John 6:35-71

Sunday Morning Bible Study

February 14, 2010

Introduction

Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel preached? Does it speak to the broken hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk – Meat – Manna Preach for a decision

The day before, Jesus had fed five thousand people out in a deserted place with just a few fish and loaves of bread.

We saw how the people responded to this by wanting to make Jesus their king.

Jesus knew that they were following Him for the wrong reasons. He knew that they were only following Him because He was making their life easier. They were just along for the free lunch.

Following Jesus is MUCH bigger than just getting a free lunch.

The following discussion takes place at the synagogue in Capernaum.

What we’re going to see that Jesus is going to whittle this big crowd down to size.

He isn’t out to draw a large crowd. He’s out to make disciples.

He’s going to separate those who are just out for the goodies from those who are serious about following Him.

To do this, He is going to say some difficult things.

6:35-40 Bread from Heaven

:35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.

:36 But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe.

Underline the words “seen” and “believe”.

The crowd has seen Jesus. They have seen what He can do. Yet they don’t believe in Him to be their Savior. They just want Him to give them their next lunch.

:37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.

Underline the word “gives”.

:37 cast out – ekballo – to cast out, drive out, to send out

:38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

Because Jesus did not come to do His own will, but God’s will, that’s why He will not reject any person that the Father has given to Him.

Lesson

God’s Will First

:39 This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.

Underline the word “given”.

:40 And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Underline the words “sees” and “believes”

:40 sees – theoreo – to be a spectator, look at, behold; to see

:40 believe – pisteuo – to think to be true, to be persuaded of, place confidence in

:41 The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.”

:41 complained – gogguzo – to murmur, mutter, grumble, say anything against in a low tone; of the cooing of doves; of those who discontentedly complain

Their complaint here has to do with the claim that He “came down from heaven”.

6:42-59 Tough Words

:42 And they said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

Even though Jesus is in Capernaum right now, there are some people present who know Joseph and Mary who lived in Nazareth.

Nazareth is about 20 miles southwest of Capernaum, up in the hills. (Play Cap/Naz video map)

:43 Jesus therefore answered and said to them, “Do not murmur among yourselves.

:43 murmur – gogguzo – to murmur, mutter, grumble, say anything against in a low tone; of the cooing of doves; of those who discontentedly complain

It’s the same Greek word translated “complained” in vs. 41.

The Israelites complained constantly in the wilderness.

Will you “complain” about Jesus, or will you believe?

If they have reason to “murmur” now, just wait until Jesus gets to the really hard stuff.

:44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.

Underline the word “draws”.

:44 draws – helkuo – to draw, drag off

:45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.

:45 taught by God – Jesus is quoting from Isaiah 54:13, a description of the “New Covenant”.

The Old Testament quote:

(Is 54:13 NKJV) —13 All your children shall be taught by the Lord, And great shall be the peace of your children.

The “Old Covenant” teaches us about God, the “New Covenant” or “New Testament” helps us to actually know God, and to be taught by Him.

This is a part of God “drawing” people to Jesus. He is teaching them about Jesus.

Jeremiah tells us that under the “New Covenant”, or “New Testament”, one of the interesting things is that no one will need to teach anyone else about God because they will all know God. (Jer. 31:33-34)

The Old Testament, or “Old Covenant” prophesied of a day when there would be a “New” Testament, or new agreement between God and man. Part of this “New Covenant” was that every person in this agreement would know God and be taught by God:

(Je 31:33–34 NKJV) —33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

Jesus is the fulfillment of the “New Covenant”. The last third of your Bible is called the “New Testament”, which means it’s all about this new agreement between God and man.

At the Last Supper, which we quote during communion, Jesus said linked the bread and cup with the “New Covenant”:

(Lk 22:20 NKJV) Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.

:46 Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father.

:47 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.

:47 Most assuredly – (Grk: amen, amen) You may get confused as to what Jesus is saying through this passage. Don’t miss out on this verse which gives the clearest explanation of what is necessary for everlasting life. Pay attention to what Jesus says clearly. You must believe in Jesus.

:48 I am the bread of life.

:49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead.

:50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.

:50 the bread… from heaven – Jesus has just fed the five thousand with “earthly” bread, the kind that only lets you live one more day. That’s like the manna from Moses’ day.

But Jesus Himself is a different kind of bread. He won’t just sustain you for a day, but forever.

Jesus is going to compare the manna in Moses’ day with the “bread” that Jesus gives them.

The “manna” of Moses’ day was physical food, but it only sustained life for a day.

The “bread” that Jesus promises to give will actually give eternal life to people.

Do you want to have enough bread for just today, or do you want to live forever?

The people in front of Jesus are only concerned about their earthly lives. They are not thinking about eternal life. They want Jesus to be king so He can give them another loaf of bread. He wants to lead them to eternal life.

:51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”

:52 The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?”

:52 quarreled – machomai – to fight; hand to hand combat; war of words

:52 flesh to eat – Jesus is now getting into the really difficult stuff.

People today don’t understand what Jesus is about to say. People still quarrel about what Jesus said.

A common misunderstanding is that Jesus is talking about literally eating His flesh.

Many non-believers pick up on this and call Christianity a terrible religion that practices “cannibalism”.

Transubstantiation – which means “change in substance”.

Transubstantiation became an official doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church in AD 1215.

This is a great word to impress your friends with. It has to do with what the Roman Catholic Church teaches on the subject of communion.

The RCC teaches that during communion when the priest says the words “This is my body” and “This is my blood”, that the bread and wine change into the body and blood of Christ.

The Latin is: “hoc est corpus meum”. Some have suggested that pagan magicians picked up on these words, twisted them, and came up with the magician’s famous “hocus pocus”.

The Catholic Church teaches that the event that this is actually a continuation of the sacrifice of Christ. Jesus again dies for your sins and you now participate in this through taking the bread and wine.

The Creed of Pope Pius IV states: “I profess that in the Mass is offered to God a true, proper, and propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead;...there is truly, really, and substantially, the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that there is a conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the blood.”

There are a couple of problems with this:

1. It says that Jesus wasn’t finished.

The Catholic mass attempts to offer Jesus again and again as a sacrifice.

Yet on the cross, Jesus said, “It is finished” (John 19:30)

The writer of Hebrews said,

(Heb 10:11–14 NKJV) —11 And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, 13 from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. 14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

2. It is against the Law to drink blood.

If the wine becomes actual blood, then Jesus is asking His Jewish disciples to do something forbidden in drinking it. God commanded the Jews to never eat or drink blood (Lev. 17:10-11).

3. It ignores the “metaphor”.

We use metaphors all the time in speech.

When we look at a map and say, “This is Ireland,” we do not mean that that piece of paper is Ireland, but we mean that those marks upon it represent those respective countries.

Jesus said He was the “vine”. Does that mean that He is a vegetable?

At the Last Supper, Jesus Himself was already literally, physically present at the Last Supper, yet He said that the bread was His body and the wine was His blood. Would the disciples have thought that the bread before them had turned into Jesus’ flesh? No, they would have seen it as a symbol. If Jesus doesn’t turn bread into His own body, how could a priest do it?

4. The memory lesson

Jesus said that eating the bread and drinking the wine were meant to stir up your memory of Him:

(Lk 22:19 NKJV) And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

Jesus taught us to do this at His “Last Supper”, which was a celebration of the Passover.

The Passover feast itself was intended to be a memory lesson. The Israelites were commanded to celebrate the Passover every year to remember what had happened when they were delivered from Egypt.

The Lamb reminded them of the lambs that had died, whose blood covered their doorposts.

The Unleavened Bread reminded them of how they had to flee before they had time to let the bread dough rise.

Communion was meant to remind you about Jesus.

Does this mean that Jesus isn’t “present” at communion? Not at all. We are gathered together in His name so He is present. Communion is indeed a special time to draw close to the Lord. But bread is bread and grape juice is grape juice.

:53 Then Jesus said to them, “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.

:54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.

:55 For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.

:56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.

:57 As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.

It makes sense. If Jesus has this “stuff” called “eternal life”, then if you “feed” on Jesus, you will also have life.

Last week we talked about the “food which endures to everlasting life” (vs. 27). That “food” is Jesus.

:58 This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.”

:59 These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.

Jesus is trying to separate people into two groups.

Those that are just out for a free lunch are like the Israelites in the wilderness. They can get as many free lunches as they want, but they will still die. or…

Those that are looking for eternal life are going to see past the free lunch and follow Jesus, no matter how difficult it gets or how crazy things sound.

6:60-71 Many Turn Away

:60 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?”

:60 hard – skleros – hard, harsh, rough; offensive, intolerable

They were struggling with the concept of “eating His flesh”. Wouldn’t you?

:61 When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, “Does this offend you?

:61 complained – gogguzo – to murmur, mutter, grumble, say anything against in a low tone; of the cooing of doves; of those who discontentedly complain

:62 What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?

He’s saying that if you have trouble with this concept of eating His flesh and drinking His blood, then you are going to be totally blown away when Jesus rises from the dead and ascends into heaven where He originally came from.

These people are totally clueless as to who Jesus is and where He is from.

: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.

:63 The words … are spirit – I think this verse is extremely helpful.

Some would take the words of Jesus literally and try to “eat His flesh” or “drink His blood”.

The Catholic church tells you that the bread magically becomes flesh.

The famous searches for the “Holy Grail”, or finding the cup that Jesus drank out of at the Last Supper – the idea is that if you drink out of that same cup, then you will live forever. (Play Indiana Jones “Choosing Poorly”)

Jesus is not talking about a literal eating of His flesh. He’s talking “spiritually”.

You can drink out of a magic cup all you want. Any choice but trusting Christ is “choosing poorly”

Remember Jesus’ clear teaching? Look at some of the words you circled.

(Jn 6:47 NKJV) Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.

Look also vs. 36, 40, the emphasis on “believing”.

And remember how Jesus is continually pointing out that the people don’t believe?

(Jn 6:36 NKJV) But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe.

(Jn 6:40 NKJV) And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

What’s so important about believing and His body and blood?

This was how He paid for our sins. This was how He opened the way to God as an acceptable sacrifice for us.

Isaiah prophesied:

(Is 53:5 NKJV) But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.

He is our Savior.

He has paid the price for your sins. Do you believe this?

Lesson

Believe His word

Do you believe in Jesus and what He says?

Do you trust Jesus to pay for your sins?

:64 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.

In particular, this is talking about Judas Iscariot.

Jesus knew Judas would betray Him.

What I find amazing is that Jesus never gave hints to who this was. At the very end, the disciples were all clueless as to Judas’ betrayal.

If I were Jesus, I would have dropped hints to Peter or something. I would have put Judas in another room during the Last Supper. Instead, Jesus put Judas in the place of honor (we’ll see that in chapter 13).

:65 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.”

Underline the word “granted”.

:65 granted – didomi – to give

Paul tells us that even our faith to believe in God is a gift of God.

(Eph 2:8 NKJV) For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,

This is what “grace” is all about, that God has done something for us that we did not deserve.

Have you noticed the theme running through the passage? Look at some of the words you circled: “gives” (vs.37), “given” (vs. 39), “draws” (vs. 44), and “granted” (vs. 65)

(Jn 6:37 NKJV) All that the Father gives Me will come to Me…

(Jn 6:39 NKJV) This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing…

(Jn 6:44 NKJV) No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him…

(Jn 6:65 NKJV) 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.”

Lesson

Chosen

There will be some of you who will have a hard time with this, but the truth is, if you are a believer, it’s because God already chose you. You have been “given” to Jesus. God has “drawn” you to Jesus.

(Eph 1:4 NKJV) He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world…

If I’m not a Christian, how do I know whether God has chosen me?

Choose Jesus. Then you’ll know that He’s first chosen you.

“But wait” you say, “I thought I chose Jesus!”

That’s true too.

Which came first? Did I choose Jesus or did Jesus choose me?

From your perspective, you chose Jesus first. But from heaven’s perspective, the truth is that God had already chosen you.

Some explain this by saying that God looks ahead in time and sees that you will choose Him, and then He chooses you.

But He still chose you first.

What about those who don’t believe in Jesus? Did God chose them?

Maybe. We won’t know until we get to heaven. Don’t ever think that some person who doesn’t follow Jesus is not chosen. Many would have thought that Saul of Tarsus was not “chosen”, but Saul became Paul and he believed. The one who persecuted the church ended up writing most of the New Testament.

This is Valentine’s day, a day when we celebrate love.

The best part of being “loved” is knowing that you have been “chosen”.

If you have a sweetheart, do you struggle with the idea that your sweetheart has “chosen” you? Of course not. You just enjoy it.

Illustration

“Collards is green, my dog’s name is Blue

and I’m so lucky to have a sweet thang like you.

Yore hair is like cornsilk a-flapping in the breeze.

Softer than Blue’s and without all them fleas.

You move like the bass, which excite me in May.

You ain’t got no scales but I luv you anyway.

Yo’re as satisfy’n as okry jist a-fry’n in the pan.

Yo’re as fragrant as “snuff” right out of the can.

You have some’a yore teeth, for which I am proud;

I hold my head high when we’re in a crowd.

On special occasions, when you shave under yore arms,

well, I’m in hawg heaven, and awed by yore charms.

Still them fellers at work, they all want to know

what I did to deserve such a purdy, young doe.

Like a good roll of duct tape yo’re there fer yore man,

to patch up life’s troubles and fix what you can.

Yo’re as cute as a junebug a-buzzin’ overhead.

You ain’t mean like those far ants I found in my bed.

Cut from the best cloth like a plaid flannel shirt,

you spark up my life more’n a fresh load of dirt.

When you hold me real tight like a padded gunrack,

my life is complete; Ain’t nuttin’ I lack.

Yore complexion, it’s perfection, like the best vinyl siding.

despite all the years, yore age, it keeps hidin’.

Me an’ you’s like a Moon Pie with a RC cold drank,

we go together like a skunk goes with stank.

Some men, they buy chocolate for Valentine’s Day;

They git it at Wal-Mart, it’s romantic that way.

Some men git roses on that special day

from the cooler at Kroger. “That’s impressive,” I say.

Some men buy fine diamonds from a flea market booth.

“Diamonds are forever,” they explain, suave and couth.

But for this man, honey, these won’t do.

Cause yor’e too special, you sweet thang you.

I got you a gift, without taste nor odor,

more useful than diamonds...... IT’S A NEW TROLL’N MOTOR!!”

However you describe love, one thing is for sure – it’s good to be loved.

It’s good to be chosen.

And if you are a Christian, you can know that you are chosen and loved by God.

It’s something you should never, ever doubt.

(1 Jn 3:16a NKJV) By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us…

If you are not a Christian, maybe it’s time to say “yes” to His love.

:66 From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.

:66 walked with Him no more – The crowd is beginning to thin out. People aren’t comfortable with the difficult things Jesus is saying, like “eating” His flesh.

Lesson

Hard Things

Will you follow Jesus when He says “hard things”?

I have friends who have adopted the beliefs and lifestyles of the world.

They find it difficult when Jesus challenges them on their beliefs. They find it difficult when Jesus points to certain things and calls them “sin”.

Some find it difficult when Jesus points to certain people and says to love them.

Illustration

The Sailor and the Lady

John Blanchard stood up from the bench, straightened his Army uniform, and studied the crowd of people making their way through Grand Central Station. He looked for the girl whose heart he knew, but whose face he didn’t, the girl with the rose. His interest in her had begun thirteen months before in a Florida library. Taking a book off the shelf he found himself intrigued, not with the words of the book, but with the notes penciled in the margin. The soft handwriting reflected a thoughtful soul and insightful mind.

In the front of the book, he discovered the previous owner’s name, Miss Hollis Maynell. With time and effort he located her address. She lived in New York City. He wrote her a letter introducing himself and inviting her to correspond. The next day he was shipped overseas for service in World War II. During the next year and one month the two grew to know each other through the mail. Each letter was a seed falling on a fertile heart. A romance was budding. Blanchard requested a photograph, but she refused. She felt that if he really cared, it wouldn’t matter what she looked like. When the day finally came for him to return from Europe, they scheduled their first meeting - 7:00 PM at the Grand Central Station in New York.

“You’ll recognize me,” she wrote, “by the red rose I’ll be wearing on my lapel.” So at 7:00 he was in the station looking for a girl whose heart he loved, but whose face he’d never seen.

I’ll let Mr. Blanchard tell you what happened:

A young woman was coming toward me, her figure long and slim. Her blonde hair lay back in curls from her delicate ears; her eyes were blue as flowers. Her lips and chin had a gentle firmness, and in her pale green suit she was like springtime come alive. I started toward her, entirely forgetting to notice that she was not wearing a rose. As I moved, a small, provocative smile curved her lips. “Going my way, sailor?” she murmured.

Almost uncontrollably I made one step closer to her, and then I saw Hollis Maynell. She was standing almost directly behind the girl. A woman well past 40, she had graying hair tucked under a worn hat. She was more than plump, her thick-ankled feet thrust into low-heeled shoes. The girl in the green suit was walking quickly away. I felt as though I was split in two, so keen was my desire to follow her, and yet so deep was my longing for the woman whose spirit had truly companioned me and upheld my own.

And there she stood. Her pale, plump face was gentle and sensible, her gray eyes had a warm and kindly twinkle. I did not hesitate. My fingers gripped the small worn blue leather copy of the book that was to identify me to her.

This would not be love, but it would be something precious, something perhaps even better than love, a friendship for which I had been and must ever be grateful. I squared my shoulders and saluted and held out the book to the woman, even though while I spoke I felt choked by the bitterness of my disappointment. “I’m Lieutenant John Blanchard, and you must be Miss Maynell. I am so glad you could meet me; may I take you to dinner?”

The woman’s face broadened into a tolerant smile. “I don’t know what this is about, son,” she answered, “but the young lady in the green suit who just went by, she begged me to wear this rose on my coat. And she said if you were to ask me out to dinner, I should go and tell you that she is waiting for you in the big restaurant across the street. She said it was some kind of test!”

It’s not difficult to understand and admire Miss Maynell’s wisdom. The true nature of a heart is seen in its response to the unattractive. “Tell me whom you love,” Houssaye wrote, “And I will tell you who you are.”

Will you follow Jesus when He leads you down difficult roads?

Jesus told a story where He described different kinds of believers and their lives as different types of soil reacting to the seed that a farmer would sow.

One type of soil was the “shallow” or “rocky soil”:

(Mt 13:20–21 NLT) —20 The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy.21 But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word.

Being a Christian is not about getting a “free lunch” like when Jesus fed the five thousand.

Sometimes there will be difficulty. Will you follow Him even when it’s hard?

Polycarp

Polycarp was one of John’s disciples. Among other things, he was the pastor of the church at Smyrna.

From Fox’s Book of Martyrs: Polycarp, the venerable bishop of Smyrna, hearing that persons were seeking for him, escaped, but was discovered by a child. After feasting the guards who apprehended him, he desired an hour in prayer, which being allowed, he prayed with such fervency, that his guards repented that they had been instrumental in taking him. He was, however, carried before the proconsul, condemned, and burnt in the market place. The proconsul then urged him, saying, “Swear, and I will release thee; — reproach Christ.” Polycarp answered, “Eighty and six years have I served him, and he never once wronged me; how then shall I blaspheme my King, Who hath saved me?”

:67 Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?”

:68 But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

:69 Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

:70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?”

:71 He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.

Let’s end with these verses:

:68 But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

:69 Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

How could any of us who have embarked on the pilgrimage that is Christianity do without Him? For we who long for something more, for strength and hope and wisdom beyond ourselves, discover to our joy that as the Comforter reveals Christ in us, in Him we have our heart's desire. - Catherine Marshall

:68 to whom shall we go?

Are you thinking about Jesus? Are you thinking about following Jesus?

Sometimes the process of “dating” can be a scary one.

What if you put yourself out there, risk letting the other person know you’re interested, and then they don’t seem interested back?

I remember in high school being attracted towards this one particular girl. I asked her out on a date. She told me she had to wash her hair that night. I asked her out again. She said that she had plans for that evening. I asked her out EIGHT times. She always had an excuse. Eventually I got the hint.

Lesson

Jesus will not reject you

If you are ready to “ask Jesus”, He will NOT reject you.

(Jn 6:37 NKJV) All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.