The Pharisees were brilliant theologians. However, they failed to see God because of their own self-righteousness. Jesus condemned their self- righteous hypocrisy because it blinded them from seeing their need for repentance and a Savior (Matthew 23:25-28). They were too busy focused on the outward man and thus when the Son of Man stepped out of eternity and into carnality they failed to recognized who He was! There are plethora of people today who are blinded by this same self-righteous spirit. They look the part outwardly and they even possess a wealth of knowledge but the ‘Knowledge’ they refuse to acknowledge is the key to true and eternal wisdom. Jesus knew that the Pharisees weren’t righteous, but their pretense of righteousness kept them from accepting the only remedy for their condition — repentance and faith in Him. In reality, we are all sinners (Romans 3:23), both inwardly and outwardly. Although we may not be notorious “public sinners,” we all share a fallen nature and are often controlled by the “flesh” — the “sin principle” — within us (Romans 8). Jesus’ stern warnings to the hypocritical Pharisees make it clear that sin we ignore and deny is no less serious in its effects than the sin of the public sinner. In I Samuel 16:7 we are reminded that, “The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”