Easter Sunday School Lesson

Outline of Message

Apologetics simply means defending  the faith.

We Need to defend our faith for two reasons.

1. So that we are strong in our faith and will not be easily deceived.
2. So that we are able to give a good  answer when others searching have questions for us about our faith.

Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus:

1. The Origin of the Disciples Belief in the Resurrection
   1. What brought about the change of attitude?
   2. What caused them to be willing to lay down their lives to tell others about this Jesus?
2. The Post-Mortem Appearances of Jesus.
   1. It could not be their faith that caused a vision because they had none.
   2. It could not be a Dream because they all experienced him and touched him.
3. The Evidence of the Empty Tomb.
   1. Those that opposed the disciples did not say the tomb is not empty, but accuse them of stealing Jesus’ Body.
      • Why would they steal it?
      • Where would they put it?
      •  Why would they get themselves killed over a lie?
   2. Some say he was not really dead.
   • Romans were proficient killers.
   • No one is going to believe Jesus resurrected if he is limping around bleeding everywhere.

Is There a God? Fulfilled Prophecy

Today we will be finishing our series of Apologetics.  Now remember that Apologetics is just a fancy word for the defense of the faith.  We as Christians need to be able to defend our faith for two reasons.  First, so that we are strong in our faith and will not be easily deceived, and second, so that we are able to give a good answer when others searching have questions for us about our faith.  We need to be able to say more than just because Jesus lives in my heart that is how I know.  Christianity is not true because Jesus lives in my heart, it is true because of what happened 2000 years ago outside Jerusalem.

For the past month we have been addressing the question, Is there a God?  Is there a logical and reasonable argument for the existence of God?  Outside of referencing the Bible, can a case for the existence of God be made that disproves the positions of those that do not believe in a God and gives sufficient warrant for believing in a Creator?  The answer is, yes, it can.  And today we will prove that the God that we proved to exist, is the God that we find in the Bible.

We all ask the question is there a God?  This is mainly because God has placed a God shaped hole in our heart that only He can fill.  This is why every nation and culture that has ever existed in history has worshiped something.  In other words, man does not ask the question about God, our very existence raises the question about God.  That is why today we all still worship something.

However, I want to help you discover that in order to get the most joy out of life you have to worship the right God.  There are 1,093 prophecies in the Bible that refer to Jesus and His Church, and each one of those prophecies was fulfilled!  There are 333 prophecies that Jesus is going to fulfill during his life, death, resurrection, Ascension, etc.  30 are fulfilled just on the day He dies.  The Old Testament contains 48 prophecies that pertain to the crucifixion of Jesus.

In considering the fact that several different prophets who lived in separate communities over a span of a 1,000 years made predictions of Christ 500 years before His birth, the odds against these prophecies coming true are simply beyond our wildest comprehension.  For example, the chances of one man (Jesus) fulfilling just 8 of the prophecies attributed to Him are one in 10 to the 17th power (that’s a number with 17 zeroes 1,000,000,000,000,000,000).

Someone has figured out the statistical probability of that happening — if you put an X on one quarter, and filled the state of Texas with stacks of 7 quarters each, the likelihood of a helicopter landing and finding that one quarter matches the odds of one man fulfilling all those prophecies as Jesus did.

The Bible with all its fulfilled prophecies proves the existence of God.  Through the law of probability and the mathematical odds of prophecy being fulfilled, we can know assuredly that there was a divine Designer and Author of the Bible.  The same One who brought into existence the universe.

Therefore, we can conclude that there is a God because universal moral laws exist, creation needs a creator, the design of the universe needs a designer, and because of the probability of all of the fulfilled prophecies, happening by chance is just simply unbelievable.  Therefore, we can conclude that there is a God and that God is the God of the Bible.  Which is extremely good news, because the God of the Bible, loves each one of you and has sent his only son to die for you so that you will be able to stand before Him righteous.  And you can make sure that you are adopted into His family by repenting of your sins and accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord, Savior, and Treasure.

Finally, God, the Creator of the universe and author of our salvation tells us: “Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.  I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.  I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please” (Isaiah 46:9-10).