Galatians 5:16 - Walking by the Spirit

At times we all find it difficult to receive help from someone. I’m sure there are times when you expect someone’s help, but there are other times when you don’t want anyone’s help. Sometimes, you’re sure that you’re capable on your own or that you may have needed some help at first, but now you’re self-sufficient.

Walking by the Spirit is something we can never do on our own. We naturally assume that we can. In fact, believers often expect that they should be able to. The assumption is that in the beginning our salvation was up to Christ, but now everything is up to us. We simply need to hear and accept what we should and should not do.

So we read this list of the fruit of the Spirit, and our sinful nature deceives us, framing it as an achievement of the human will. But it’s not the fruit of the human will; it’s the fruit of the Spirit. He must produce it in us, and He won’t do it through man-centered motivation.

When our will or determination is primary, we may outwardly display something that resembles certain aspects of the fruit, but there can be a disconnect between what we do or say and how we truly are within. Man sees the outward appearance, but God sees the heart. And it’s not “the fruits” (plural), but rather, “the fruit” (singular). They’re a package deal.

Now, God has given His Spirit to His people. He has poured out His Spirit on us. His Spirit dwells within us. So do we just hear God’s moral law and do it?

Not exactly. It’s true that we take action, but God must transform us within to produce this fruit in us, and based on the language Paul uses in Galatians 5:16, we should look at the working of the Holy Spirit among the ancient Israelites in the OT. They “walked” in the wilderness after their deliverance from slavery in Egypt, and the OT clearly teaches that the Holy Spirit was with them as they went.

We saw earlier in the passages of Scripture read by Randy that on their journey, the Spirit of God was active among them. Scripture repeatedly draws parallels between the Israelites and those saved in Christ.

Israel was delivered from slavery in Egypt; Christ delivers us from a greater slavery – bondage to sin, death, and the law.

Israel journeyed through the wilderness of the ancient Near East; we journey through a greater wilderness – life in this fallen world.

And Israel arrived at the earthly promised land. Christ will bring us finally to a greater promised land – a heavenly one, with Him.  

Today and next Sunday, as we are going to explore how to walk by the Spirit. And I want to draw your attention to how God’s Spirit worked among the Israelites — specifically, by leading them and feeding them. To “walk by the Spirit,” we, too, must be led by God and fed by God. Only then can we truly bear the Spirit’s fruit.

Are you willing to admit your need for help and accept the help Christ provides?

Now, Paul has urged the Galatians to resist self-righteousness and rest solely in the righteousness of Christ found at the cross. The cross produces humility that results in true love for God and others. That kind of love is a blessing to the church. Without it, strife and conflict will destroy us.


Being led by the Spirit of God is often thought of as something very subjective. That is to say, it’s personal and internal and ultimately based on your opinion. But if we look at how the Spirit led the Israelites, that was much more objective. It was based on facts and not feelings.

Notice how Nehemiah describes the wilderness journey of the Israelites in chapter 9. He says of the one true God, verse 19, “You in Your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, nor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they should go.” These are references to how the OT book of Exodus recounts their journey.

And notice Isaiah 63:11. God is “He who put in the midst of them His Holy Spirit.” And verse [14] “Like livestock that go down into the valley, the Spirit of the LORD gave them rest. So You led your people, to make for Yourself a glorious name.” The Israelites were led by the Spirit. The pillar and cloud was the Holy Spirit of God.

And God gave them continual instructions to follow. He eventually gave them His law as a guide for harmony with Him and with each other. After the Exodus, the Israelites still recognized God’s objective means of leading them. In Psalm 143, King David says to God, [10] “Teach me to do Your will, for you are my God! Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground!” The leading of the Spirit was very evident. It was very apparent. Pillar of fire by night, cloud by day – and later, the written law for His people.

Look back at Galatians 5. Before Paul lists the fruit of the Spirit, he says, “walk by the Spirit.” With the ancient Israelites in mind, we understand this to mean “follow the clear leading of the God of your salvation. Submit to the means by which He guides you.”

In this New Covenant era in which Christ has come and performed His saving work, the Holy Spirit of God is not only among us, but within those who are born again. This fulfills the prophecy of Ezekiel. In Galatians 4, we read, “God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts.”

Therefore, we who are born again can recognize the Spirit’s leading and follow Him. We have His written Word, and we have the wisdom of Spirit-led believers as their advice agrees with God’s Word, and we have His Spirit within us. So, we have a tremendous amount of guidance from God for how to live as we journey through the difficult wilderness of life in a fallen world.

Do you take seriously the clear means by which the Lord aims to lead you? On page 5 of your WG, there in the margin, you can see the NT warrant for ministers to preach and teach the Word of God and read it in the congregation. In Ephesians 6, Paul calls the Word of God “the sword of the Spirit.” The author of Hebrews writes, “the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword…discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

Through the preaching and teaching of His Word in the congregation, Christ leads us. We also have the opportunity to read the Word in our daily lives. And we have prayer. Scripture even assures that though “we do not know what to pray for as we ought,...the Spirit Himself intercedes for us.” So, the Spirit prays for our needs in accordance with Father’s will.

To walk by the Spirit, we must be led by God. It’s not that feelings or desires don’t matter, but we must rely on the message of the cross and the objective, impartial commands of God.

Now, you might think, “Isn’t that just hearing the moral law and then doing it?” Fair question. But being led by God in this way is only part of how we walk by the Spirit.

There’s another aspect of Israel’s walking by the Spirit that we should understand. Ancient Israel needed God not only to steer them, but also, to sustain them. The wilderness journey was God’s will for them. It was a period of testing between captivity and the promised land. It was a time that revealed what was in their hearts. God would lead – and they were to walk in His ways.

But look at Nehemiah 9:20, “You gave your good Spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst.” God’s means of sustenance were, at times, a source of tension. The Israelites were unhappy at times with God’s provision in the wilderness, and so they fantasized about returning to Egypt, where the food was seemingly better.

But remember, they were slaves in Egypt. However, their hunger was real and it clouded their judgment. Their felt needs were so strong and their sinful ways were exposed. But they never lacked God’s sustenance for them, though there was, at times, delayed satisfaction by trusting God.

Scripture affirms that sin can be pleasurable for a season. Sin usually offers instant gratification. Therefore it seems right to us – though, in the end, it leads to destruction.
Conversely, with God’s ways, the gratification is sometimes delayed. That’s why faith is necessary. The Israelites were required to receive the Lord’s provision by faith. They were called to resist the temptation to grumble and long for Egypt, and instead to trust the God who saved them.

Look again at Galatians 5:16. “Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” In other words, if you are steered and sustained by God:
you won’t obey the lust of your sinful nature which formerly enslaved you, you won’t return the law for your justification, you won’t return to that from which God delivered you, you won’t operate out of self-righteousness and you won’t seek the instant gratification of sin. We must be led by God and fed by God.

How does God “feed us” today? How did He feed Israel? God gave them manna (or bread) to eat and water to drink.

Christ taught that these foreshadowed a greater “feeding” through His saving work. In John 6, some descendants of Israel said to Jesus, “[31] Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” [32] Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. [33] For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” [34] They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” [35] Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

Jesus says that the true sustenance for God’s people is Himself. This is why Peter told the churches, “take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. [18] But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” As your pastor, I pray for you. I often don’t know what to pray. But I do pray that. That you would grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ.

The person and work of Jesus not only saves us but sustains us in the wilderness.

Jesus went on to say, [48] I am the bread of life. [49] Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. [50] This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. [51] I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” Here in worship, every Lord’s Day, the Living Bread is served to you as Jesus Christ is proclaimed to you!

Jesus also spoke of living water from heaven. John 7 says, “Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. [38] Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Then, the apostle John adds, “[39] Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

God has given us Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit to sustain us. Living bread, living water, so that we may no longer hunger or thirst, which means this: that we may no longer have your deepest needs unmet. In Christ, we have peace with God,
we have the forgiveness of our sins. We are set free from sin’s control. We have eternal life. We have His life-giving Spirit within us that we may be steered and sustained by God.

Do you see? To walk by the Spirit, we must be led and fed by God. At any moment, Christ may not be “the food,” so to speak, that you want. But He is that good food that will satisfy you and make you strong to endure. This goes further than simply, “Read the Bible and obey the rules.” This is a full-orbed biblical understanding of the Christian life in the wilderness that always points us to who Jesus is and what He’s done.

Last Sunday, I chose for the benediction these words from Colossians 2: [6] “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, [7] rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” For you to truly walk in the Spirit and bear the fruit of the Spirit in your life, Christ must be exalted higher and higher in your heart and mind. You must be led by Christ and fed with Christ.

And so, we preach Christ each week to quench your thirst. We proclaim Christ each week to satisfy your hunger. And we offer Christ every time we come to His table. We pursue walking by the Spirit by God’s appointed means, looking not within, but to Christ, not to our own power, but the power He provides.

Have you believed in the Lord Christ? Trust in Him today.

Let’s bow together in prayer.