The Three Greatest Truths I Know
By Pastor James West
Dr. James West was the pastor of our home church, Faith Baptist Church, in Osterburg, Pennsylvania, for 25 years.
He graduated to glory in November 2021.
He graduated to glory in November 2021.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
I heard somebody say one time, “If you had to throw away all of the Bible and could just keep one book, you would have the whole Bible in the book of John.” Then he said, “If you had to throw away all the other chapters of the Gospel of John, and keep chapter three, then you would still have everything you need.” Finally he said, “You had to throw away everything and just keep one little verse, John 3:16, you would still have the truth of God contained in that one little verse.”
Now I’m thankful to have a complete Bible, and we’re commanded to preach the ‘whole counsel of God,’ but today I want to preach to you from this verse, probably the most well-known and well-loved verse in the entire Bible. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) There is so much that this simple verse says. Let me share with you the three greatest truths that I know.
God Loves Me
“For God so loved the world,...” Now stop right there. Think about that for just a little bit. “For God so loved...” The first of these greatest things, I believe, in all the Bible, is that God loves me. God loves me! I God loves me! God loves me! was thinking about that the other day. Not just anybody who loves me, I’m telling you, GOD loves me! And even more amazing is that He loves me! “For God so loved the world,...” God loves me today, and He loves you. I think sometimes we read a verse in the Bible and we just glance over it and never really let the truth of a verse sink into our minds and thrill our souls. I don’t know of anything today that is more moving or means more to me than that one simple fact -- that God loves me.
I’m saying that the perfect and righteous God of eternity loves little, old me. He who is holy loves me, who is unholy. He who is just loves he who is unjust. He that is righteous loves he that was unrighteous. He who is good loves he who was evil. He that is sinless loves he that is full of sin. He that is perfect loves he that is imperfect. He that is true loves he that was a liar. He that never thought one wicked thought, never spoke one wicked word, and never did one wicked deed, and yet He loves me.
That ought to do something to your heart. You say, “Brother West, I memorized that verse when I was just a boy.” I know, but you haven’t bathed yourself in it enough. Stop and let it bless your soul for awhile. God loves me. God loves you. That ought to make everyone here today shout, “Hallelujah!” I mean it. Brother, you ought to be able to go home and get alone and just over and over again marvel in the reality of that fact and enjoy it and praise God for it. God loves you.
The other day I was counseling with a young lady. She had been through a lot, and she was depressed and down. I said, “Here’s what I want you to do. Every day for the next week, I want you to stop three times a day and say, ‘God loves me’.”
You say, “I’m poor today.” Can I tell you God loves you? “Brother West, I’m a drunk today.” I hope none of you are drunks, but you listen to me, even if you’re a drunk, that doesn’t change the fact that God loves you. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you are. God loves you and cares about you. You say, “I’m an atheist.” God still loves you.
I was talking to an atheist one time and I said, “There’s one thing you’ll never get away from.”
He said, “What’s that?”
I said, “That God loves you.”
It doesn’t matter who you are today. God loves you. You say, “I’m Cuban.” God loves you. “I’m Japanese.” God loves you. You say, “I’m from South Africa.” God loves you. “I’m from Russia.” God loves you. “I’m from Israel.” God loves you. “I’m from Poland.” God loves you. The greatest thing that you’ll ever hear anybody say, or the greatest truth you’ll ever know is that the eternal, all-powerful God of Heaven knows you and loves you. He loves me no matter how dirty and undeserving I am. No matter the mire of sin that I was in, no matter how filthy I was, God still loves me. Thank God for that. God loves me. John 3:16 said, “For God so loved the world,...” That’s you and that’s me. God loves me.
There was an atheist who died in 1934. At his death the band played, “There’ll be a hot time in the old town tonight.” A big stone was placed at the head of his grave with his picture on it. Under the picture were these words: “He made his life the best he could, no fear of gods, no love of Jesus.” That’s a lie. Even though he might not have had a heart full of love for Him, he may have even hated the Lord, but Jesus still loved him so much that He died on the cross for him.
The rich young ruler came to Christ and said, “Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said, “Why call ye me good? There’s none good but God.” Jesus then looked at him and said, “Have you kept the commandments?” He said, “I’ve observed them all from my youth.” The Bible says that Jesus looking at him or gazing upon him, loved him. But he still rejected him, and went away sadly. Listen to me. Even though he didn’t receive Jesus and the salvation that He purchased with His blood on the cross, Jesus still loved him.
Can I tell you today that God loves you? The greatest truth you’ll ever learn in this Book right here is that Jehovah God, the eternal Lord of glory, the Saviour of the world, He loves you! He loves me. I don’t understand it. I don’t understand how God can love me, but I’m sure glad He does. Romans 5:8 says, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” You can’t get away from the fact that God loves you.
Dr. P. P. Bliss wrote this song. “I am so glad that our Father in Heaven tells of His love in the Book He has given. Wonderful things in the Bible I see, but this is the dearest that Jesus loves me.” There is nothing greater than that. I don’t care who, or what, or where you are today. He loves you. “I am so glad that Jesus loves me, Jesus loves even me!”
There are those at home today. He loves them. There are those sitting in a drunken stupor in a tavern some place. God loves them. There are those in jail, paying for crimes they’ve committed, but God loves them. There are those in a hospital or rest home nearing the end of their lives. God loves them. There are those sitting in some kind of church or religious institution who are trusting in their own good works or religious practices or the church itself to make them good enough to go to Heaven instead of admitting their own unworthiness and trusting in the blood of Jesus, but do you know what? He still loves them. Jesus is waiting for everyone, rich or poor, great or small, young or old, good or bad, in whatever state they are in to realize the wonderful truth in this verse -- that He loves them and He died to save them.
Why don’t you take this home and bathe your soul in it. God loves you. God loves me. I fall. I stumble. I make mistakes. I blow it big time once in a while, but one thing that never changes is that my God in Heaven loves me. I don’t ever have to wonder about that. I don’t have to look up to Heaven every day and ask, “Jesus, do You love me today?” Is His love less or greater for me today? It’s unchanging and it’s infinite. One thing that I know is that He loves me.
God Saves Sinners
The second greatest thing that I know from the Bible is that God saves sinners. Look what He said in verse 16. “...that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,...” That word “perish” means to go to hell. God gave His Son so you don’t have to go to hell. The greatest news that I know is that God loves me. God said, “I love you so much, I’m not even going to withhold My only begotten Son. I’ll give My Son to you so you don’t have to go to hell unless you choose to.”
God still saves sinners. God’s been saving the lost for 6,000 years now and He’s still in the saving business. If you’re not saved today, the reason God the Father sent His only begotten Son to die for you is so you could have an opportunity to be saved. God loves me, but that’s not all. God proved His love for me at Golgotha. He proved His love for me on the bloody hill side where He died on a cruel cross one day. God didn’t just say, “I love you,” and then leave us hopeless to die in our sins and burn forever in hell. He said, “I’ll prove My love to you.” There is a song I use to hear called, “I’ll Prove it at the Top of the Hill.”
One day Jesus was carrying His cross up that hill called Calvary and looked over at me. He said, “James, I love you.” I said, “Lord, I love you.” He said, “But that’s not all son, I’m going to prove it at the top of the hill.” Not only does He love sinners, but God gave His Son so sinners didn’t have to perish in hell to pay the price of sin. God loves me, but that’s not all. God still saves old sinners.
The tramp on the street, the rich in their palaces,
The poor and unlearned, and the men of degree,
They all have a soul in need of salvation,
And they all have to come by Calvary.
Well, I am so glad God saves old sinners,
I’m thrilled and amazed how He sets them free!
But the biggest surprise in redeeming old sinners,
Is that He would save an old sinner like me.
Now was I so bad that I needed forgiveness?
And was I so wrong I had to be redeemed?
I wasn’t a thief, but I lived in sin’s prison;
And I was as lost as a sinner could be.
Well, I am so glad God saves old sinners,
I’m thrilled and amazed how He sets them free!
But the biggest surprise in redeeming old sinners,
Is that He would save an old sinner like me.
My dear friend, God still saves sinners that are lost and on their way to hell. He still rescues those who come to Him from the sufferings and the flames of hell. Matthew 18:11 says, “For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.” Luke 9:56 says, “For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them....” The reason He came was to save souls from dying and going to hell.
God is in the saving business. John 3:17 says, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” The greatest news that I know is that God loves me. The second greatest truth I know in all the Bible is that God saves sinners. God still saves those that are lost. There’s hope for me and hope for you, no matter how far from God you have been, or how wicked the sin you’ve committed.
You might be sitting here today and you’re not saved. Wouldn’t it be something to be sitting there lost and have no hope at all? I mean it, what if Jesus hadn’t died for you and offered you the free gift of salvation and you didn’t have any opportunity at all to go to Heaven? What if you couldn’t get saved no matter how much you wanted to? If that be the case, you’d cling to this old Bible. You’d be crying out to God, begging Him to keep this promise to you. You better thank God today that God still saves those sinners. From the day that Adam sinned against God in the Garden of Eden right up to this morning when Rob walked an aisle and asked the Lord to be saved, God has been in the soul-saving business. He’s still saving old sinners.
As an 11 year-old boy, God reached down one day at Circle J Ranch and said, “I died for you. I’ll save you, James. That’s why I gave My Son so that you could escape hell and spend eternity with me in Heaven.” As an 11 year-old boy, hell bound, Jesus reached down one day and saved me. I don’t know anything better than that. There is nothing in my life greater than that, that God saved me.
God saved Adam. God saved Abraham. God saved Elijah. God saved Paul and Peter. Jack Hyles, Lee Roberson, Tom Malone, Dennis Corle. God saved all those men, but you listen to me. The greatest news to me in all the world is that Jehovah God reached down and saved a little eleven year-old boy and kept him from dying and going to hell. There’s no greater news in all the world than Jesus died to save, not just the whole world, but He died to save me. All I had to do was say, “Yes,” to Jesus. Not only does Jesus love me, not only will Jesus save me, but I want you to see the third thing.
God keeps me saved.
Aren’t you glad He loves you today? Aren’t you glad when you called unto Him, He saved you? Wouldn’t it be something if you lost it? Wouldn’t it be something if you could be saved one minute on your way to Heaven and lost on your way to hell the next? Aren’t you glad today that when God saved you, He saved you for all eternity? Not only did He love me and He saved me, but God gave me everlasting life.
Look what He says in John 3:16. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Every time I think about it I start getting God bumps up and down my spine. I mean it. The truth is, you’d be one of them running-and-shouting Baptists if you thought about it awhile, too. If you thought about what really happened the day you got saved, you’d get excited about it. Instead of worrying about everything in the world, brother, why don’t you think about what God’s done for you?
I said God loves you today. I said God saves sinners. I said God Almighty not only saves them, but He keeps them saved. Every time I think about it, I start getting excited. I couldn’t even sleep this afternoon. When I go home on a Sunday afternoon and can’t sleep, there is something wrong! I laid down about 20 minutes. Then I picked up my Bible and the hymnal and just started reading different things, getting excited.
I have everlasting life. Do you know what that means? That means when I got saved as an 11 year-old boy, my name was written down in Heaven. Those books where God keeps account of everything I’ve ever done, said or thought, the page was blotted out. He took His blood and blotted it all out. There’s not one sin on my record today. I’m going to walk the streets of gold! I’ve got a mansion! I’m going to Heaven! Thank God for that! You’d get a little excited if you bathed yourself in that awhile. You want to go home and turn the TV on. Why don’t you get you a hymnal and Bible and read it awhile and spend some time thinking about what God’s done for you. I’m glad that God loves me. I’m glad that God saves me. I sure am glad that He keeps me saved.
“What do you mean?” I mean I’m not going to hell. I couldn’t go to hell today if I wanted to go to hell. You want to go, go ahead. I’m not going. God bought me. He paid the price, and He keeps me saved. My eternal destination has been changed from the fires of hell to the pearly gates of Heaven. I’ve been bought with the blood of the Lamb of God. I’m not going to hell. I’m not holding on. I’m not even holding out. I’m being held fast by the hand of God. Go ahead and mock if you want to. Man, they get mad when you tell them that you’re saved for eternity. I don’t understand it. You go ahead and mock, criticize, laugh, and scoff if you want to. Jesus gave me everlasting life, not temporary life.
My Bible says, “...everlasting life.” I don’t see death mentioned there. I see everlasting life. I passed from death unto life. I passed from hell to heaven. When God saved me, I was dead in my sins and trespasses, and God quickened my soul, and gave me everlasting life. The problem is most of them have the wrong book. I’m telling you, they’ve taken all the promises out of the Book. They’ve changed it.
That’s why they’re having nervous break-downs by the way. “Am I saved? Am I lost? Did I do enough? God, is everything all right? Are you going to let me in?” You laugh at that, but I’ve met people who have lost their minds because of that stuff, and it’s false doctrine. This King James Bible says that the gift of God is ETERNAL life.
Look at John 3:15. “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” Has what? Look at John 3:16. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Has what kind of life? Everlasting!
Look at John 3:36. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life:...” Look at John 5:24. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life,...” Hath what kind of life?
Look over at John 6:40. “And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” Look at verse 47. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” Hath what? He didn’t say, “He that was baptized”or “He that performed enough good works,” or “He that joined the right kind of church.” No, He said, “He that believeth on Him HATH (present tense, right now) everlasting life.” Nothing is greater than that. I have everlasting life from the very moment when I got saved. That means I’m Heaven bound. It’s already settled. I’ll never go to hell. It never wears out. It never ends. It never changes. It’s everlasting.
People say, “I don’t believe in ‘Once saved, always saved.’” Do you know what I say? I say, “Let’s use a Bible term. How about everlasting life? Do you believe that? Do you believe you have eternal life?” “Well, you must be Baptists.” You’re right. Brother, I’m Baptist, but I have a Book right here that has promised me when I believed on the Son of God, that God gave me everlasting life. I’m not going to hell. I couldn’t go to hell if I wanted to. Why? God gave me everlasting life when I got saved.
“I don’t believe in once saved, always saved.” Go ahead and have your nervous break downs. Go ahead and live in fear. I would rather have the Word of God than all of man’s philosophies. I’d rather have the truth of this one verse of John 3:16 where He promised me everlasting life. He said, “You’ll not perish.” That means I can never go to hell. I have eternal life today.
“What are the three greatest truths, Brother West?” I believe the three greatest truths in all the Bible are these. First, He loves me. Then He saves me. Then one day He’s going to carry me far away to the portals of glory to live forever in Heaven with Him. Don’t you know He loves you today? Do you realize today that the One who gave life loves you? That’s why, if nobody in this old world loves you, you can still live for God because you have a God in Heaven that loves you.
I looked at the young lady and I said, “You’ve had a pretty rough life, haven’t you?”
She said, “Yes.”
I said, “Can I tell you something wonderful?”
She looked at me and said, “What?”
I said, “I want you to say these words, ‘God loves me.’”
“God loves me.”
I said, “No, say it inside your heart and soul. ‘God loves me.’” The one that is more undeserving to go to Heaven than anybody I know is the person behind this pulpit speaking these words to you right now. But the one thing that I know without a shadow of a doubt today is my God loves me. My God saved me and keeps me saved, and one day He is going to carry me far away.
Let me ask you before we bow our heads, are you saved? Do you know without a shadow of a doubt that you are saved? If you are sitting there thinking, “Brother West, I’ve never been saved. I don’t even know what it means to be saved.” Then let us share with you today the wonderful news that Jesus loves you so much that He gave His life’s blood to pay the debt of your sin and all you have to do is place your trust and belief in Him and what He’s done for you. Just open the door of your heart and receive Him as your Lord and Saviour right now, and He promised that you’d never perish in Hell, but that you would enjoy everlasting life in Heaven with Him.
I heard somebody say one time, “If you had to throw away all of the Bible and could just keep one book, you would have the whole Bible in the book of John.” Then he said, “If you had to throw away all the other chapters of the Gospel of John, and keep chapter three, then you would still have everything you need.” Finally he said, “You had to throw away everything and just keep one little verse, John 3:16, you would still have the truth of God contained in that one little verse.”
Now I’m thankful to have a complete Bible, and we’re commanded to preach the ‘whole counsel of God,’ but today I want to preach to you from this verse, probably the most well-known and well-loved verse in the entire Bible. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) There is so much that this simple verse says. Let me share with you the three greatest truths that I know.
God Loves Me
“For God so loved the world,...” Now stop right there. Think about that for just a little bit. “For God so loved...” The first of these greatest things, I believe, in all the Bible, is that God loves me. God loves me! I God loves me! God loves me! was thinking about that the other day. Not just anybody who loves me, I’m telling you, GOD loves me! And even more amazing is that He loves me! “For God so loved the world,...” God loves me today, and He loves you. I think sometimes we read a verse in the Bible and we just glance over it and never really let the truth of a verse sink into our minds and thrill our souls. I don’t know of anything today that is more moving or means more to me than that one simple fact -- that God loves me.
I’m saying that the perfect and righteous God of eternity loves little, old me. He who is holy loves me, who is unholy. He who is just loves he who is unjust. He that is righteous loves he that was unrighteous. He who is good loves he who was evil. He that is sinless loves he that is full of sin. He that is perfect loves he that is imperfect. He that is true loves he that was a liar. He that never thought one wicked thought, never spoke one wicked word, and never did one wicked deed, and yet He loves me.
That ought to do something to your heart. You say, “Brother West, I memorized that verse when I was just a boy.” I know, but you haven’t bathed yourself in it enough. Stop and let it bless your soul for awhile. God loves me. God loves you. That ought to make everyone here today shout, “Hallelujah!” I mean it. Brother, you ought to be able to go home and get alone and just over and over again marvel in the reality of that fact and enjoy it and praise God for it. God loves you.
The other day I was counseling with a young lady. She had been through a lot, and she was depressed and down. I said, “Here’s what I want you to do. Every day for the next week, I want you to stop three times a day and say, ‘God loves me’.”
You say, “I’m poor today.” Can I tell you God loves you? “Brother West, I’m a drunk today.” I hope none of you are drunks, but you listen to me, even if you’re a drunk, that doesn’t change the fact that God loves you. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you are. God loves you and cares about you. You say, “I’m an atheist.” God still loves you.
I was talking to an atheist one time and I said, “There’s one thing you’ll never get away from.”
He said, “What’s that?”
I said, “That God loves you.”
It doesn’t matter who you are today. God loves you. You say, “I’m Cuban.” God loves you. “I’m Japanese.” God loves you. You say, “I’m from South Africa.” God loves you. “I’m from Russia.” God loves you. “I’m from Israel.” God loves you. “I’m from Poland.” God loves you. The greatest thing that you’ll ever hear anybody say, or the greatest truth you’ll ever know is that the eternal, all-powerful God of Heaven knows you and loves you. He loves me no matter how dirty and undeserving I am. No matter the mire of sin that I was in, no matter how filthy I was, God still loves me. Thank God for that. God loves me. John 3:16 said, “For God so loved the world,...” That’s you and that’s me. God loves me.
There was an atheist who died in 1934. At his death the band played, “There’ll be a hot time in the old town tonight.” A big stone was placed at the head of his grave with his picture on it. Under the picture were these words: “He made his life the best he could, no fear of gods, no love of Jesus.” That’s a lie. Even though he might not have had a heart full of love for Him, he may have even hated the Lord, but Jesus still loved him so much that He died on the cross for him.
The rich young ruler came to Christ and said, “Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said, “Why call ye me good? There’s none good but God.” Jesus then looked at him and said, “Have you kept the commandments?” He said, “I’ve observed them all from my youth.” The Bible says that Jesus looking at him or gazing upon him, loved him. But he still rejected him, and went away sadly. Listen to me. Even though he didn’t receive Jesus and the salvation that He purchased with His blood on the cross, Jesus still loved him.
Can I tell you today that God loves you? The greatest truth you’ll ever learn in this Book right here is that Jehovah God, the eternal Lord of glory, the Saviour of the world, He loves you! He loves me. I don’t understand it. I don’t understand how God can love me, but I’m sure glad He does. Romans 5:8 says, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” You can’t get away from the fact that God loves you.
Dr. P. P. Bliss wrote this song. “I am so glad that our Father in Heaven tells of His love in the Book He has given. Wonderful things in the Bible I see, but this is the dearest that Jesus loves me.” There is nothing greater than that. I don’t care who, or what, or where you are today. He loves you. “I am so glad that Jesus loves me, Jesus loves even me!”
There are those at home today. He loves them. There are those sitting in a drunken stupor in a tavern some place. God loves them. There are those in jail, paying for crimes they’ve committed, but God loves them. There are those in a hospital or rest home nearing the end of their lives. God loves them. There are those sitting in some kind of church or religious institution who are trusting in their own good works or religious practices or the church itself to make them good enough to go to Heaven instead of admitting their own unworthiness and trusting in the blood of Jesus, but do you know what? He still loves them. Jesus is waiting for everyone, rich or poor, great or small, young or old, good or bad, in whatever state they are in to realize the wonderful truth in this verse -- that He loves them and He died to save them.
Why don’t you take this home and bathe your soul in it. God loves you. God loves me. I fall. I stumble. I make mistakes. I blow it big time once in a while, but one thing that never changes is that my God in Heaven loves me. I don’t ever have to wonder about that. I don’t have to look up to Heaven every day and ask, “Jesus, do You love me today?” Is His love less or greater for me today? It’s unchanging and it’s infinite. One thing that I know is that He loves me.
God Saves Sinners
The second greatest thing that I know from the Bible is that God saves sinners. Look what He said in verse 16. “...that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,...” That word “perish” means to go to hell. God gave His Son so you don’t have to go to hell. The greatest news that I know is that God loves me. God said, “I love you so much, I’m not even going to withhold My only begotten Son. I’ll give My Son to you so you don’t have to go to hell unless you choose to.”
God still saves sinners. God’s been saving the lost for 6,000 years now and He’s still in the saving business. If you’re not saved today, the reason God the Father sent His only begotten Son to die for you is so you could have an opportunity to be saved. God loves me, but that’s not all. God proved His love for me at Golgotha. He proved His love for me on the bloody hill side where He died on a cruel cross one day. God didn’t just say, “I love you,” and then leave us hopeless to die in our sins and burn forever in hell. He said, “I’ll prove My love to you.” There is a song I use to hear called, “I’ll Prove it at the Top of the Hill.”
One day Jesus was carrying His cross up that hill called Calvary and looked over at me. He said, “James, I love you.” I said, “Lord, I love you.” He said, “But that’s not all son, I’m going to prove it at the top of the hill.” Not only does He love sinners, but God gave His Son so sinners didn’t have to perish in hell to pay the price of sin. God loves me, but that’s not all. God still saves old sinners.
The tramp on the street, the rich in their palaces,
The poor and unlearned, and the men of degree,
They all have a soul in need of salvation,
And they all have to come by Calvary.
Well, I am so glad God saves old sinners,
I’m thrilled and amazed how He sets them free!
But the biggest surprise in redeeming old sinners,
Is that He would save an old sinner like me.
Now was I so bad that I needed forgiveness?
And was I so wrong I had to be redeemed?
I wasn’t a thief, but I lived in sin’s prison;
And I was as lost as a sinner could be.
Well, I am so glad God saves old sinners,
I’m thrilled and amazed how He sets them free!
But the biggest surprise in redeeming old sinners,
Is that He would save an old sinner like me.
My dear friend, God still saves sinners that are lost and on their way to hell. He still rescues those who come to Him from the sufferings and the flames of hell. Matthew 18:11 says, “For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.” Luke 9:56 says, “For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them....” The reason He came was to save souls from dying and going to hell.
God is in the saving business. John 3:17 says, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” The greatest news that I know is that God loves me. The second greatest truth I know in all the Bible is that God saves sinners. God still saves those that are lost. There’s hope for me and hope for you, no matter how far from God you have been, or how wicked the sin you’ve committed.
You might be sitting here today and you’re not saved. Wouldn’t it be something to be sitting there lost and have no hope at all? I mean it, what if Jesus hadn’t died for you and offered you the free gift of salvation and you didn’t have any opportunity at all to go to Heaven? What if you couldn’t get saved no matter how much you wanted to? If that be the case, you’d cling to this old Bible. You’d be crying out to God, begging Him to keep this promise to you. You better thank God today that God still saves those sinners. From the day that Adam sinned against God in the Garden of Eden right up to this morning when Rob walked an aisle and asked the Lord to be saved, God has been in the soul-saving business. He’s still saving old sinners.
As an 11 year-old boy, God reached down one day at Circle J Ranch and said, “I died for you. I’ll save you, James. That’s why I gave My Son so that you could escape hell and spend eternity with me in Heaven.” As an 11 year-old boy, hell bound, Jesus reached down one day and saved me. I don’t know anything better than that. There is nothing in my life greater than that, that God saved me.
God saved Adam. God saved Abraham. God saved Elijah. God saved Paul and Peter. Jack Hyles, Lee Roberson, Tom Malone, Dennis Corle. God saved all those men, but you listen to me. The greatest news to me in all the world is that Jehovah God reached down and saved a little eleven year-old boy and kept him from dying and going to hell. There’s no greater news in all the world than Jesus died to save, not just the whole world, but He died to save me. All I had to do was say, “Yes,” to Jesus. Not only does Jesus love me, not only will Jesus save me, but I want you to see the third thing.
God keeps me saved.
Aren’t you glad He loves you today? Aren’t you glad when you called unto Him, He saved you? Wouldn’t it be something if you lost it? Wouldn’t it be something if you could be saved one minute on your way to Heaven and lost on your way to hell the next? Aren’t you glad today that when God saved you, He saved you for all eternity? Not only did He love me and He saved me, but God gave me everlasting life.
Look what He says in John 3:16. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Every time I think about it I start getting God bumps up and down my spine. I mean it. The truth is, you’d be one of them running-and-shouting Baptists if you thought about it awhile, too. If you thought about what really happened the day you got saved, you’d get excited about it. Instead of worrying about everything in the world, brother, why don’t you think about what God’s done for you?
I said God loves you today. I said God saves sinners. I said God Almighty not only saves them, but He keeps them saved. Every time I think about it, I start getting excited. I couldn’t even sleep this afternoon. When I go home on a Sunday afternoon and can’t sleep, there is something wrong! I laid down about 20 minutes. Then I picked up my Bible and the hymnal and just started reading different things, getting excited.
I have everlasting life. Do you know what that means? That means when I got saved as an 11 year-old boy, my name was written down in Heaven. Those books where God keeps account of everything I’ve ever done, said or thought, the page was blotted out. He took His blood and blotted it all out. There’s not one sin on my record today. I’m going to walk the streets of gold! I’ve got a mansion! I’m going to Heaven! Thank God for that! You’d get a little excited if you bathed yourself in that awhile. You want to go home and turn the TV on. Why don’t you get you a hymnal and Bible and read it awhile and spend some time thinking about what God’s done for you. I’m glad that God loves me. I’m glad that God saves me. I sure am glad that He keeps me saved.
“What do you mean?” I mean I’m not going to hell. I couldn’t go to hell today if I wanted to go to hell. You want to go, go ahead. I’m not going. God bought me. He paid the price, and He keeps me saved. My eternal destination has been changed from the fires of hell to the pearly gates of Heaven. I’ve been bought with the blood of the Lamb of God. I’m not going to hell. I’m not holding on. I’m not even holding out. I’m being held fast by the hand of God. Go ahead and mock if you want to. Man, they get mad when you tell them that you’re saved for eternity. I don’t understand it. You go ahead and mock, criticize, laugh, and scoff if you want to. Jesus gave me everlasting life, not temporary life.
My Bible says, “...everlasting life.” I don’t see death mentioned there. I see everlasting life. I passed from death unto life. I passed from hell to heaven. When God saved me, I was dead in my sins and trespasses, and God quickened my soul, and gave me everlasting life. The problem is most of them have the wrong book. I’m telling you, they’ve taken all the promises out of the Book. They’ve changed it.
That’s why they’re having nervous break-downs by the way. “Am I saved? Am I lost? Did I do enough? God, is everything all right? Are you going to let me in?” You laugh at that, but I’ve met people who have lost their minds because of that stuff, and it’s false doctrine. This King James Bible says that the gift of God is ETERNAL life.
Look at John 3:15. “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” Has what? Look at John 3:16. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Has what kind of life? Everlasting!
Look at John 3:36. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life:...” Look at John 5:24. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life,...” Hath what kind of life?
Look over at John 6:40. “And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” Look at verse 47. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” Hath what? He didn’t say, “He that was baptized”or “He that performed enough good works,” or “He that joined the right kind of church.” No, He said, “He that believeth on Him HATH (present tense, right now) everlasting life.” Nothing is greater than that. I have everlasting life from the very moment when I got saved. That means I’m Heaven bound. It’s already settled. I’ll never go to hell. It never wears out. It never ends. It never changes. It’s everlasting.
People say, “I don’t believe in ‘Once saved, always saved.’” Do you know what I say? I say, “Let’s use a Bible term. How about everlasting life? Do you believe that? Do you believe you have eternal life?” “Well, you must be Baptists.” You’re right. Brother, I’m Baptist, but I have a Book right here that has promised me when I believed on the Son of God, that God gave me everlasting life. I’m not going to hell. I couldn’t go to hell if I wanted to. Why? God gave me everlasting life when I got saved.
“I don’t believe in once saved, always saved.” Go ahead and have your nervous break downs. Go ahead and live in fear. I would rather have the Word of God than all of man’s philosophies. I’d rather have the truth of this one verse of John 3:16 where He promised me everlasting life. He said, “You’ll not perish.” That means I can never go to hell. I have eternal life today.
“What are the three greatest truths, Brother West?” I believe the three greatest truths in all the Bible are these. First, He loves me. Then He saves me. Then one day He’s going to carry me far away to the portals of glory to live forever in Heaven with Him. Don’t you know He loves you today? Do you realize today that the One who gave life loves you? That’s why, if nobody in this old world loves you, you can still live for God because you have a God in Heaven that loves you.
I looked at the young lady and I said, “You’ve had a pretty rough life, haven’t you?”
She said, “Yes.”
I said, “Can I tell you something wonderful?”
She looked at me and said, “What?”
I said, “I want you to say these words, ‘God loves me.’”
“God loves me.”
I said, “No, say it inside your heart and soul. ‘God loves me.’” The one that is more undeserving to go to Heaven than anybody I know is the person behind this pulpit speaking these words to you right now. But the one thing that I know without a shadow of a doubt today is my God loves me. My God saved me and keeps me saved, and one day He is going to carry me far away.
Let me ask you before we bow our heads, are you saved? Do you know without a shadow of a doubt that you are saved? If you are sitting there thinking, “Brother West, I’ve never been saved. I don’t even know what it means to be saved.” Then let us share with you today the wonderful news that Jesus loves you so much that He gave His life’s blood to pay the debt of your sin and all you have to do is place your trust and belief in Him and what He’s done for you. Just open the door of your heart and receive Him as your Lord and Saviour right now, and He promised that you’d never perish in Hell, but that you would enjoy everlasting life in Heaven with Him.
