Welcome to the Emmaus Bible Hour. We're glad you're with us this morning. Here's a poem that has been a favorite of mine for some time. I had walked life's way with an easy tread, had followed where comforts and pleasures led. Until one day in a quiet place I met the Master face to face. With station and rank and wealth for my goal, much thought for my body but none for my soul, I had entered to win in life's race when I met the Master face to face. I met him and knew him and blushed to see that his eyes full of sorrow were fixed on me. And I faltered and fell at his face that day, while my castles melted and vanished away. Melted and vanished and in their place, not else did I see but the master's face. And I cried aloud, O make me meet to follow the steps of thy wounded feet. My thought is now for the souls of men. I've lost my life to find it again. There since one day in a quiet place I met the master face to face. Have you met the Master? Have the things that you had set up as goals maybe some years ago crumbled? You've seen them not work out. You've realized that the Lord Jesus is the answer, that He's the only answer. We hope so. Our program this morning is centered on the Lord Jesus Christ and learning to know Him. I'm walking along a heavenly road Since Jesus took all my sins away And somewhere there sings a heavenly song That brightens my pathway each day And now I'm bound for a heavenly shore. And all the darkness of night has turned today. Since Jesus will come, I send away. satisfying peace this wonderful Savior. He gives me joy that never sees this wonderful Lord. It is only Jesus who can bless with an And he is my Savior, this wonderful Lord, the chains that fall. And now I'm bound for a heavenly show. And all the darkness of night has turned to day, Since she loves to call my sins away, Since she loves to call my sins away, Since she loves to call my sins away, Since Jesus took all my sins away. We're talking about meeting the Master. And when we meet the Master, we realize that we are sinners. And we need a Savior. And when we ask Him, He receives us. And saves us. He's never turned anyone away. He's promised Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Many of you remember Charles Colson, who went to prison as a result of Watergate. This is how he tells his story ten years, some ten years later, as to what happened to him at that time. I had arrived at everything I had dreamed about as a kid. I was forty-one years old with a healthy six-figure law practice, clients waiting at the door, a yacht in Chesapeake Bay, a limousine and a driver, was a friend of the President and all kinds of people working for me and others dying to come into my firm. I never felt more rotten in my life. The first couple of months when I was out of the White House I was dead inside, empty and tired. It was then I met Tom Phillips. One of his associates told me he had had some sort of religious experience at a meeting. At his office I could tell something was different about this man. He was calm and peaceful, and yet he was a man who worked his way up to the top as I had. This happened at the beginning of the really serious Watergate scandal. I decided there was something realistic about the man, so I asked, What happened to you, Tom? He said, I've accepted Jesus Christ and committed my life to him. Those are the most shocking words ever spoken to me. Months later, he took a couple of hours and told me what had happened to him. He read a little chapter on pride from C.S. Lewis's mere Christianity, which was like sticking a knife into me. I wouldn't admit it, but the chapter described me more than anything else in the world. Tom prayed, which stunned me also because I had never prayed. except in the Episcopal Church out of the Book of Common Prayer. And here was a man on his porch praying. That night when I left his home I could not get out of the driveway because I was crying too hard. I was overwhelmed by the realization of my own sin. The fact that I was unclean. And that's when I remembered calling out vividly saying, God, take me as I am. And I went up to the main coast and now I realized that That was when God regenerated me. I was not a target of investigation. Everyone thinks when I became a Christian it was because they were down my neck. It was not. I had been told that I would not be a target of criminal investigation, that I would be a government witness. But when I got back to Washington, the first thing my lawyers told me was, by the way, Cox's office called to put you before the grand jury not as a witness but as a possible target my world collapsed after two days the grand jury pulled me out and said you're going to be indicted I ended up pleading guilty to something I hadn't been charged with but that I was guilty of and I was sentenced to one to two three rather to one to three years in prison well while I was in prison my dad died my son got into trouble Really, it was almost two years from the time Christ came into my life until I could say in a worldly sense that anything good happened. I've just been reading Charles Colson's own account of his trusting in the Lord Jesus as Savior. The article was titled, Why Charles Colson's Heart Is Still in Prison. As you possibly know, Mr. Colson has continued to go back to prison over the years since then, but not as a prisoner. You've gone back to help others. Other prisoners learn to know the one who could release them from their sins, take away their sins. We all need a Savior. We've all been prisoners of Satan through sin. The Lord Jesus wants to deliver you. He wants to open the prison doors and set you free. In times like these, you need a Savior. In times like these, you need a savior. In times like these, you need an resture your anchorhold and grip the fire of God this rock is Jesus we know of this rock is Jesus For your anger won't stand with the pith. In times like these, I have a savior. In times like these, I have an angel. I'm very sure. and grips us by its heart this rock is Jesus he's the one this rock is Jesus Bill Pearson, Dick Anthony singing in times like these. Did you notice the emphasis? Be very sure. Be very sure. Yes, you can be sure. You don't have to hope so, guess so, about salvation. The Bible makes it clear that God wants us to know that we are saved. God has a sure salvation for you. Listen to these verses from the Bible written by inspiration of God through the Apostle John. These things have I written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God. in order that you may know that you have eternal life. First John five thirteen. God wants you to know that you have eternal life.