INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JUNE 3RD, 1900, DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT NEW PARK STREET CHAPEL, SOUTHWARK, ON A THURSDAY EVENING, EARLY IN THE YEAR 1858. It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing. John 6:63. To a casual reader, it looks as if the meaning of this passage lay upon the very surface; but he who has studied the chapter carefully has discovered that it is a sentence replete with many difficulties as to the exact interpretation of it. I shall not, however, waste your time by entering into any critical discussion of it; but shall only try to give you simply what I believe to be the mind of the Spirit, as uttered by the lips of Jesus in this passage; and after I have done that, I shall then revert to what I shall call the meaning which any person would give to it who is not a diligent and careful student of Scripture. That meaning being true, although not the special truth taught in this passage, I shall briefly enlarge upon it. It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing. I suppose there is not a man in the world who could form any intelligent idea of what a spirit is. It is very easy for persons to define a spirit by saying what it is not; but I query whether there is, or ever could be, any man who could form any idea of what it is. We sometimes talk about seeing a spirit; ignorant persons in ages gone by, and some living now in benighted villages, talk about seeing spirits by night.
