From His Heart

Speaker 1

What are you most thankful for? Here's Pastor Jeff Shreve.

Speaker 2

Well, we want today to experience the resurrection like it's the very first time. The earthquake that took place at the resurrection shook the ground.

We want the truth of the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead to shake us, to affect us, and to make a difference in our lives this day that would impact us today and all the rest of our days.

God wants that for you. He can heal every scar with real truth, real love, and real hope from his heart.

Speaker 1

This is from his heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve. Thank you for joining us today as we approach Easter and prepare our hearts for this most holy day.

What is Easter really about? And how thankful are you every day of the year for the earthquake that Easter created and the high magnitude impact it can and hopefully has had on your life forever?

Listen. Forgiveness of sins through Christ's resurrection is the core of our lives that we're to share with all peoples.

So open your Bible to the 28th chapter of Matthew if you can, and listen as Pastor Jeff explains the impact of the earthquake of Easter.

Speaker 2

Now, Debbie and I, we have been married 25 years. And when we got married, one of the adjustments I wasn't quite prepared for had to do with sleeping. Now, I just assumed that when it was nighttime and you're ready to go to bed, that you turn out the lights and you go to sleep. Not so with Debbie. Debbie grew up as an only child in a home where her dad snored like a freight train. And I don't care where you were in the house, you would hear him snoring. So from the time she was young, she purchased one of these things called a sleep mate. It makes this ghastly sound.

So we're married, we go to sleep. She says, "Wait, I gotta turn on my sleepmate." I was like, "My soul. I gotta turn that off. I mean, I want to go to sleep. Let's go to sleep now. So let's get it quiet." She says, "No, I gotta have this on to sleep." I said, "Well, I have to have that off to sleep." So we compromised when we ran the sleepmate; that was our compromise. I kind of wanted to be there with her, and she said, "You'll get used to it." Well, for the first couple of nights, I mean, that noise. Hear it again, play it again. It's like somebody's got the vacuum cleaner on. "Turn off the vacuum cleaner. I want to go to sleep." It's just reverberating through my head. That's all I could hear. I'd wake up in the middle of the night and be like, "Oh, great, I got this noise again." And if I thought I could turn it off because it's in the middle of the night, she wouldn't know. She woke right up. "What's up? You turned off the sleep mate."

So it took me about a week or so to get used to the sleep mate. And you know what happened? After a while, I didn't hear it anymore. It didn't affect me anymore. That's exactly the way it is for so many people when it comes to Easter. We've heard the story. It's old news. It's old hat. It doesn't affect us anymore. It doesn't shake us anymore like it should because it's the greatest news on Earth, what we've been singing about and what I'm preaching today. The greatest news in the world. If you take all the great news in the world that has ever been in the history of the world and you pile it all up to make one piece of great news, it's a pimple on a flea compared to the news that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins. He was buried, and on the third day, he rose again from the dead. That is the greatest news of all.

And for so many of us, it's white noise. It's just like, "Yeah, I've heard that. So what?" Well, we want today to experience the resurrection like it's the very first time. The earthquake that took place at the resurrection shook the ground. We want the truth of the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead to shake us and to affect us and to make a difference in our lives this day. That would affect us this day and all the rest of our days. God wants that for you.

Matthew, chapter 28. I'll begin reading in verse one. Now, after the Sabbath, the Sabbath was Saturday. Jesus rose on Sunday, which is the first day of the week after the Sabbath. As it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. And behold! When you find that word "behold" in the New Testament, it means, "Wow." It means, "Hey, get a load of this." It means, "Can you believe it?" And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred. For an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it, and his appearance was like lightning, and his garment as white as snow. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men.

And the angel answered and said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, for he has risen just as he said. Come see the place where he was lying and go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead. And behold, he is going before you into Galilee. There you will see him. Behold. Wow. I have told you." And they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to report it to his disciples. And behold, there's our word again. Wow. Can you believe it? Behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and take word to my brethren to leave for Galilee. And there they shall see me."

There was an earthquake that hit that resurrection morning. There was an earthquake that hit on Good Friday. When Jesus died on the cross, the earth shook. In the Old Testament, when God gave the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, the earth shook. When God is getting ready to do something big, something huge, the earth shakes. And when Jesus died on the cross, the earth shook. And when he rose from the dead, there was a severe earthquake. And God wants to bring a big-time shaking in your life today. He wants to rock your world with some truth.

Truth number one. Let this rock your world. Jesus Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Don't let that be water off a duck's back. Don't let that be, "Yeah, I know, I know that. Tell me something new." Let that resonate in your heart today. Jesus Christ is risen. And he's risen indeed. That's what the angel said in verse 6. "He is not here, for he has risen, just as he said."

Now, that first morning at the tomb, four women came: Mary Magdalene, Mary, who was from a town called Magdala (M A G, D A L A). It's on the western side of the Sea of Galilee. That's where she was from. And she and the other Mary—Mary was a very common name at that time—and that other Mary is the mother of a disciple that we don't hear much about. His name was James, the son of Alphaeus, or James the Less, or Little James. That's what he was. He was Little James. You had Big James, James and John, Peter, James and John, the big three—that was Big James. But here's Little James and Little James' mother, her name was Mary, and she was there with Mary Magdalene. And then you had a lady named Salome, and then another lady named Joanna.

So those four ladies came to the tomb, and they had forgotten that he said he was gonna rise on the third day. All of his followers forgot that. They didn't believe that. They saw him beaten and whipped and crucified. They saw him die. And they didn't think for a moment that he was gonna rise again from the dead. It was the enemies of Christ who said, "We need to have a guard over the tomb. We need to roll a big stone over the tomb and put the seal of Rome on that stone. A guard, 16 soldiers to watch the tomb. Because we remember the Pharisees said, 'That deceiver,' speaking of Jesus, 'that deceiver, he said he was going to rise again on the third day. We don't want his disciples to steal the body away because that will create an even bigger problem for us.'"

And so they made the tomb secure. You put a seal of Rome on the tomb. That means anybody that breaks that seal messes with Rome. You break that seal, you mess with Rome. What does Rome do? Rome will nail you to a tree. That's what Rome will do. And so they came not knowing these women. They didn't know all that. They just knew that there was a big stone in front of the tomb, and we need to get somebody to roll away the stone. They didn't know the soldiers were gonna be there. They didn't know all that stuff. They didn't go to the tomb thinking that he was risen.

And so when they get there and they see the angel and they see the stone rolled away, wow! That's why it says, "Behold." Wow. Can you believe this? He is not here. He is risen. Now, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a fact of history. It's a fact of history. John MacArthur, the great preacher, said, "The resurrection is the most indisputable fact in all of history." The most indisputable fact. There's just proof galore that Jesus rose from the dead.

Big evidence: the empty tomb. I've been to Israel. I've seen the empty tomb. He's not there. You look for the remains of Jesus, you're not gonna find them anywhere. You can find his tomb, but it's an empty tomb. Another big piece of evidence is 500 eyewitnesses who said, "We saw Jesus resurrected. We saw, touched him, we felt him, we heard him speak. We saw the resurrected Christ." He appeared to over 500 at one time. The disciples saw him on numerous occasions after he rose from the dead. They ate with him. He said, "Touch me and see. A spirit doesn't have flesh and bone, as you see that I have." Wow, that's a pretty big piece of evidence. If you go into a court of law and you have 500 eyewitnesses, I think you make your case.

The transformation of the disciples also speaks to the fact that the resurrection is a fact of history. The disciples were scared little kittens. They were hiding behind closed doors. They were so afraid that, hey, the Romans are going to come and get us. They crucified Jesus. What are they going to do to us? They all deserted Jesus. Peter denied that he even knew him three times. "I don't even know." The man cursed and he swore. They were scared to death, but now all of a sudden, they're transformed. These guys that were scared little kittens now are bold as lions. They're preaching out in the open square. They're saying that Jesus rose again from the dead. They're willing to go to martyrdom for their faith in the fact that Jesus Christ is alive.

You know, there's a saying: Who would die for a lie? We ask that question, "Well, who would die for a lie?" But lots of people die for a lie. The guys that got into the planes that flew into the World Trade Center, they believed the lie that if I do this, I'm gonna get ushered straight into the presence of God. I'm gonna get this great reward. Sick, twisted, deceived men. But they died for a lie, thinking it was the truth. No one dies for a lie knowing it's a lie. You put the sword to Peter's throat. "Deny Christ and his resurrection, or I'll cut your head off." If it's all a hoax, and he knows it's a hoax, and he knows that Jesus didn't rise from the dead, he's not gonna let you cut his head off. He's gonna say, "Hey, you know, this is just a hoax. Come on, let's not get so serious about this."

Peter was crucified upside down because he wouldn't deny Christ. He knew that Jesus had risen from the dead, and so did those other guys, crucified and killed and martyred for their faith. The resurrection is a fact of history. The resurrection, secondly, is proof of Jesus' deity. It validates everything he said. It validates everything that he did. It showed the world that he indeed was and is God. It validates and proves his deity.

When Jesus came at the beginning of his public ministry, he came to the first Passover feast. You know, he rose at Passover time. He was crucified on Friday. When they, at 3 PM, he died. That's when they would slit the throats of the Passover lamb. And Jesus is our Passover lamb. And people say, "You know, how do you get three days out of this thing? You know, if he dies on Friday and rises on Sunday, you can't get three days."

Listen, the Jews calculated days. 6 PM was the start of a new day. From 6 PM to 6 PM, that was a day. They didn't do midnight to midnight like we do. Any portion of a day to the Jew was a day. So if Jesus was put in the ground at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, Friday, that's a day. Friday, he was in the ground, Friday in the tomb Friday, and then he was in the tomb all day Saturday. And then he rose on the third day, Sunday. Don't ever get hung up with the three days and three nights as Jesus said it. Just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Three days and three nights is an idiom. It doesn't mean he has to be in the ground 72 hours. If Jesus had stayed in the ground 72 hours, then he would have been raised from the dead on the fourth day. There's nowhere in the Bible that says that Jesus rose from the dead on the fourth day. He rose on the third day, Friday, Saturday, Sunday's the day, and he is coming up out of the ground.

Now at Passover, what does Jesus do when he comes to the Passover? In John chapter two, he sees how they're selling sheep and oxen and exchanging money in the temple, in the courtyard of the temple, the open area, the court of the Gentiles. And he gets so angry and he gets a whip and he begins to drive out the money changers and he flips open their tables and he pours out their money and he lets the lambs go. And he says, "Stop making my father's house a house of merchandise." And I mean, he created quite a stir, and people were upset, and they're like, "Hey, what gives you the authority to do that?"

John, chapter 2, verse 18. The Jews therefore answered and said to him, "What sign do you show to us seeing that you do these things?" Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews therefore said, "It took 46 years to build this temple, and you will raise it up in three days." But he was speaking of the temple of his body. Destroy this temple. You beat this temple and you scourged this temple, and you put this temple and you nail it to a tree and you put it in a tomb. Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again. He was speaking of the temple of his body.

Well, who can do that? You know, you could say that. You could say to somebody, "Hey, destroy my body, and in three days I'll raise it up again." But you can't do that because the only one that can do that is God. And Jesus Christ is God. And his resurrection proves that he is God. It validates everything that he said. You know, when you get... You might get in an argument with somebody, and people like to talk about creation and evolution, and they get into all that stuff, and they try and turn you into a pretzel, and you're a Christian, you're just such an idiot. You believe the Bible. You know what I always do? I always take them to the empty tomb. I said, "Let's start there because that's where it's all about. That's where you find it. That is what shows that Jesus really who he claims to be; he is God in the flesh because only God can rise from the dead.

People worship Buddha. Buddha's dead. People worship Confucius. Confucius is dead. People follow Muhammad. Muhammad is dead. Let me tell you a little secret. Jesus Christ is alive forevermore. It's proof of his deity, and it's the cornerstone of Christianity.

Speaker 1

It really is the emptiness of that tomb and what that means; it represents the power and reality of Christianity, which is truly a risen Savior, Jesus. And that should be the prime thing that we're thankful for and what that affords us in eternity.

You're listening to part one of the lesson for Easter called the Earthquake of Easter. Pastor Jeff has more to say about this reality in just a moment, so stay tuned.

If you're a Christian and you've been listening to these messages on Truth this month, we want to remind you that when you support us financially, you allow us to continue to outreach on this station and hundreds of others around the nation each day. Our hope is to expand the broadcast reach to more people until Christ returns. All you give goes to help us in this effort called From His Heart.

If you want to have a greater impact on people, you'll never know until Heaven. This is a quality opportunity for you to join with us with your support. We want to say thank you by sending you two resources. The first is the three-message series from Pastor Jeff called Nothing but the Truth. The second is the complementary booklet Sticks and What to Do When the Going Gets Tough. Both of these are available for your support of any amount this month to help us hear it from His heart.

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Now let's get back to the lesson today entitled the Earthquake of Easter.

Speaker 2

Some people, guys that like to take the Bible and kind of turn it and twist it and water it down, and just liberal theologians, they say, well, you know Jesus, he didn't have to really rise bodily from the grave in order to be our Savior. Yeah, he did. He for sure did. He can't save you if he's dead. What good is a dead Savior? Look what Paul says in First Corinthians 15:17. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless. You are still in your sins. Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

See, Good Friday, where Jesus died on the cross, is only good news, and it's only powerful because of Resurrection Sunday. See, those two things come together that give power to Good Friday. If Jesus had died on the cross and stayed dead, he can't save you and he can't save me because he's a dead Savior. And a dead Savior can't save anybody. But he didn't stay dead. He rose again on the third day and he appeared to John on the island of Patmos, the resurrected Christ. And he said, behold, I was dead and now I am alive forevermore and I have the keys of death and of hell. He has conquered. He is victorious. He is risen. He is risen indeed.

I love what one person said. If Jesus didn't rise from the dead, then nothing really matters. Let me think about it. If he didn't rise from the dead, then let me tell you, this is what my sermon is for: you eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you die. If he didn't rise from the dead, none of this stuff matters. But if he did rise from the dead, nothing else really matters except Jesus and following Jesus and worshiping the Lord Jesus and surrendering your life to Jesus. Because life is all about Jesus.

So let this rock your world and rock your soul. Jesus Christ is risen. He is risen indeed.

Speaker 1

Well, we're going to pause right there for now, but the lesson is by no means over. Make sure that you're with us tomorrow on Good Friday as we continue looking deeply into the earth, shaking truths of Easter, truths we should be ultimately thankful for this weekend.

Do you know that From His Heart has been on the air since 2005, sharing real truth, love, and hope from God's heart through the pulpit ministry of Dr. Jeff Shreve? It's been so encouraging to hear from so many people over these years that testified to the power of this ministry. We got this from Mike, and he reminds us of the impact that we're having. He says, "I want you to know, Pastor, how insightful and impactful your daily messages are to me. Every day after studying the Bible with you, I am refreshed and energized and really joyful. You have a way of telling the truth that is simple and yet profound. I'm really blessed by listening, and I want to thank you for what you do. You always seem to speak to the challenges I'm having at that moment. And again, thank you for making a difference."

Best regards,

Mike.

Well, what a blessing to us to know that God is using this ministry to touch real people around the world. And we pray the ministry is touching you too.

Well, that's all for today. I'm Larry Nobles, and a big thank you for listening today where you heard part one of the message, "The Earthquake of Easter." We'll have part two tomorrow. Join us then when God's word will continue to rock our world with truth because we'll again open His word and share real truth, love, and hope from His heart.

From From His Heart is the listener-supported broadcast ministry of Dr. Jeff Shreve, speaking the truth in love to a lost and a hurting world. Remember that no matter what, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Find out more at fromhisheart.org.