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Lord's Day. The epistle of Hebrews is rather unique in that it doesn't open like a regular epistle, author identifying himself and the person to whom he's writing, but rather it's been noted that the book of Hebrews opens like a sermon and some have suggested it's like a sermon that would have been proclaimed in a synagogue at the time or an early church setting and of course it sets forth the glory of Jesus Christ in wonderful ways and so Hebrews chapter 1.

And Jason will pray. Hebrews chapter 1. Long ago at many times and in many ways God spoke to our fathers by the prophets but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son whom he appointed the heir of all things through whom also he created the world.

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

For to which of the angels did God ever say you are my son today I have begotten you or again I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son. And again when he brings the firstborn into the world he says let all God's angels worship him.

Of the angels he says he makes his angels winds and his ministers a flame of fire. But of the Son he says your throne O God is forever and ever. The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.

You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions. And you Lord laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning and the heavens are the work of your hands.

They will perish but you remain. They will all wear out like a garment like a robe you will roll them up like a garment they will be changed but you are the same and your years will have no end. And to which of the angels has he ever said sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

Are they not all ministering servants spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father we thank you for this wonderfully descriptive passage of who Jesus Christ is.

He is the radiance of the glory of God. He is the exact imprint of your nature. Jesus Christ is God very God. And Lord we are so thankful to know you. We're thankful to know you through Jesus Christ. And Lord we pray that as we open up your Word this morning that we would get a clearer glimpse of who Jesus Christ is.

And help us Lord apply that truth to our lives so that we might more accurately praise and worship you. We thank you Lord for your faithfulness to us. In Jesus name. Amen.

Well I missed being with you last week but Mary and I were able to try out our new app. Our church's app. So we were able to watch the service or most of it. And Jason giving his message. And it's encouraging to me that you know I can be away and everything's going to be fine.

You know it's the Lord's Church. You know it's not mine but it nevertheless is reassuring. Well let's turn to John chapter 6 once again please. And this is the seventh Lord's Day in which we're in this chapter.

Lord willing we'll complete our study of John 6 today. Last time we began to address the last section of this passage which is contained in verses 60 to 71. And the main theme of these verses is that only those enabled by God's sovereign grace will believe on Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

Here we will have reinforced the biblical truth that God not only initially brings us to faith in Christ by his grace but that he also keeps us in faith by his grace onto our final salvation. And so let's read these verses once again.

Again John 6 verse 60 and following. Therefore many of his disciples when they heard this said, this is a hard say who can understand it. And when Jesus knew in himself that his disciples complained about this he said to them, does this offend you?

What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit and they are life. But there are some of you who do not believe.

For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe and who would betray him. And he said, therefore I have said to you that no one can come to me unless it has been granted to him by my Father.

From that time many of his disciples went back and walked with him no more. And then Jesus said to the twelve, do you also want to go away? But Simon Peter answered him, Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

And also we've come to believe and know that you are the Christ the Son of the Living God. And Jesus answered them, did I not choose you the twelve and one of you is a devil? He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray him being one of the twelve.

Up to this point the Lord had gathered many disciples who followed him, we read of that in verse 60. But after hearing Jesus instructing them in what is recorded for us here in John chapter 6, they voiced their concern and their confusion to Jesus, saying this is a hard thing, who can understand it?

But our Lord did not soften his tone or mince his words to them when they expressed resistance to his teaching. He then spoke to them in terms that aggravated their dissonance and fueled their defection from him.

And the result was that many of these many disciples, so-called, stopped following Jesus due to what they heard Jesus teach them in this discourse. They were offended by the doctrine that Jesus taught them.

In their departure from following Jesus, of course, they proved themselves not to be true disciples. We emphasized this last time, for had they been true disciples of Christ, although they might have been troubled by what he taught them, they would have continued with him regardless of the difficulty of his words or the confusion that may have resulted or characterized their thinking.

Jesus had said in another place, or actually we'll get to it in a couple chapters from now, maybe three months from now, I don't know, if you abide in my word you are truly my disciples. True disciples continue in the Lord's word.

And so we stressed last time that true Christians are true disciples of Jesus Christ. If one is not a disciple of Jesus, he is no Christian regardless of what he claims. He does not know Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.

Temporary disciples are not true disciples of Jesus Christ. Temporary disciples are not true Christians, because true Christians continue in faith. Only those who endure unto the end in their faith in Jesus Christ are saved from their sins on the day of judgment and granted by him the gift of everlasting life.

Now let's work through these verses of John 6, 60 through 71. First we say in these first six verses, our Lord's response to those who reacted to and rejected his hard saying. Our Lord had emphasized that the way unto eternal life was through faith in him.

Saving faith is present when a sinner, of course, wholly and fully depends upon Jesus alone for the gift of eternal life. And in order to stress the nature of this full acceptance and submission to him, Jesus described believing on him as eating his flesh and drinking his blood, which certainly caused a reaction.

He declared, most assuredly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.

And the Jews, of course, were greatly offended by these words. And even his so-called many disciples, they were offended. And so in verse 60 we read of their reaction to his words and their refusal to receive his words as true words.

Therefore many of his disciples, when they heard this, they said, this is a hard saying. Who can understand it? Now, if you read this verse carefully as we've set it forth from the New King James Version, it suggests that their objection posed to Jesus was their difficulty to understand what he was saying to them.

This is a hard saying. Who can understand it? But actually the objection of these many disciples was not in understanding his words, but rather they were telling him that no one would accept what he was saying.

In other words, the problem was not that they found his words incomprehensible, but rather they found his words objectionable. And that's the issue here. And I am reminded of the response of the infidel Mark Twain to a reporter who once asked him, do the things of the Bible that you do not understand trouble you?

And his response was, no, the things of the Bible that I do understand troubled me. And they understood what he was saying in a sense. They didn't see the spiritual meaning or implication, but they heard him quite clearly.

These people were declaring to Jesus that no one would accept or receive what he had been telling them. And really they were right in that. The English Standard Version better conveys this idea that the problem was not understanding, but rather acceptability of what Jesus said.

It reads, when many of his disciples heard it, they said, this is a hard saying. Who can listen to it? Who can put up with it, is the idea. Not that it was difficult to understand so much. Or perhaps even the NIV may carry this idea a little more clearly.

On hearing it, many of his disciples said, this is a hard teaching. Who can accept it? And so that's the issue. The fact is they were not asking Jesus to explain his words. They would have him retract his words.

And that, of course, is not what he would do. Well, this clarification of their reaction justifies the manner in which our Lord responded to them in verses 61 and following. Does this offend you? What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where he was before?

This no doubt got a rise from them. A little fly-fishing lingo there. Rise to the fly drifting over them. This got a rise from them. We should not be surprised when people react to what we believe and teach regarding our faith in Jesus Christ.

Much of Christian evangelism and really the work of ministry is the attempt to answer objections and settle confused and errant souls. J .C. Ryle wrote of this, a Church of England minister of the 19th century.

Murmurs and complaints of this kind are very common. It must never surprise us to hear them. They have been, they are, and they will be as long as the world stands. To some, Christ's sayings appear hard to understand.

To others, as in the present case, they appear hard to believe and harder still to obey. It's just one of the many ways in which the natural corruption of man shows itself. So long as the heart is naturally proud, worldly, unbelieving, and fond of self-indulgence, if not of sin, so long there will never be wanting people who will say of Christian doctrines and precepts, these are hard sayings, who can hear them?

And the idea that somehow the church is supposed to pare these things down and make them soft and palatable to unconverted people is just not the biblical way of helping souls. This is not how the Lord Jesus dealt with these people on this occasion.

He didn't back off, he didn't retract, he went at them. And so what should our attitude be? Ryle went on to write, humility is the frame of mind which we should labor and pray for if we would not be offended.

If we find any of Christ's sayings hard to understand, we should humbly remember our present ignorance and believe that we shall know more by and by. If we find any of his sayings difficult to obey, we should humbly recollect that he will never require of us impossibilities and that which he bids us to do he will give us the grace to perform.

Humility is the grace that should characterize us because there are many things in the word that we don't understand and because of our sin there are many things in the word that we may find offensive at first reading.

Again, the Lord Jesus did not soften his words to these followers so-called but he really ramped up his assertion by making a claim far greater than what he had before and so here he spoke of his pre-existence as God.

He said, what then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where he was before? Our Lord's reference to before refers to the time of his existence prior to his birth into the world as Jesus of Nazareth.

For him to ascend to where he was before refers to heaven, the abode of God, it's a claim to deity on the lips of Jesus. Jesus Christ is eternal God or more specifically he's the eternal Son of God who reigned as the ruler over his creation from its beginning and in his divine nature he descended into this world, that's language to relate to us as human beings, he descended into this world joining to himself our human nature which is both a physical body and a reasonable soul, thereby being born into this world as both God and man, two natures in one person, Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

The Apostle Paul wrote of this descent of the Son of God when he quoted an Old Testament prophecy of the ascent of the Lord Jesus Christ, the exaltation of Christ after his resurrection and it was in the context about spiritual gifts Paul wrote these words, but to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift therefore he says when he ascended on high, this is the prophecy of Christ, he led captivity captive and gave gifts to men and Paul went on to describe these gifts as gifted persons to the church, evangelists, pastors and teachers and such forth and so forth.

He was quoting Psalm 68 18 which he applied to the resurrection and exaltation of Christ who is thrown in heaven as Lord the promised Son of David and so after having conquered the devil and even death itself Jesus ascended into heaven to be seated on the throne of God and so it's at this point the Apostle Paul gave further explanation as to Jesus ascending into heaven that he first descended from heaven in the incarnation and so he gave, Paul gave this parenthetic statement at this point and we have it there in your notes, Ephesians and this is verse 9, now this he ascended what does it mean but that he also first descended into the lower parts of the earth, he who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens that he might fill all things, Ephesians 4 9 and 10.

Here the expression the lower parts of the earth is a reference to the womb of the Virgin Mary, Paul declared that the Son of God had descended to the earth in his incarnation having come down from heaven and in our passage in John chapter 6 Jesus said to these people what then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where he was before, same ideas conveyed.

Now Jesus was referring to his descent from heaven in his incarnation but actually he was opposing a question to them wasn't he, what then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where he was before, he's actually talking about the potential of a future event right, what if you should see him going up to where he was before and so he was speaking of this future event and actually 11 of the 12 disciples who were standing there listening to our Lord on this occasion in John chapter 6 actually saw the ascent of the Lord didn't they, what if you should see me ascending up to where I was before and of course in Acts chapter 1 we see that this is exactly what they didn't see, it was like a prophecy that the Lord is giving to his disciples and so we read in Acts 1 verse 9 now when he had spoken these things while they watched he Jesus was taken up in a cloud the shekinah glory of God received him out of their sight and while they looked steadfastly toward heaven he as he went up behold two men stood by them in white apparel, angels who also said men of Galilee why do you stand gazing up into heaven this same Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will so come in like manner as you saw him go to heaven a promise of the second coming Jesus returning physically visibly and so his apostles did in effect see the Son of Man ascend where he was before and so here in John 6 62 Jesus is proclaiming his pre-existence but also anticipating his exaltation as Lord of Lords and King of Kings.

Now the Lord had already alluded of course to this in his discourse that he was God who came down in the incarnation when he identified himself as the two bread that came down from heaven and there are actually three verses in John chapter 6 that speak about this but he also made this claim of coming down from heaven in other places of John's gospel it's quite a common idea that is found we saw it back in John 3 13 no one has ascended to heaven but he who came down from heaven that is the Son of Man who is in heaven that's a fascinating verse even as Jesus was talking on the earth he's describing his divine nature is still in heaven you know God manifested himself in the person of Jesus but he wasn't limited to the human body of Jesus as eternal God you know he's infinite and without boundaries whatsoever and so even when he was here on earth ministry his divine nature filled all in all.

John 6 38 for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me he came down from heaven that's the incarnation. John 6 46 not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God he has seen the Father that idea from God he came from God.

John 8 23 he said to them you are from beneath I am from above you are this world I am NOT of this world and also in John 8 Jesus said to them if God were your father you would love me for I proceeded forth and came from God nor have I come of myself but he sent me and John 16 28 I came forth from the Father and have come into the world again I leave the world and go to the Father and so this is a common theme in John's gospel the incarnation God the eternal Son of God assuming a human nature becoming Jesus of Nazareth God and man our Savior.

Before we move on from verse 62 however I think we should take some time and address the meaning of our Lord's self-designation here that we probably read over quite quickly without thinking about it and that's his self-designation as the Son of Man again Jesus declared what then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where he was before nobody referred to Jesus as the Son of Man except himself and he did so repeatedly by the way.

What did he mean to convey by this self-designation Son of Man? Again no one else called him by his name but this is how he referred to himself. It's popularly taught and thought that when Jesus referred to himself as the Son of Man that he was speaking about his human nature and that's not correct but it's commonly believed and so they would say something like whereas the term Son of God refers to his divine nature the term Son of Man refers to his human nature and that's not correct.

The Son of Man is a title that Jesus used for himself in order to identify himself as the promised Messiah the Son of Man is a messianic title a title of the promised Messiah who would come to bring salvation to his people and so the Son of Man expression as you find them in the various contexts of the Gospels are described here by a man who's with the Lord now who wrote a very good systematic theology Robert Raymond.

This title the Son of Man in the fourth gospel connotes the heavenly superhuman side of Jesus's mysterious existence expressing what is commonly called his pre-existence as the Son of Man Jesus in the synoptics that would be Matthew Mark and Luke claim to have the authority to forgive sins to regulate even the observance of the divine ordinance of the Sabbath clearly prerogatives of deity alone.

To speak against the Son of Man he said although forgivable is blasphemy as the Son of Man the angels are his implying thereby his own super angelic status and lordship over them as the Son of Man he would know a period of humiliation having no place to lay his head and finally even dying the cruel death of crucifixion but he the Son of Man would suffer and die he declared only to the end that he might ransom others.

A man's eternal destiny would turn on his relationship to the Son of Man he taught for unless the Son of Man gives a man life there is no life in him as the Son of Man he would rise from the dead and sit at the right hand of power come in clouds with all his holy angels and the glory of his father true enough but coming in his own glory as well and when he comes he declared he would come with the authority to execute judgment upon all men precisely because he is the Son of Man.

Clearly the Son of Man sayings embodied Jesus's conception of Messiahship and its associations were supernatural even divine in character and so you just see from that paragraph it would be improper to just assume when Jesus used the term Son of Man he was speaking about his human nature.

No there's much more involved and then B .B. Warfield the wonderful Presbyterian theologian who died in the early 20th century he wrote this regarding the title Son of Man, it is in the picture which Jesus himself draws for us of the Son of Man that we see his superhuman nature portrayed for the figure thus brought before us is distinctly a superhuman one one which is not only in the future to be seen sitting at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven but which in the present world itself exercises functions which are truly divine for who is the Lord of the Sabbath but the God who instituted it in commemoration of his own rest and who can forgive sins but God only the assignment of the Son of Man of the function of judge of the world and the ascription of him of the right to forgive sins are in each case but another way saying he is a divine person for these are divine acts and so the Son of Man does not indicate his humanity.

What. Then why did Jesus call himself the Son of Man. And actually there are two reasons. First by this title Jesus identified himself with the Son of Man promised in Daniel 7 13 and 14. Now the Son of Man is an expression that Ezekiel used dozens of times in his prophecy but it's been commonly universally recognized.

When Jesus used the term Son of Man he was identifying himself with the Son of Man of Daniel 7 13 and 14 and here we read it in of Daniel's vision I was watching in the night visions and behold one like the Son of Man.

There's the Old Testament origin of Jesus's expression one like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven he came to the ancient of days that be God the Father and they brought him near before him.

Then to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all nation people's nations languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.

Now our dispensational friends for those of you who have ears to hear wrongly interpret this passage to be a prophecy of the second coming of Jesus Christ. They're wrong in that they say things like this.

When Jesus first came he came to be a Savior but when he comes a second time he'll return a king. But this is terribly wrong. I would argue they teach that this passage Daniel 7 13 and 14 is a prophecy of his second coming when he will become king to reign over a future thousand-year earthly Jewish millennium.

John MacArthur God bless him the great man of God that he is nevertheless is wrong in his interpretation of these verses that he set forth in his studied Bible. He declared that Daniel shouldn't be 9.

I believe it should be. 7 13 and 14 is a prophecy of Christ future earthly millennial kingdom of verse 14 he wrote the reference to all people's nations and languages. These distinctions are earthly and speak of the promise of an earthly kingdom ruled by Christ that merges into the eternal kingdom.

In other words he teaches that Daniel 7 13 and 14 is a prophecy of the second coming of Christ that he will then become king over an earthly thousand-year millennium. That's his teaching and this is common to dispensationalists.

But if you read Daniel 7 and 13 and 14 carefully you'll see that there is no reference here to Jesus's second coming to the earth. It speaks of Jesus coming to the ancient of days coming to the throne of God in heaven.

He's not coming to earth. God the Father sitting on his throne in heaven the crucified but risen Messiah came to the father received from his authority to reign as king over the kingdom of God. And Paul wrote of this event.

Therefore God all his highly exalted him and given him the name above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven those on earth those under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

He received that kingdom when he ascended into heaven after his resurrection not his second coming. And so this took place when Jesus ascended into heaven after his resurrection. And it's recorded for us in detail in Revelation 5.

If we had time we would read that it's a wonderful passage that is not talking about a future second coming is talking about what happened when Christ rose from the dead and went to heaven. Daniel 7 13 and 14 were fulfilled.

John saw in Revelation 5 a lamb slain as it were came forth. He was worthy to take that scroll from the hand of the Father and he walked up to the throne of God in heaven and the Father handed in that scroll.

And then all the angelic host began to give praise to Jesus Christ as promised Lord and King. And so this was a this is a prophecy of his exaltation upon his resurrection and it's recorded in detail there he was given a name above every name.

Jesus Christ sat down on his father's throne and he began to reign as the crucified risen and now enthroned Lord of Lords and King of Kings. And so one reason that Jesus used the expression for himself Son of Man was to identify himself as the promised Messiah who had received this authority as king over the kingdom of God which he received from his father when he ascended into heaven.

There was a second reason however that Jesus used this title the Son of Man. This was so he could declare himself to be the Messiah but in a way that no one would have imposed their wrong understandings upon him of what kind of Messiah he would be to them.

The Jews had all kinds of misconceptions of the nature of the promised kingdom and the Messiah who would come again. Robert Raymond stated this traditional understanding of this title of Jesus. The church has traditionally understood the phrase Son of Man as the title Jesus chose as a self-designation precisely because although assuredly messianic this title was ambiguous in meaning to the current and popular imagination.

When Jesus described him as the Son of Man nobody understood what he would say. This enabled him to claim to be the Messiah with little danger of the current erroneous views being read into it before he had opportunity to infuse it with the full orb content of the messianic task which was foreshadowed in and predicted the Old Testament.

In other words there was no uniform understanding among Jews of the identity and the nature of the Messiah as to when he would come to his people. The majority of the Jews were looking for a descendant of King David whom God would use to re-inaugurate the Davidic Kingdom leading Israel to become the dominant nation over the entire Gentile world.

Other Jews however did not believe that the Messiah would be a earthly figure a human being but rather he would be a Messiah like a heavenly figure coming like a Son of Man who would usher in the end of the world the resurrection of the dead and bring about the new heavens and the new earth.

The people who lived in the community of Qumran down by the Dead Sea had this understanding of the coming of the Messiah. No one was anticipating a suffering Savior who would die as a sacrifice for sin then be raised unto life even though it's taught everywhere in the Old Testament.

And when Jesus asserted he was the Son of Man he could instruct and prepare his disciples for the great event of his impending sufferings and the glory to the kingdom that would follow in Jesus Christ.

The various streams of messianic understanding of the Jews were realized and displayed. Errant understandings were discredited and the truth of Jesus is the promise of Sion was manifest. And so through Jesus using this title the Son of Man he was able to instruct and prepare his disciples for the fulfillment of all of God's promises to him.

And so the Son of Man is a messianic title and he infused it with meaning through understanding of the scriptures over the course of his ministry to his disciples. Well after our Lord posed this question to those who heard him he made this statement recorded in John 6 63.

It is the Spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit and they are life. And so Jesus Christ declared the faith to believe in him and to believe. His teaching was due to spiritual life that the Holy Spirit sovereignly bestows upon people.

Jesus said it's the Spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The Holy Spirit gives spiritual life only he can for the flesh profits nothing. Here is another statement of our Lord in which he declared the sovereign grace of God in bestowing spiritual life.

Fallen man is incapable of achieving spiritual life. He cannot be gained. It cannot be gained by man. It must be imparted to him by the Holy Spirit. You can't create yourself into the womb of your mother and therefore be born.

You cannot create new life within you spiritual life. It has to be done from outside of you by the Holy Spirit. And this is of course clearly taught in the scriptures. And our Lord made this statement in the face of those who reacted and objected to his teaching.

He wasn't surprised by their reaction and rejection. Only the Holy Spirit can enable a man to hear and be enabled to understand and respond to the Word of God. Paul wrote of this to the Corinthians as it's written.

I has not seen nor ear heard nor ventured into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him. He's not talking about heaven. You can't imagine what heaven's like. He's talking about salvation.

Never did it ever occur to you before the Holy Spirit began to deal with you that there is this matter salvation through Jesus Christ. I has not seen ear heard. Neither has ever entered in the heart of the flesh profits nothing.

But then Paul went on to say. But God has revealed them to us through his spirit. He revealed these things. We can't see or hear enter into the heart of man. He revealed them to us through his spirit.

For the spirit searches all things. Yes the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of man which is in them. How can you know somebody else is angry except you're human like he's human.

You know what it is to be angry. You know what he's like when he's angry. You and I cannot know what God is like. He's infinite. And therefore God has to reveal himself to us. And only the Holy Spirit can or we would never know him.

And that's what Paul is basically reasoning here. Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God. And here's the purpose clause so that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

We would have never known if it were not for the Holy Spirit. Paul went on to reason these things also we also speak not in words of man's wisdom which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

But the natural man that's the non-christian. The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness to him. That was my attitude before becoming a Christian. That stuff is foolish.

You really believe that nonsense. And that's that's the natural response of a fallen man to the things of Christ their foolishness to him. Nor can he know them because they must be spiritually discerned.

But he who is spiritual. And in this context spiritual means if you're a Christian he who is spiritual judges all things. Yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him.

No one. But we have the mind of Christ. Why. Because of the Holy Spirit is what Paul is arguing. And then the Lord Jesus said the words that I speak to you are spirit they are life. Notice here the s in the English translation is in the lowercase and the first clause the s is capital the Holy Spirit.

Here he's talking about the spiritual nature of his words. We sang to him wonderful words of life based upon this verse. And so the words I speak to you are spirit they are life. But the Holy Spirit uses the words of Jesus to bring forth spiritual life in his hearers.

As one wrote Leon Morris a woodenly literal flesh denominated manner of looking at Jesus's words will not yield the correct interpretation that is granted only to the spiritual man. And again that's a true Christian one born again the spirit dominated man.

Such words cannot be comprehended by the fleshly whose horizon is bound by this earth and its outlook only as the life-giving Spirit informs him. May a man understand these words. If you understand these words so that we've been talking about here in John chapter 6 it's because the Holy Spirit has revealed them to you you are a blessed person.

That's the only way they can be understood. This applies to much more than the words of this discourse. In other words John 6 in his teaching as a whole Jesus emphasized the spirit. Those specific references to the spirit are not frequent.