The Real Deal

I am happy once again to be back with my family here at Alpha Bible Church.  I want to thank Pastor Cherian, Pastor Kartik and Pastor Davis for inviting me to share with you again. I hope that something I say will be an encouragement to you.

In America, we have an expression.  When something is genuine, we call it the real deal.  None of us like something that is counterfeit.  We want the genuine article.  Something that is real.  Something that is true.

I hope that all of you desire a true relationship with God and will not be satisfied with anything less.  Paul pleaded in Philippians 3:10 “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection”.  I love to hear testimonies of people who have had genuine encounters with the Lord Jesus.  It encourages my faith to confirm that God is active and moving in our world today. 

I recently read a book given to me by a pastor friend in Mumbai.  It is the testimony of Pandit Dharm Prakash Sharma. He calls his book  “my encounter with truth”.  I want to share some of his story with you.

To reinforce the word “truth”, the front of the book has an illustration of the Indian parliament building. In the building is the inscription: “Truth Shall Prevail”.  He added that the founders of India believed in an absolute truth.  Truth comes only from God. I say Amen to that.  I pray that the Indian nation and Indian people continue to pursue the truth.

Dharm Prakash was born in a British jail as his parents were freedom fighters with Ghandi.  In fact Ghandi had arranged his parents’ marriage.  They were high caste Hindus, but they were willing to associate with and help low caste people. They had a heart for God and for India. His parents felt Dharm was a special gift from God.

From an early age, Dharm Prakash had miraculous experiences, including a supernatural rescue from the jaws of an alligator.  He had several experiences where he saw a heavenly light and heard the voice of Jesus. He married a Christian woman because he had a series of distinct dreams of a particular woman. When he first saw her and recognized her as his dream girl, he immediately proposed marriage.  Of course she thought he was crazy.  But not long afterward, she felt God’s leading to become his wife. Yet he hated Christianity and burned the Bible. 

His attitude started to change when he learned that Ghandi admired Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. So Dharm read this famous sermon for himself and was deeply impacted.  Again, he heard the voice of Jesus.  He resolved to find a Christian who could tell him how to find Jesus.  He went to a Christian professor whom he respected.  He asked his professor how to know Jesus.  The professor offered him a class on Christian philosophy.  Dharm did not want philosophy.  He knew that Jesus was real.  He wanted to know how to meet Jesus.

So the professor referred him to a bishop.  The bishop could only tell him to be baptized and join the church.  Dharm Prakash knew this advice was not the real deal.  He knew the church guy was not helpful.  He wanted to meet the source of the voice, which had spoken to him.

Ultimately, through the example of his Christian wife and council from two other former Hindu Christians, Dharm Prakash received Christ as his savior.  He was convinced that he had found the Real Deal.

Just as we hunger for the Real Deal, we all know people who have settled for less.  I wondered how this bishop could be so spiritually dull that he could not sense the true hunger of Dharm Prakash? In fact, some nominal Christians think that we are crazy or cultists if we testify of a personal encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ.  Yet, like Dharm Prakash, once we have experienced Jesus in the power of the resurrection, we do not worry what others think.  We know that Jesus is the Real Deal.

John 14:6  Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father, but by me.

In John 18:37b, Jesus answered Pilate: Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.

John 18:38 Pilate asked him, "What is 'truth'?"

It seems that Pilate had a cynical view.  Pilate was no different than many people today. 

Let me share one more short book report with you.  I recently read a book called “How Should We Then Live” by Francis Schaeffer.  Schaeffer examined the results of a person’s “Worldview”.

Your worldview is a powerful concept.  Not all people view the world in the same way.  Every thing you see and hear and experience is filtered by your particular view of the “world”. 

Francis Schaeffer observed two basic worldviews:

- Some people believe that God created the world and is directing history.  These people accept that God’s Word creates a standard by which we can live. This worldview tends toward optimism and hope for the future. 

- Many other people believe that mankind arrived here on earth by accident but that we have a rational mind that hopefully can figure out how to build a good society.  But ultimately there is no basis for deciding what is true.  God is not a real part of their life and God’s Word plays no part in their life decision.  This view tends toward violence based on the belief that only the strong survive.

Francis Schaeffer pointed out that societies where the Biblical worldview is dominant are creative and productive.  These are the people who developed science.  They sought to understand the truth, yet believed that God created the natural world that they sought to understand.  They rejected the worldview of Aristotle that could not be proven.  They insisted on proving what is true.

Societies that do not trust in a divine dimension to life tend toward hopelessness and depression.  Schaeffer noted that the quality of art, music, architecture and other elements of a culture tend to degrade where the rational worldview is dominant. Pontius Pilate had the rational or secular humanist viewpoint. He could not understand truth. He just understood he was accountable to Caesar. This struggle between those that hope in God and those that hope in man has gone on a long time.

This concept of worldview explains situations where I find I cannot reason with a person.  I have realized that their basic worldview causes them to see situations completely differently than I do.  What I think is a good argument is completely rejected because it violates their worldview.  Jesus described this situation in Matthew 13:14-15.

Mat 13:14  in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:

Mat 13:15  For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

So what is your worldview? Are you here this morning seeking a relationship with the living God? Or are you seeking a better philosophy by which to live your life?  A Christianity without Christ will not save you.

Hebrews 11:6  without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

So I encourage you this morning. God wants to be found of you. Be like Dharm Prakash and insist on the Real Deal. God rewarded the sincere search of Dharm Prakash.  He will reward you if you seek him with all your heart.  

References:

The book “my encounter with truth” can be ordered from http://www.cbmwonline.org/Detail.aspx?ProdID=2035

The life of Dharm Prakash is dramatized in this movie - http://khojmovie.in/