. So run in obedience to him. And run to the ends of the earth with the gospel. And by the ends of the earth, that could mean the end of your street or the end of the row of cubicles in your office.<\/p>\n

    Here is what the power of the Holy Spirit in you leads to. Repentance and running in obedience. There is no other plan to make the gospel of Jesus known. This is it. God\u2019s people running in the Holy Spirit with the gospel. So go and do. Make disciples. The Holy Spirit working in and through you is the means by which King Jesus will change lives and the world by spreading his kingdom and glory to the ends of the earth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    [In anticipation of our joint Pentecost service, consider this modified excerpt from my (Jacob) sermon on Acts 1:4-5 which anticipates the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost for your…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5633"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5633\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5634,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5633\/revisions\/5634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}