Murmurs and complaints of this kind are very common. It must never surprise us to hear them. They have been, they are, 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 is 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 Avill say of Christian doc- trines and precepts, " These are hard sayings ; w^ho can hear them ?"
Humihty is the frame of mind which we should labour and pray for, if we would not be offended. If we find any of Christ's sayings hard to understand, w^e should humbly remember our present ignorance, and believe that we shall know more by and bye. If we find any of His sayings difficult to obey, we should humbly recollect that He will never require of us impossibilities, and that what He bids us do, He will give us grace to perform.
We learn, secondly, from these verses, that we must beware of putting a carnal Tneaning on spiritual loords. We read that our Lord said to the murmuring Jews who stumbled at the idea of eating His flesh and drinking His blood, " It is the Spirit that quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth nothing : the w^ords that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life."
It is useless to deny that this verse is full of difficulties. It contains expressions " hard to be understood." It i3 far more easy to have a general impression of the meaning of the whole sentence, than to explain it word by word. Some things nevertheless we can see clearly and grasp firmly. Let us consider what they are.
Our Lord says, "It is the Spirit that quickeneth." By this He means that it is the Holy Ghost who is the special