Blind Leaders

Mat 15:14 Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.

Intro: Those who are sightless through no fault of their own, are either to be pitied for their helplessness or admired for their ability to overcome. Yet, however great their overcoming abilities, there are some things they cannot do. One who has been blind from birth cannot be an authority on the beauty of a sunset, nor would you want him to do surgery on you. The most awful blindness is found in those who are blind because they ‘will not see’.

I. The reality of spiritual blindness
A. Man’s conscience does NOT constitute spiritual sight.
I Tim 4:2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

B. Education doesn’t provide spiritual sight.
Rom 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

II Tim 3:7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

C. Legislation cannot provide spiritual sight. If it could, we would need no jails nor provisions for punishing the evil doer. A law on the books would solve all problems.

D. Some blindness is sent by God because of the hardness of the heart.
Jno 12:40 He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.

1. Unbelief will also result in blindness also. To reject one part of God’s counsel will blind us to the rest of it.
Rom 11:7 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded

E. Satan blinds some to salvation
II Cor 4:3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.
6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
He does this with the glittering lights of pleasure or the subtlety of pride.

F. Some are blinded by SELF
I Jno 2:10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.
11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.

II The dangers of blind leaders
A. Blind leaders have led our nation into the stinking cesspool of moral decay.

B. The fleshpots of Hollywood combined with the money grabbers of Washington.

C. Blind educators have led into the pit of willful ignorance.

D. Blind religious leaders have led millions into the wayside ditches of error

Remember the fable of the leprechaun: He was forced to grant a wish to a man; to show him the tree where a pot of gold was hidden. When the man left to find a shovel, he tied a yellow ribbon around the tree to identify it. When he returned, there were yellow ribbons around every tree. This is how satan works. There is only one way to salvation, but satan has devised many plans to confuse men.
Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Jno 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

D. Even true churches can become blind!
Rev 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

E. Satan will blind YOU to service IF you allow it.
Mark 4:16 And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness;
17 And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended.
18 And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word,
19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.

Close: Eph 1:18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.