If you have your Bibles with you, we'd ask you to turn to the Gospel of John, John chapter 13, and we're going to begin reading in verse 21. And me and Brother Tate was talking, and I really struggled to find where I needed to be for this meeting. And I think that's kind of been most of the preachers. But that's usually a good thing, because then you know where you need to be. Gospel of John chapter 13, beginning in verse 21. The Bible says, When Jesus had thus said, He was troubled in spirit, and testified and said, verily, verily, I say unto you that one of you shall betray me. Then the disciples looked on one another doubting of whom he spake. Now there was one leaning on Jesus' bosom, one of the disciples whom Jesus loved. Now, Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake. He then, lying on Jesus' breast, said unto him, Lord, who is it? Let's pray. Lord, we thank You and we praise You for this dear book. Lord, we thank You for a place where so many of Your churches can gather together and feast on Your Word and be encouraged in the last days in which we live. We ask Thee now that You would send the Holy Ghost this way and that You would speak to those that You deem necessary. And we give You the praise for it, for it's in Christ's name that we do pray. Amen. Now, some very familiar verses of Scripture. The Gospel of John declaring Jesus as the God-man. Every one of the Gospels presents Christ in a different way. The Gospel of Matthew presents Him as a servant. And here, really, we see the deity of Christ. Just right after our text, remember when those that come to arrest Him had said, They fell backwards on their backs because of the power that was in Christ. Now remember, as one of the brethren said, he did not lose that to become Christ. Don't ever think that. Remember, I think he was calling Megan Tillop and he said, this morning you were sitting under the tree. And you know how he knew it? Because he's God. He's everywhere at the same time, just like God the Father. And you remember that simple thing. How did he know I was there? It impressed him, didn't it? And so we see that very same God, the Lord Jesus Christ, that God, is a little troubled. In the 21st verse, he says, when Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit. Now, if you look at that there in your King James Bible, it's a lowercase s. Not meaning the big S, meaning the Holy Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost. You know, sometimes I get troubled in the Spirit, in the person of the Holy Ghost, because of a loud sin in my life. And He brings a troubling to me, and thank God He does. You know what, if you're like this, you've probably never been born again. You know who he corrects? Those that belong to him. Now, I've only got one here. She's there in the back and she's not been threatened. And when I'm up there preaching, you better be still. Right? And you know why I don't say that to any of these other kids in here? They're not mine. Right? And so if you don't hear from the Holy Ghost, you probably have a real spiritual problem. But again, he was burned down. See, remember, Christ was man too. We get discouraged, do we not? Don't tell me you're highlighting it all the time, because I know you're not. Right? You know what? When them bills come in and stack that big and your money stacks only about that, that's troubling, ain't it? You see what I'm saying? And Christ in his flesh was discouraged. Now, I do not believe that he had to be obedient to death in the sense that he didn't plan that from the beginning. His fear wasn't death because he didn't base it like we did. He said, I'm going to take my life down and raise it up again. Right? What he was scared and worried about was my sin and your sin and your sin and your sin relating on him. And you know why? Because he never experienced sin. And that was his difficulty. And that was very troubling to him to experience something so dreadful and so ungodly and so black for the very first time to be separated from his father for the very first time ever. because of my sin and your sin and whoever is in the atonement, your sin, that's who he was separated. So he was troubled. Then he was also troubled by the fact one would betray him. Now, do you not think that all knowing God when Judas showed up at the first Baptist meeting He knew everything, right? Sure. Bible says in Matthew 7, he was a devil from the beginning. Right? And he took it in anyway. for my benefit and for your benefit. He took him on. And still even now, this probably some three years later, he's troubled at the fact that it's going to happen. Verse 22, And the disciples looked on one another, doubting of whom he spake. Now these were solid badness. True. They were looking around just like we do today. I wonder who Larry's getting on today. And that's how we are. Their nature was no different than ours. And they began to look around and began to wonder. Now what we find is Peter's down here somewhere. You know, Peter, he's about like me. Yeah, let's build three temples. There's only one. There's only one Messiah. There's only one God. And so, the very same one, John, ask him who it is. And you know why? Because he wasn't close enough. Where was John? Where does this say that John was? How do you get there? You ever wondered that? How do you get to that position? Leaning on the breast of God. Now, everyone there had that potential. Did they not? But how many took that position? We live in some strange days, y'all. I mean, we live in, and you know what's coming, and I'm surprised they don't already hear we're late in the year now, but something like COVID, COVID-23, or SIG, or whatever they come up with, you know what? It's coming again because it's election year. Right? I don't know what's coming. Now, I don't know about you, but I personally had COVID. I don't know how. Being a nurse, I think I know how I got it. And I will tell you this, it was a very, very real thing. It was so bad the first time I took my eldest son, Adam, and said, son, here's some men y'all can consider, if I don't make it. That's pretty sick, ain't it? And so with that said, I want you to see we have a strange day to live. I mean, look at the White House and look at all that's going around us. It is a strange, strange day. Never in the history of mankind is there a better time for you to lean on the breast of Jesus. But how many of you know that do that? I mean, really? A lot of things get in the way, don't they? I still have to work for that. Bi-vocational, right? That means you have to work because what you're preaching ain't pleasant, right? That's the definition. And so we see that we as the Lord's people, this individual, John, had a very special place, but he had to give up some things to get there. There were the three inner circle, James, Peter, and John. And then there was John himself. John the Apostle. John that wrote The Gospel of John. John, I believe, that wrote the three other letters attributed to John. And so the very same individual, he didn't get that. He wasn't able to do that just by mealy-mousing around and halfway serving God. He got it by leaning on his breast. Now you think about that. How many people in this room, this evening, would you feel comfortable leaning on their breasts? Now, listen, we're south. I'll show you something. This is the south. Young lady, shake your hand. This is how men shake women's hands in the south. a man's hand. But if I hadn't done that with my mother, I'm not Larry Lafferty. What are you up to? You see what I'm saying? So, certainly going and leaning on a stranger's breast is inappropriate in the hills of Tennessee. You see what I'm saying? And so, how did he find his position? Do you think the first time he communed with Christ, he ran over there and did this? First of all, it takes time. You cannot lean on the breast of Christ on Sunday only and make any kind of progression into the things of God. And we're way past, listen, if all you have for the love of Christ is to show up on the Lord's day, dear friend, make your calling and election sure. And if you're saying, let me say this, it's fixing to get a lot rougher than it is right now. I mean it now, dedication to Christ will not take you very far. You see what I'm saying? And so, We find there's benefits to that. But how do we get there? Look at me in Isaiah chapter 6. Some of my favorite verses in the Bible. And I just point out one or two things occurs here. First of all, of surety, after this event, The whole theme of the book of Isaiah changes. You know, the context of the letter, the things conveyed in the letter were said in a brand new way. He was either converted or he started leaning on the breast of God. one or the other, and I don't know which, and maybe one of you brethren can help me out a bit, but I do know there's a complete change in the tone of the book after this experience in chapter 6. You know what? I think the big thing is today, and the reason we can't go and lay on the breast of the Lord Jesus is because we don't know Him to start with. Now you think A hillbilly from Tennessee, how inappropriate it would be to go and lay my head on the breast of one of you that this is your first time seeing me. My mom would slap my jaws. You see what I'm saying? So don't think that you can do this if you've never been saved to start with. And so we find in Isaiah, in the first verse, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. Now, someone that knows God has seen Him that way before. If you've not seen God like that, you're probably lost. See, God is not trying to do something. He's accomplishing something. That's a huge difference, isn't it? And so we find that he saw God in a brand new way. Do you see Him high and lifted up? Do you see Him trying to do something? Or do you see Him accomplishing His sovereign will? Which way do you see God? And the way that we see God will always be the determiner of how we serve God and how you depend on Him. Verse 2, Above it stood the seraphims, and each one had six wings, with twain he covered his face, with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did cry, and one cried unto the other, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, and the whole earth is filled, is full of his glory. That's the God in the Bible. It's not the God that people present today, is it? Well, I sure hope it'll work out. Well, you keep running that road and see where it takes you. Right? You know why you got up this morning and was able to come down to the Lord's house? Because of the mercies of God. That's full dependence, is it not? You know what? If the bills don't get paid, you know what? All you can say, if you've got something in that belly, is blessed be the name of the Lord. Right? And so we find the first thing, if you want to be on the Lord's breast, you have to know Him. Anything else is inappropriate, eh? My wife's not here, my little girl's here, and while she's getting a little sleepy, I can tell she laid her head over on daddy's breast, and I stroked her hair, because she's mine. Now that'd be inappropriate for anybody else, would you? Only ten folk I have in the building. And so, with that intimate relationship, first of all, you need to know, it wasn't singing a song when Jesus told, told that you must be born again. What did you contribute to your birth? His only mom and daddy stood in the way. You had nothing to contribute. You couldn't pick the day. If I believed in Christmas, I sure wouldn't put my birthday on the 19th of December. I always hated that. This is your Christmas and birthday to get. And you want to go, just keep it. No, I was born then because God wanted me born then. I was born then because my mother and daddy, that's when it came to pass. So I had nothing to do with it. So whatever you're trusting for salvation tonight, be sure you have nothing to do with it. And you know what? If you have anything to do with it, it's contaminated by you. Amen. And so, we find that if this is what we want, and certainly it's what we need, if you want to be laying on Jesus' breast, be sure you know Him to start with. Be sure you've been born again. Revelation chapter 1. Very familiar verses of scripture. just attributed or talked about John the Apostle and this revelation that he got. The one that leaned on his breast and said, Lord, who is it? The very same one is now on the Isle of Patmos. He wasn't getting three hots and a cot, was he? You want to come to Tennessee and commit a crime, you're going to be well taken care of. My niece is a nurse, and she works for the Tennessee Department of Corrections. And that sounds bold, doesn't it? They get better healthcare than I do. When Jessica was telling me about all that stuff, I'm like, I need to go get somebody or do something. And get in jail. And so we as the Lord's people sometimes, we're a little bit jealous of things like that. But I want you to see They didn't have nothing to eat. You know what the isle of Patmos was? It was a rock. That's pretty much it. Our brother from the Philippines, he's saying, well, there's 13,000 islands. But you know what? Some of them are uninhabited. You know why? They're not fit to live there. There's not enough soil to sustain life. Now, that was the prison of John. So, that's bad times now. I don't know about y'all, but yeah, I do, because I was watching some of you. Y'all like to eat as much as I do. And John couldn't eat. Another huge problem, the aisle was surrounded by salt water. And if you drink salt water, you're not gonna live long. So my guess is he was hungry, and he was thirsty, and he was worn in the flesh. And I would even go further, if it wasn't John, if it were me and you, we'd be ready to quit. Just throw in the towel and say, I'm done. But we see that instead, in the most difficult of situations, we get a glimpse of glory because John stuck to the stuff. Because he was on Jesus' breast. He never gave up. He continued on. So in verse 9, The Bible says, I, John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation. Now let me ask you this, have you ever suffered tribulation? Now, in 2023, at least for now, in the United States of America, at least for now, we don't have much tribulation, do we? Let's be honest. Nobody run up there and said, what are y'all doing here? We had a good meeting, right? Now, let me give you a couple of suppose, and then we'll move on. When COVID started in 20, about March, in Tennessee anyway, they said, you gotta get with me. And you know what I said? No, we don't. You're not gonna take that away from me. I told my people and preachers listen, pastors listen to me. I said if they come in here, you tell them that I made you do it. That gives it a little bit more severity, doesn't it? They say, well, all these fruit loops wanted to get together, so I let them. Right? You tell them that I told you, you had to be here. Because you know, if I said that, they're getting to go. And I will be the one going to jail. You willing to risk it that much? And several times we sat there and I was preaching from my pulpit. It's just like this one. I can see straight out the front door into the street in front of the church building. And here comes the cops and they slow way down. Now everybody back home also knows that I'm a nurse. And they also know that I understand the premise behind isolation. And I'm sure they thought I was crazy. Next service time, here they come again. But God was good. They never stopped. They never came in on us. But you know what? I hope we drew a line in the sand and said, hey, we're not going to do this. And that is exactly where we ought to be. Now that'll end you up on an island one day, but it's where we ought to be. So for the patience of Christ, he was there. Was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of the Lord. Now that was another one of his arresting charges. was for the Word of the Lord. Now, you know what? The Word of God is going to offend in one of two ways. It's going to offend because the government don't like it, or it's going to offend because you don't like it. Now, I don't know how, I'm assuming since he was in the penitentiary or in the penitentiary of those days, the government didn't like what he was having to say about the Jewish government. about the Roman government. I don't know. I'm assuming that. And so he was arrested and throwed out there. But now this is the modern day. I've seen Baptists get just as mad at me as anybody else. You start preaching a little bit on separation Listen, you know what, years ago, y'all are not gonna believe this, but I promise you it's true. A Southern Baptist church called me to be their pastor. Very first church that ever called me, and Donna said, Larry, you're gonna get us in trouble. And I said, well, let's just see what they have to say. I said, first of all, we sat down and talked about what it would be. I said, all that trashy Southern Baptist literature, hey, it goes. You know what, they was fine with that. I thought, okay, now we're getting somewhere. We talked about a few other things. And I said, now another thing that's been a problem here since I've been visiting you is the women praying out loud. I didn't think that's gonna get me and my babies out of there. You see what I'm saying? The truth hurts people, don't it? If they're not in the will of God. If they're not laying on the breast of Jesus. You know why it's easy to teach the doctrines of separation and to accept them is when you're laying on the breast of Jesus. You know why it defends a woman when you say, hey, you don't need to be wearing what pertaineth to a man. You know why that gets your little keels kicked up? They're not laying on the breast of Jesus. Amen or amen. And so we find that that was his situation. It ended him up at a place that he obviously didn't because if I understand history right, he lived to be about 110. But this was a threat on his life. And if you are faithful, preachers, it'll be a threat on your life one day. Don't measure your ministry success in numbers. And so we see that he was there for the Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. Despite all that opposition, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day. Notice that in the King James Bible it says capital S Spirit. I was in the Holy Spirit. We're not gonna be Pentecostal, but very same word, I was in the Holy Ghost. I'm on the Lord's day. That's distinctive from the Sabbath, is it not? These seventh day people, they're not badness. Right? And so he says, I was in the spirit on the Lord's day. How did he get there in such traumatic circumstances? How did he arrive being close to Jesus in all that was occurring around him? I can tell you why. He spent at least three and a half years on the breast of Jesus. That's how he was able to do it. That's not time wasted. We live in a day and age where people think what we're doing like this week, you ruined a good weekend. No, no. That's time waiting on the rest of Jesus. I wish he was still here, but he's not. He's coming back. But right now, there's the rest of Jesus. The Word. Lay your head on that Word. Lay your head and get deep and study in the Word of God. That's your assurance. You know what? These health and wealth people and all the crazy stuff going on. You know what, sir? You're not going to be rich. You're not going to have ten million dollars. you're not going to have to never work again in your life. In fact, the opposite is probably true. Social Security is going to go in the pit and I'll be trying to take care of old people when I'm as old as they are. You see what I'm saying? It doesn't sound pleasant, does it? But you know what? It's true. It's true. And so we find that there are going to be very difficult circumstances And only if you've laid on the breast of Jesus will you be ready. Last place I want to look in 2 Timothy. Paul's second letter for Timothy. Timothy had been criticized for his youth. He had been kind of put down a little bit. Paul wrote to him twice individually, and we get the inspired word even today. At the end of the second letter, he begins to prepare Timothy for something that unless the Lord comes, every one of us will face. Now, I don't know how old anybody in here is. I know some relative numbers, except my daughter. She is 11 and will be 12 in June. That's the only one I know for sure, myself. My birthday's coming up. I'm gonna tell you how old I'll be. But I want you to see that here, he was laying out the fact, I'm gonna die. You know what, church? I'm going to die. Your dear pastor is going to die. Man, that ain't stuff to turn cargoes about, isn't it? I don't even think I can get the Pentecostals going with that. You're going to die. But you know what? I'm telling you the truth. I'm telling you the truth. Now, in 2 Timothy 4, beginning in verse 4, the Bible says, "...and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables." There's your Reformed movement. "...But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make foolproof of thy ministry." For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. What more could be said? Now how did Paul get there? Remember, Paul, except on the road to Damascus, And even then, we don't see that he laid on his breast, right? Remember, he got knocked down and said, who art thou, Lord? He knew who he was, right? His life was completely turned around. That's another thing, believer. If Christ didn't turn you around, make your calling and election sure. See, an experience with Christ will turn you around. Going through the motions won't. And so we find here that all... Had that experience on the Damascus Road, and I don't hesitate to use the word experience, because listen, if salvation ain't more than a prayer to you, you don't have anything that's real. You know what I've found, and I've taken care of elderly people all my life, I've done post-mortem or past death care more than I can tell you about. I've handled a lot of dead bodies. No one has ever said to me, Larry, I want the blue gown. That was us, wasn't it? You better be careful who you invite into your heart. You know what, I never found that in scripture. And so we see then, We need something to go over further than that, don't we? Something that's offered by God and not offered by man. Because death is coming, death is a reality that each and every one of us must face at one time or another. Death is coming. So as Paul had this experience on the Damascus Road, And all through his years of life following that, and in one place just, he was ready. But I don't think he died here. But what does Bob say? Paul, he aged. I believe he lived to be an old man. And when I say ready, I don't mean ready like he was saved, and he was. But if he came today, he'd be alright. What about you? I pastored New Testament Baptist Church over 24 years. I'm ready. If he's ready for me, I'm ready for him. I prayed all my life, Lord, please let me see my children grown. And then we had one at 44. And you know what I said? I had to kind of rethink that. Isn't it wonderful when God proves how stupid you are? So now I need to at least live to be 64. But are you ready? Besides that one thing, seeing my daughter to adulthood, I'm ready. I've lived a good life. There's not one thing that I could fuss about. But are you ready? Do you know Christ like this? Have you ever laid on His bosom? Boy, if you've pastored long, you have. And if you haven't, you've not been a very good pastor. Have you laid on his breast? Do you know what I'm talking about?