Dear Christian friends:

Many people that do not believe in Jesus Christ appear to be wise and brilliant. Many of them have a PhD joined to their names, like Bishop James Pike. The world honors them and praises them, because they because they teach and say what the proud and crooked world wants to hear.

Jesus said to the Jews who did not believe Him, "You search the Scriptures because you think you have everlasting life in them; and yet they testify of Me! But you don't want to come to Me to have life." (verses 39-40) He says the Bible testifies of Him. If they really studied the Bible and the prophecies about the promised Savior and then listened to Jesus' wise and wonderful words; watched His kind and loving deeds for the poor and sick and needy; if they honestly saw His wonderful works as changing water into wine, walking on the water, commanding the sea to be still, opening the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf, raising the dead to life and many others, they would accept Him and believe in Him because all the prophecies of the Old Testament happened exactly in Jesus words and in His many, many wonderful works.

Even His birth, suffering and death and resurrection were all prophesied in the Scriptures. But Jesus said of the Jews, "In spite of all this strong, clear, proof you don't want to come to Me." They, therefore, reject the clear proof of the Bible and instead accept the false imagination of their minds. They are very foolish. So are you if you don't believe in Jesus Christ.

We ask, "How can people be so foolish?" Here in our text Jesus shows why people are that foolish: Because they prefer the honor and praise of men more than the praise and honor from God. He asks the Jews, "How can you believe while you accept honor from one another but are not eager to have the honor that comes from the only God?"

If we accept Jesus Christ and believe in Him we must confess our sins and unworthiness. We must hate the false praise and honor of men and seek to please God and receive His praise. But we are very proud and hungry for receiving praise from other people. Our sinful heart and nature craves such praise from others.

We become upset and sad when others fail to praise us and honor us. We will even lie with them and cheat with them so they will keep us and accept us as their friends. Even when in our heart we know we are doing wrong.

So as long as we prefer the praise and honor of sinful men and do not want God's praise we can't come to Jesus. We can't believe in Him.

And that is very foolish. The only God, the only true Friend, who truly loves us and who can truly help us because He is the almighty God, Him we reject and seek the praise from man. The no good, rotten, two faced, lying, deceiving, hypocritical, dirty-minded man, who steals and kills and destroys who is not a true friend, because for enough money he will drop his friend and betray his own mother.

If we don't believe in Jesus we are very foolish. We prefer the praise from sinful man and reject the good and holy God. We really lose the only true Savior and Helper when we do that.

Jesus said to the Jews: "I don't get glory from men. But I know in your hearts you don't love God. I have come in My Father's name, and you don't accept Me. If someone else comes in His own name (boasting and proud), you'll accept him."

Jesus is the honest and true Savior for us sinners. He came humbly, not seeking man's praise or to please vain people. When they tried to force Him to be their king He said no and escaped from them. Jesus is the only Savior for sinners. He came to please God. He humbly accepted our sin and shame and then paid for that on the cross.

If we don't believe in Him we are most foolish. Then we will believe in a proud sinful man like ourselves. Someone who comes in his own name, without God's true permission and word. Jesus came with God's permission and Word, doing His will.

True, the unbelievers always claim to have God's permission and word. They say that God has sent them. They search the Bible. They read it and teach it and quote it. So did the Jews. Jesus said to them, "You search the Scriptures _ _ _ You say that you are children of Abraham and that you follow Moses. But if you really honestly believed Moses, you would also believe Me, because He wrote about Me. But if you don't believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?"

The Jews used the Bible with crooked and deceitful hearts. They failed to see Jesus as the Son of God and the only Savior for sinners. By lying and deceiving, by hiding their sins and hypocrisy they tried to say that they were good and obeyed God's law, the law of Moses, the Ten Commandments. Self-righteous hypocrites fail to see Jesus as Savior in the Bible.

So that Word of God that they trust, the Law, that same law condemns them and they are too blind to see it. Very foolish.

Do you believe in Jesus? Do you trust His blood shed on the cross for your sins? Do you thank and praise Him and gladly fight to save Him?

If you do you are wise. God's Spirit has opened your eyes to be honest and helped you to confess and accept Jesus, God's Son, for your Lord and Savior.

But if you do not believe in Jesus Christ. If you think Church is simple and stupid. If you don't care for preaching and the Lord's Supper, you are a damned fool. Don't stay one. May God help us all to see the foolishness of unbelief.

Amen.