Spiritual Blindness

The Rich Young Ruler and the Promise of Eternal Life

Please turn in your Bible to Luke chapter 18 where our preaching continues here in Luke chapter 18. So the previous context was the rich young ruler and the answer given to disciples who questioned whether anyone could be saved.

Peter speaking about leaving homes and following Jesus. Jesus' answer, truly I say to you there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will not receive many times more in this time and the age to come eternal life.

Now Jesus speaks of his death again, and then heals a blind beggar in this passage that we will look at today. When you have that, please stand for the reading of God's Word, and we will read this passage Luke 18 31 through 43.

Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection

And taking the twelve, he said to them, See we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon.

And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise. But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said. As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging, and hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant.

They told him, Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. And he cried out, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. Those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent, but he cried out all the more, Son of David, have mercy on me.

Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. And then when he came near, he asked him, what do you want me to do for you? He said, Lord, let me recover my sight. And Jesus said to him, recover your sight.

Your faith has made you well. And immediately he recovered his sight, and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God. Amen. You may be seated. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you today for your word.

We thank you for this promise of spiritual sight. We ask that you would help us to understand your word, that you would give us eyes to see. Praise it. Like your disciples who needed to understand your death and resurrection, we are disciples who need to understand your death and resurrection.

Like the blind man who needed his eyes open, we need our eyes open. We pray that you would open our eyes, that we might understand these things. In Jesus' name, Amen. Well, you may be wondering, although it may be obvious from the prayer I just prayed, why I would preach these two passages together.

I have, in general, had a habit of preaching relatively small portions of Scripture. This past pericope about the rich young ruler preached in three different segments. So why is it that I would take these two things that in the ESV are two distinct sections and combine them together?

Well, these both have to do with the notion of sight. Both have to do with the ability to see. Jesus' disciples have things hidden from them. They cannot see to understand the nature of Jesus' death and resurrection.

The blind beggar cannot physically see, but he understands who Jesus is, unlike the disciples. Jesus healed some. And so, this is a passage that teaches us of spiritual sight, what we need in order to pursue spiritual sight, what it is that we lack, and what it is that we ought to have.

So just considering the nature of this passage, the actual text and narrative of it, let us walk through it once here. In taking the twelve, he said to them, see, we are going up to Jerusalem. So they are on their way to Jerusalem.

They have been on their way to Jerusalem since chapter 9. In chapter 9, Jesus said that this is where he would depart. Our Scripture says this is where Jesus would depart, referring to his referring to his death.

And so, they have been traveling to Jerusalem since chapter 9. So as they are nearing Jerusalem, he's going to explain to the twelve disciples, his closest of disciples. Remember, he has many disciples, but to his closest of disciples, he's explaining what is going to happen at Jerusalem.

Everything written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. In the final chapter of Luke, he explains that not only is it some things written in Scripture, that Jesus fulfilled, but all things written in Scripture ultimately points to him, and that he fulfills primarily in his death, burial, and resurrection.

We know not only of many patterns of third day deliveries from death, for example, Jonah being delivered on the third day, Hezekiah being delivered from his death on the third day, Isaac on the third day, as they were traveling for him to be sacrificed, delivered from death.

Hebrews says it was a resurrection as a type. The cupbearer being delivered on the third day, rather than the baker who was hung on a tree on the third day. Right, there are all kinds of patterns that we see in Scripture of these third day resurrections.

But then there are frequent things about prophets, about priests, about kings, all these things pointing to our ultimate prophet, priest, and king, Jesus Christ. All of Scripture is pointing to Jesus.

All of Scripture finds its fulfillment in him. In fact, all of creation finds its fulfillment in him. The Bible says that all things were made by him, for him, through him, and to him all are things. All things are for Jesus Christ.

But most especially, the scriptures are written about Jesus Christ. So he must go to Jerusalem in order for these scriptures to be completely fulfilled. Yet the disciples do not understand this. It says, for he will be delivered over to the Gentiles.

Speaks of the Romans here, being delivered over to them. He'll be mocked, shamefully treated, and spit upon. You're familiar with the ways that Jesus was mocked. He had a placard put above his cross, mocking him as king of the Jews, even though he actually is king of the Jews.

Repeatedly, he was spit on and beaten. It says, for he will be delivered over the Gentiles, and will be mocked, and shamefully treated, and spit upon, and after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day, he will rise.

Ultimately, he is crucified, and then rises again from the dead on the third day. It says, but they understood none of these things. This thing was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.

So even though he's speaking to them, they do not understand the things that are being spoken. They don't understand what it means. You see, in other times, they are too afraid to even ask him. This is what other passages in the Gospels tell us.

They were too afraid to even ask him what he's talking about, and in other times, they simply wouldn't have it. They simply reject it. You know, Peter tells him, so these things will never happen to you, because they don't like what he's saying.

So on one hand, they're too afraid, they're too proud to accept it, or to even ask, and other times, they're too proud to consider the difficult realities. They don't even like what is being said, so they reject it.

So these are various reasons why one might not understand, but at the end, they simply do not understand these things. They are hidden from them. So it's not just that they can't see them, but they are being hid so that they cannot see them.

This next passage, we see about the baker. Talks about him drawing near to Jericho. So Jericho is on the way to Jerusalem. It's about 18 miles out, so that is where Jesus is at this point in time. About 18 miles out of Jerusalem.

These two have been connected earlier in Luke, in the parable of the Good Samaritan. Where was the man who got beaten traveling from? He's traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho. Okay, so these two cities have been connected before as a route that people would often take.

So it speaks of a blind man sitting by the roadside begging. Now, there are a few details that we see in other Gospels. This appears in Matthew 20, also appears in Mark 10, and.

These,.

It is identified, his name is identified as Bartimaeus, and in Mark, it's even mentioned that there are two blind beggars. It's not even just one, but there are two. So there's some details that we don't see here that the other Gospel writers record for us.

But one thing that strikes many people as they compare the Gospels is the fact that Mark speaks of this happening as he is leaving Jericho. Here it says as he draws near to Jericho. There it says as he's leaving Jericho.

There could be different reasons why this is the case. The one I find the most attractive is the fact that Luke is arranging this material in a particular fashion. In fact, even this right here, where Jesus foretells of his death and then heals the blind beggar, it is not like that in Matthew.

It's not like that in Mark. There's another narrative that appears in between, but Luke is intentionally putting these things together, and so intentionally he's paying attention to how he is arranging this material with later this passage about Zacchaeus coming later.

And what does it say in Luke 19 .1? He entered Jericho and was passing through. And so fitting these narratives together and treating them as a single unit, he addresses this all as a single event that happens as he's entering Jericho, rather than describing the blind beggar as something that's happening as he's leaving.

He's describing both of these as a unit that happen as he enters. So this is why Luke would speak in this way. Even if you considered the event on its own, it might be as he's leaving. As you're considering all these events together, it is as he is entering.

So in hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant. So the blind man hears of Jesus. They told him, Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. He cried out, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. So he addresses him as the son of David.

This is the title of the Messiah, the one who comes from David, who is supposed to rule over Jerusalem. And those who are in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, son of David, have mercy on me.

Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him, what do you want for me to do for you? He said, Lord, let me recover my sight. Okay, so he's being kept away by the people.

Then he is brought to Jesus after Jesus tells him to come, tells him to be brought. And then Jesus asks what he wants to be done. He says he wants a sight. Jesus said to him, recover your sight. Your faith has made you well.

And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God. So he recovers his sight immediately. He follows him. That means he becomes a disciple, right, and travels around with Jesus.

He is going to be traveling to him, traveling to Jerusalem with him. And he glorifies God along with the people, all the people who see it glorify God. And so Luke intentionally conjoins these passages, puts them together, showing the nature of spiritual sight.

Jesus' closest disciples not really being able to see and understand, but this blind man seeing who Jesus is and having his physical eyes opened, revealing this. And so even though they are his closest disciples, they do not see, but this blind man, he sees and he understands who Jesus is.

He speaks of Jesus as the son of David, right? He is the Messiah. This is not a title that has come before in this gospel. You see it implicitly in Jesus' genealogy that he is the son of David, but this is not how people have addressed him before.

And so Luke is saving that title for this man to show that this man has particular insight into who Jesus is, right? It's not even before in this gospel that he has been addressed so directly as the son of God.

This status as the Messiah is something that has not been clear to people, but to this man, it is clear that this is indeed the Messiah. And another thing that is being done in the way that this is presented to us, both the way that the Holy Spirit has inspired history itself in the event that happened, and also the way that he has inspired the words to be given to us, it really does seem to allude to another passage in Scripture, and that is 1 Samuel 4.

In 1 Samuel 4, what happens? Blind Eli is sitting there and he is wondering, what is all the commotion about? What is all the commotion about? Someone tells him the ark of God has been removed from Jerusalem, and so he collapses and dies there when that happens.

And what happens in this passage? The blind beggar is sitting there wondering, what is all this commotion about? They tell him Jesus of Nazareth is here. And just like blind Eli realized that the presence of God had left Jerusalem, this blind beggar is realizing that the presence of God is entering Jerusalem, and he is declaring, son of David, have mercy on me.

Okay, so he recognizes this, and we can even see that in the allusion that's being made to Eli being blind yet understanding the presence of God, leaving him being blind yet understanding the presence of God coming into Jerusalem.

And so he recognizes.

His need for,.

His need to see, his need to understand, sorry, his need to, he understands who Jesus is, and he understands that Jesus is capable of opening his physical eyes. But the disciples who can see with their physical eyes do not realize that they need their spiritual eyes opened.

And what is it that is in view here? What is it that needs to be seen primarily? What is it this man understands? What is it and wants to see? What is it that the disciples do not? It is Jesus himself.

This man understands who Jesus is, and he wants to see Jesus with his physical eyes. The disciples see Jesus with their physical eyes, but they do not understand who he is. And so,.

Uh,.

The main thing that needs to be understood by the Christian is Jesus Christ. The main thing that needs to be understood by anyone is who Jesus Christ is. Now as we have seen from verse 31, all of scripture is being written about the Son of Man.

This is reinforced with even more explicit words in chapter 24. All of scripture is being written about Jesus. And so the way that you understand about Jesus is by understanding his word. So this is not just seeing him in person physically.

This is not even just knowing him as a person, uh, the way you might know someone who walks with you, but knowing him in a more complete way that includes everything that the Word has spoken about him.

This is what needs to be understood.

God Hides Truth and Opens the Eyes of the Blind

And.

How is that given? Or why is it withheld? And the answer is ultimately this comes from God. Uh, we see that here when this man receives his sight from Jesus. We see that also when it says that these things were hidden from the disciples.

It doesn't merely say that they were unable to see them, but they were hidden from them, implying that there is one hiding them. Now,.

Uh,.

Jesus speaks about this in Matthew 11 25 when he talks when he says, Bless be you God who opens the eyes of children and blinds the wise. God hides his truth from some men. This comes up repeatedly in scripture, okay?

Matthew 13 13 when Jesus is explaining the purpose of the parables so that some of these things would be hidden from people. Isaiah 6, why is he prophesying? So that the people would be blind, right? There is a, there is a, an intent of God to withhold some things.

Now, God when he does this is doing it in a sense passively, but purposely, purposefully, okay? So it's not that God is taking people who are able to see, right? Taking people who are holy and righteous and able to see things and then shutting their eyes so that they can't see, right?

What this refers to is him leaving people in their blindness, okay? That's what it, that's why when you see it address hardness of heart in Exodus, it goes back and forth between saying Pharaoh hardened his own heart and that God hardened his heart, right?

Pharaoh is sinking into the depths of his depravity. When it refers to God hardening his heart, what it means is God withholding his hand so that he would sink further, okay? So this is passive on God's part.

He does not force any man to sin. He does not force any man into depravity, but he permits them into such things purposefully, and because it is purposeful, sometimes it is described as though God is actively doing it, right?

That he is the one hardening the heart or he's the one hiding these things or making men blind, right? It is not that he is, is pushing anyone into sin, rather he is removing his hand and permitting them to fall deeper and deeper into their own depravity and sin.

So this is why it speaks this way. So these things are hidden. It is something that comes from God himself. As I said, there are many reasons why the disciples didn't understand, right? Could be because they were afraid to ask, can be because they do not like the consequences of what's being said, regardless they are blind.

So what then is the cure for spiritual blindness? What is the cure for it? Well, first what is needed is in order to recognize that you are blind. This is really what allows this man to ask for Jesus to give him his sight.

He recognizes that he is blind. The disciples do not recognize that they are blind. They may be aware that they don't understand, but this is not, they do not recognize it in a way that they sense it as a real need to be corrected, such that they would take the actions necessary in order to correct it.

Recognition really is the first step, the most important thing that is going on here. And this man not only recognizes his need, but he recognizes the solution is found in Jesus Christ. And so he places his faith in him.

Now something else is going on too with the way that Luke has very carefully arranged this, and I really do believe out of all the Gospels, Luke is the most particular in the way he has arranged these passages so that they.

Follow,.

So that their proximity is communicating things to us, right, in a way that the other Gospels are not necessarily trying as hard to do. Luke is doing this in a particular way, and I very much appreciate the way that the versification works in this.

Now the Bible was not given with chapters. Those things were given later, and then later there were verses given to these things. But you notice this chapter is very neatly arranged so that what is happening with this blind man really is associated with all the other narratives that have come before.

Consider what we learned in the parable of the persistent widow, right? She persistently begs for justice to be given to her. What is this man? He is persistent. If nothing else, he keeps calling out.

It doesn't matter how much he's rejected. He calls out again and again and again. So we see all these lessons about faith being added up into this final passage in this chapter. While the chapters don't always need to be thought of as chapters, this is one where I believe you really can.

Like this was the intent of the Holy Spirit to put this together as a unit. So he is persistent. He is calling out. These are different things that faith looks like. What do we learn from the Pharisee and the tax collector?

He must come humbly to God, right? Not saying, thank you, God, that you didn't make me like the other, like the tax collector, right? Not realizing any kind of need for a problem, but realizing you have a great need, being humble, and going to the Lord and begging for mercy.

So this is what he cries out. He cries out, Son of David, have mercy on me. Recognizing his need. So he's persistent. He recognizes his need. And then what do we learn with the little children? Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.

He receives it with faith. And then to connect that narrative further, what happens? He wants to come. People are refusing him, treating him as unworthy to come, right? Just like the children. Like Jesus doesn't have time to deal with the children.

Jesus doesn't have time to deal with the blind man. And what does Jesus do? He says, bring him to me. Just as he said with the children, bring them to me, right? These things are connected here. And so those narratives, even the details about him being brought to Jesus, are to let us know that this is giving us an illustration of how this faith comes into practice.

It is having the heart of a child trusting in Jesus in this way. And then the rich young ruler. This rich young ruler is not willing to leave behind the things he has. Jesus gives him the command, sell all that you have distributed to the poor, and you will have treasures in heaven, and come follow me.

This is a command he's given, come follow me. Man is not certain he wants to do it. He goes away without any real resolution. Presumably he doesn't. But then the disciples, including Peter, point out that they have followed Jesus.

All right. And so what does this man do at the very end of all this? He follows Jesus. He renounces whatever he had before, and he follows him. He leaves other things behind, and he follows him. All these narratives together,.

And then,.

Interrupted briefly, Jesus talking about his death, then talking about the blind beggar, show us what real spiritual sight looks like, what it looks like to have your eyes opened, to have real faith, to trust in the Lord.

It is persistent. It is humble. It is trusting.

It is.

Willing to leave it all behind. All of this summarized in the narrative of the blind man.

And.

What is it that, and how is it that he is healed? He is healed by the command of Christ. I also don't believe that it is simply coincidence that this narrative about Jesus speaking about his death and disciples not understanding that he would be talking about his death into resurrection, is not just that they don't understand something that he talked about.

They don't understand his death and resurrection. It really is by Christ's death and resurrection. It is by his status as a Messiah. His resurrection being that thing by which he is declared to be the Son of God, declared to be the Messiah according to Romans 1 -4, that he heals.

Consider why it is that he speaks of him being delivered over to the Gentiles. He doesn't say he's going to be given to the Romans. He says he's going to be delivered to the Gentiles. Well, what's the curse in Deuteronomy that's spoken to the people?

If they do not obey God, they will be given over to the Gentiles. They will be ruled by others and they will be just constantly afflicted by Gentile nations. So what Jesus is doing in describing this as being handed over to the Gentiles and not just handed over to the Romans, is he's letting them know that he is going to be fulfilling the curses of scripture.

That he is going to be bearing the curses of scripture as he is handed over to the Gentiles, bearing that curse in place of others. We know from other passages other ways that symbolize that he bears that curse, right?

He is hung on a tree. Galatians explains that shows that he is bearing the curse of God. And so that curse that is due to sinners, he is bearing. And then he is raised again from the dead on the third day.

And what does it say in Hosea? Hosea 6 verse 2, after two days he will revive us, on the third day he will raise us up that we may live before him. Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. His going out is as sure as the dawn.

He will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth. And so when he speaks about being raised from the third day, while there are many passages that talk about third day deliveries from death, one passage really stands above them all, which is the passage that talks about all God's people being raised together on the third day.

And they are all raised with him on the third day. On the third day he will raise them up that we may live before him. Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. So how is it that people know the Lord?

How is it that people understand? They understand by being raised up with him on the third day. It is through him bearing the curse that our blindness is removed. That blindness being part of the curse.

It is through him being raised from the dead that we are exalted, right? This man comes to him humbly knowing that he is in need and it is through Christ that he is exalted to this higher status of being a man who can see and a disciple of Jesus Christ.

You know, no one tries to heal themselves in this way, right? If you were a blind man, you wouldn't go in front of a mirror and say, okay, let me go take a look at these eyes so that I can try to fix them and try to heal them, right?

You would understand how foolish it is. A blind person can't see his problem, right? He also doesn't open up an optometry book and try to try to learn how to understand eye things because he can't read, not at least in that way.

I know we have audio books and things now, but hopefully my illustration makes sense. A blind person is not capable of fixing his problem. He has to call out to one who is capable of fixing the problem.

It is through Jesus Christ he is the one who can fix the problem because he has borne the curse because he's been raised on the third day to raise all his people with him that we can have our blindness removed.

And this blindness is not just restricted. Now when we think about spiritual blindness, we often think about it being those people who do not know the Lord. If you today do not know the Lord at all, if you are not saved, if you have not been born again, you need to know Jesus Christ.

You need to have your eyes open so that you can see, so that you can understand who you are, so that you can understand who he is, so you can understand your place in this world and where you are going.

However, however, it is not restricted to that. Consider it is who are the blind ones in this passage. It is his closest disciples. Do not think that just because you are among his closest disciples belonging to a reformed church that you do not have any blindness that needs to be addressed.

The first step in dealing with this is a recognition, recognition of your blindness. Now, it is difficult for a blind person to see that they are blind, but it can be done. A blind person can be aware if they are blind, but you must sense your need for further revelation from God.

Do not be confused also, not just by a particular church you belong to, but by a particular lineage. You know, do not think that because, you know, I come from a particular line of godly people, I was always raised up in a godly home, I— all those things often are,.

Are—.

People fool themselves. They are self-deceived because they imagine that their upbringing informed them far more than it actually did. In Sunday school today, we read some quotes from people who were observing this, that many people raised up in Christian homes think that because they were raised up in a Christian home that they know a lot about Christianity when it's simply not the case.

It is a,.

It is a common trope you see among—I've hung out with a— interacted a lot with Christian apologists to atheists. I don't spend a lot of time, spend that much time talking to atheists, but I know people who do, and they often like to point out how often atheists will say, well, I was raised up in a Christian home.

I was, you know, I was raised up in a church, and I know all these things, and they really have very little clues about the Christian faith. But this is true for Christians too, right? A lot of them think that they know a lot because of their particular upbringing, and they actually know very little about the Christian faith.

And this is, this is especially true of pastor's kids. I don't know if we have any pastor's kids here other than mine, but for my kids, you know, know this. This is a real temptation you'll face is to think, oh, because I was raised in a good Christian home, because my dad was a pastor, that means I know a lot.

No,.

Approach the word humbly. You don't, you don't know as much as you, as much as you think you do. Yeah, and don't, don't think that just because you're saved, that's all the spiritual sight that is needed.

These are Jesus's closest disciples that need more spiritual sight. So be sensible to your needs, call out to Jesus, have mercy on me, and desire it. You must crave the truth. A lot of people may be aware that they don't understand that much, but then they don't want it to be fixed.

You know, Jesus asked the one man, do you want to be healed? Now, it's, on one hand, it seems like a silly question, but the more I, you know, go about ministry and talking to people in the world, in the church, anywhere, I realize it's such an important question.

Do you want to be healed? You must desire to know the truth. Consider what Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 2, 11. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth, but had pleasure and unrighteousness.

You know, those who do not love the truth but have but have pleasure and unrighteousness are led astray. Let me read the previous verse also. It says that, the coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved.

Those who refuse to love the truth are subject to deception. God gives them over to deception. You might imagine that you're a wise person who can't be fooled. You're not gullible. But if you do not love the truth, God will give you over to gullibility.

And if you.

Consider the Reformed interpretation of that passage in 2 Thessalonians, I know that this has fallen out of popularity among many today, but the standard Protestant interpretation of 2 Thessalonians 2 throughout the Reformation.

Was that.

This referred to Roman Catholicism. The lawless one that it's referring to is the rise of the Pope. And people, him having set himself up over the temple of God, the house of God, like it describes in that passage.

If you consider what kind of things exist in Roman Catholicism, right? People you know going and bowing to statues that are crying or seeing Jesus in a piece of toast or just all kinds of nonsense, you know, maybe things that are really happening by demonic power, other things that are just, you know, coincidence that they raise to ridiculous levels.

And you ask, how can someone be so so deceived about such silly things? Like especially if you go and you look at some of the myths that these people believe. Well, the answer is right here in this passage.

How does it happen? They're subject to all wicked deception for those who are perishing because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved. If you do not love the truth, if you have kind of an ambivalent attitude towards the truth, you will be given over to deception.

You must love the truth. You must crave it. I often ask, especially in my home visitations, I'll often ask people if they,.

Uh,.

If there's anything they would like to know more about the faith, you know, I want to offer any anything I can give them from scripture that they would like to know more about. And maybe people are mostly thinking about like academic questions and they don't have any academic questions, but really this could be anything, could be practical things, you know, why do I struggle with Sin X or something like that, right?

But I've found that a lot of people don't have, don't necessarily have questions, right? They don't have anything that they desire and I don't know whether or not that is representative of the fact that they,.

Uh,.

Don't have a particular desire for truth, but sometimes I wonder, you know, if you are reading scripture, if you are, uh, really desiring truth, would there not be some, some burning questions in your head about, about who Jesus is?

Wouldn't you desire to know him more? But once again, I'm not saying everybody has to be some kind of academic theologian that's, that's wondering how many angels can fit on the head of a pen or you know, whatever, whatever the case may be.

You know, those are good questions though if you are asking them, but, um, but you should desire to know Christ more. There should be ways that your heart burns to know him and you should learn to articulate whatever those questions are, whatever those desires are, in order that you could ask people to help you with them.

So, uh, yeah,.

Have,.

Develop a desire, um, you know, ask your, you can ask yourself right now or even after this message, you know, what, what do I want to know more about Jesus? What do I want to know more about his Word?

And if,.

You know, if, uh, answers are coming to you slowly, that's something to consider, you know, maybe I need to cultivate a greater desire to know him more, to know him more deeply. If you spend a lot of time in God's Word, there will be questions that come up, you know, there will be many questions that come up.