Pastor John, what does it mean when the Apostle Paul calls Christians to walk by the Spirit or to keep in step with the Spirit? What does Paul mean by these phrases? This morning, Tony, I was reading Galatians 5 as part of my regular walk through the Bible, and every time I come to Galatians 5, I am struck again by this gathering together of statements about how I'm supposed to live by the Spirit.

Here they are. Verse 16, walk by the Spirit. Verse 18, be led by the Spirit. Verse 22, bear the fruit of the Spirit. Verse 25, live by the Spirit. Second in that verse, keep in step with the Spirit. So five different statements, and every time I read them, I say, "Oh Lord, I want to do that.

I want to know experientially what does it mean to walk by the Spirit and be led by the Spirit and bear the fruit of the Spirit and live by the Spirit and keep in step with the Spirit?" And I think the key is back in Galatians 3, because there we have an instruction about how the Spirit came to us the first time and how it keeps on being supplied.

So in chapter 3, verse 2, it says, "Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?" So it tells you the Spirit came to you through faith the very first time. You receive the Holy Spirit when you put your trust in Christ. That faith became the channel, and I think the Spirit created that channel by which you're united to Christ and the Spirit flows into you by virtue of your union with Christ through faith.

And then he says in verse 5, "Does he who supplies..." So now here we've got not the past receiving but the ongoing supply. "Does he who supplies the Spirit and works miracles among you..." And I think that would be not simply signs and wonders kinds of miracles, though that wouldn't be excluded.

It's also love, joy, peace, patience. I mean, the stuff that really makes us frustrated that we can't be better at, it's the Spirit that works those. Does he work those by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Exactly the same way we started. So you began by receiving the Spirit by faith, you go on experiencing the supply of the Spirit by faith.

So if a person asks, "Well, you sound very passive." Be led by the Spirit, bear fruit of the Spirit, and they are. I mean, the Spirit is God. He does things on us and in us, but the thing we're called to do is to hear, and I think that would mean hear the Word of God, hear the promises of God, hear the Gospel of God, and believe it, and on that belief, through that belief, the Holy Spirit comes.

And so very practically, here's the way I think it works. At least this is the way I try to walk by the Spirit, be led by the Spirit, bear the fruit of the Spirit. One of the fruits of the Spirit, and you can walk through all nine this way, one of them is patience.

So the fruit of the Spirit is patience. When the Holy Spirit is leading John Piper, when he's bearing fruit in John Piper's life, when John Piper is walking in step with the Spirit, he's patient. Now, what makes you want to be impatient? Something comes into your life, crosses your will, plans don't go the way you want, you get frustrated, people say something, you were intended to be somewhere and the traffic is thick, and there rises up in you this frustration or this anger or this disappointment, and it's a manifestation of impatience.

Now what are you supposed to do right there? You're supposed to trust, you're supposed to believe, you're supposed to hear something with faith. And the promise—there are a lot of promises that relate to patience. I'm gonna work all this together for your good. Remember the story of Joseph, how he would have surely been frustrated and wanted to be impatient for all those 13 years things seemed to be going terrible for him, and God was taking him to the vice presidency of Egypt to save a people.

And you remind yourself, God is sovereign, God is wise, God is good, God is in charge of the traffic, God's in charge of the airline schedules, God's in charge of what people say about you or to you, and you trust him. You, by an act of faith, you say, "God, I trust you, I believe you, you sent your son to die for me, you purchased this promise for me, and I will now trust you." And in the resting of that faith, the Spirit is at work.

That's his work, in and through that faith. So the restfulness of faith in the traffic jam is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. And then I asked myself one more question this morning. I said, "Why would God do it that way? Why would he attach the work of the Spirit, the supply of the Spirit, to my trustfulness in Christ and his gospel and his promises?" And I think the answer is that the Spirit, according to John 16, was given to glorify Christ.

"I will send him and he will glorify me," Jesus said. And how does the Spirit glorify Christ except that he works in and through our trusting Christ? Christ does something for us. He dies, he rises, he says, "I'll be with you," and he makes promises to us. "I'll help you and I'll strengthen you." And in trusting him, the Holy Spirit gives peace, and thus Christ gets the credit.

Christ gets the glory, because we're trusting a promise of Christ. So all that was not new to me this morning, Tony. I've written all about that in In Future Grace and other places, but every time I get there, it seems like God just kind of washes over me again with, "Are you doing this, John?

Are you living by the Spirit? Are you bearing the fruit of the Spirit? Are you bearing the fruit of the Spirit? Are you keeping in step with the Spirit?" And I have to just pause and say, "Oh God, I can do so much." But I want so much to enjoy fellowship with you in the leading of the Spirit.

Yes, thank you, Pastor John. And thank you for listening to this podcast. For more on walking by the Spirit, see Pastor John's book, "Future Grace," chapter 12 especially, and also see the e-book titled "Sanctification in the Everyday." It's one of 14 e-books you can find for free at DesiringGod.org.

I'm your host, Tony Reinke. Thanks for listening.