In Luke 16, Jesus gives a serious indictment of the Pharisees. While they appeared righteous on the outside, Jesus, who knows the heart, exposes their true spiritual deadness. Our current passage leads directly to the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, warning us that those who appear “nice” but remain spiritually wicked will face eternal damnation.

Spiritual Blindness

Spiritual wickedness is not just an outward moral failing; it is evil that operates in the realm of faith, worship, and authority. It is the willful corruption of what is holy, often masquerading as righteousness. The Pharisees would argue over the minutiae of the Sabbath as a pretense of righteousness while they would challenge Jesus, the Lord of Sabbath. Spiritual wickedness is sin against God. Like Eli’s sons who “did not know Yahweh” despite being priests and committed horrible sins in the name of God, spiritual wickedness is a sin primarily against God rather than man (1 Sam 2:12, 25). This wickedness leads to spiritual blindness, where one can no longer recognize the truth of God’s Word or the person of Jesus Christ.

The “Law and the Prophets” refers to the entire Old Testament. The Law means the books of Moses and the Prophets means the rest of the books in the Old Testament. All of them, starting in Genesis, tell of the coming Messiah. They could not see the role of God’s word and the role of John the Baptist and ultimately could not recognize Jesus ChristThe Pharisees spent their lives studying these scriptures, yet they missed the “real thing” standing before them.

• The Old Testament is not inferior; it is God-breathed (2 Tim 3:16). God used human authors like musical instruments to play His melody.
• From Moses (Deut 18:15) to Isaiah (Isaiah 9:6-7), the scriptures clearly pointed to Jesus.
• Even today, we can be spiritually blind if our Bibles gather dust or if we lack “spiritual perception”. We must tremble at the Word (Isaiah 66:1-2) rather than treating it as a common or familiar thing.

Spiritual Insensitivity: Failure to repent 

John the Baptist served as the bridge between the old and new eras. His role was to prepare the way for Jesus by calling people to repentance. John the Baptist cannot be separated from Jesus Christ. The Law shows us our sin and weakness, and John the Baptist points us to the Lamb of God who takes away that sin. The Pharisees hated John’s message because the spiritually blind hate to repent; they think they are already pure based on their own self-righteousness. Do you know your heart condition? How wicked and sinful you are? If you really knew, there is nothing you can do but repentance in Jesus. The wicked are blind to this desperate need. They think they can be blessed without repentance.

Spiritual Arrogance

From the beginning (Genesis 3:15), the good news of Jesus has been provided. The promise was given to Eve that her offspring would defeat the serpent. This promise is proclaimed loudly and clearly all through the Old Testament. It is impossible to miss the good news. The Kingdom of God is “good news” because Jesus is a righteous and life-giving King. It is good news because the Kingdom is not just a political entity; it is a “family business” where we are co-heirs with Christ. However the Pharisees’ kingdom was political. They had their own kingdom, separate from the Kingdom of God. They could not get into God’s kingdom because they were not willing to repent. No one in hell will say, I tried so hard to get saved by Jesus but it didn’t happen. It is because you refused to repent. (Matthew 3:2)

The Cure to Spiritual Blindness 

For the non Christian, you are spiritually blind if your salvation and Jesus is not the most urgent need in your life. Psalm 90:3 says your life is fragile and temporary. Today must be the day of salvation. For the Christian, if your transformation and godly character are not your priority then you might be spiritually blind. We need signs of love and growing holiness and mortifying sin. The cure is the same. Repentance

How do we know if we are no longer blind? We find ourselves “forcing” our way into the Kingdom (Luke 16:16).

• Holy Zeal: This is not salvation by works, but a “pressing hard” with intensity and determination. It is the mark of someone who sees the light and pursues it like a person lost at sea rowing toward a lighthouse.
• Pressing On: Like the Apostle Paul, we must reach forward and “press on toward the goal” (Phil 3:13-14).

Jesus loves us and He shed his blood for us. He showed His love for us. We must reciprocate that love with our passionate pursuit of Him. If you claim to see but do not strive, your sin remains. We must acknowledge our blindness, turn from our self-righteousness, and desperately pursue Christ through repentance and faith.