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Welcome to the Daily Blade. The Word of God is described as the sword of the Spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.

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Welcome back day three of our deep dive into John, chapter 11. One of the things I want you to see here is how Jesus is going to meet with a couple of sisters, and he meets them right where they are, and different people grieve differently, and Jesus gives them what they need according to who they are. Verse 17,. The Bible says now, when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now, a part of the reason I think the Bible says this well, bible says now, when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now, a part of the reason I think the Bible says this well, one it just actually happened. That's how long he was there. But a Jewish myth had risen up and they believed that the soul could actually hang around the body for up to three days. After the third day, you were dead, dead, and so you were gone, and so a part of the reason that Jesus waits here is because he wants to make sure that, before he raises Lazarus, nobody thinks that he swooned or he was just kind of a sleeper in a coma, that everybody in this area, bethany, knows that Lazarus is all the way dead, not sort of dead, not kind of dead, but he is dead dead Now.

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Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, by the way. This is where Jesus would hang out when he would go to Jerusalem, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. It was actually first century custom that if somebody died, you could pay wailers and mourners to show up and go to the funeral, and so when you would cry, they would all cry with you. Verse 20,. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and she met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Now what you're going to see is two different personalities that deal with grief in two very, very different ways. Remember, at the party where Martha is working her fingers to the bone and Mary is just sitting crisscrossed, applesauce, in front of Jesus, and Martha complains about her sister, mary, and Jesus says oh, martha, martha, you have chosen the wrong thing and Mary has chosen the right thing. These are two very different personality types dealing with this situation Verse 21,.

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And Martha, she's type A, she's driven, she's got to have answers. She says to Jesus Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, god will give you. She's bold, she's like what are you doing Now? Let me ask you is it okay to ask God questions? The answer is absolutely. He wants you to bring the real you to the real him, because the real Jesus died on the real cross for the real you. You can quit faking it, okay, I mean, don't believe me. See Psalm 22, where David cries out my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And before Jesus ever quotes that on the cross, god hears that prayer and says that's a good one, david, let's write that one down, keep it in the book, because there are people that feel that way. It is okay to bring your questions to God. That is very different than questioning whether God is who he says he is, and then look at Jesus' response.

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Jesus is going to go through a theological dissertation about what eternal life is and what we find is it's helpful to Martha. Jesus said to her your brother will rise again. And Martha said to him I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. And Jesus said to her here comes the theological dissertation I am the resurrection and the life. Now, again, jesus is claiming not only deity, he is using the covenant name of God, yahweh. He does this seven times in the gospel of John, so that these seven I am statements are claiming I am completely and totally God.

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He says.

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I am the resurrection and the life.

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Whoever believes in me, though, he die yet he shall live. He's saying. You can trust me, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die Like we don't really die, we just kind of take a nap and then we are in the presence of God. We talked about this yesterday, and then he said this do you believe this? That we're believe is pastuo. Not do you just mentally assent, but do you trust me is what Jesus is saying. And she says to him yes, lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the son of God, who is coming into the world. Now check that. We're going to come back to that.

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Are you sure you believe? All right, so because of the gospel, we do not mourn as those without hope. So listen, man, bad things happen. People that we love pass away, they die, their bodies cease to work, and it's sad. We'll talk about that in a little while. It's sad, no doubt, but it's not hopeless, because we know that everyone who believes in Christ shall never die, even though our bodies stop working.

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And so let me ask you this Do you believe, have you gotten to the place where you have put your faith and hope in Jesus Christ? Have you trusted that when he dies on the cross, that counted for you? Because the moment you do that, all of your sin passes away, all of your sin is paid for by Christ on the cross and the righteousness of Christ is imputed to you. And everybody lives forever somewhere. And the person that rejects God in this life, he will give you what you ask for in the next and you will be separated from him forever. But whoever would receive the good news of the gospel of Jesus, the invitation to surrender your life to the lordship of Christ, then you also receive the righteousness of Christ and you receive eternal life. And though your body dies physically, you still go on forever and ever and ever in perfection in the presence of God. If you have not believed and received him, then you do it right now.

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Thank you for listening to today's episode Before you go. If you want to help equip other men for the fight, share this podcast around and leave us a five-star rating and review. Stay sharp.