 that said we'll begin reading here at verse one in first John chapter four we're gonna read verses one through three and looking at testing the spirits we'll see that in just a moment so beginning here in first John four at verse one reading to verse three John writes beloved do not believe every spirit but test the spirits whether they are of God because many false prophets have gone out into the world by this you know the Spirit of God every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God this is the spirit of the antichrist which you have heard was coming and is now already in the world so as we begin here this is a continuation of what he had just stated in chapter three the last verse verse 24 where John had said he who keeps his commandments abides in him and he in him and by this we know that he abides in us by the Spirit whom he has given us so by this we know that he abides in us by the Spirit by the Holy Spirit whom God has given to us now let me give you a little bit of a backdrop as to what's taking place here and what is provoking John to write these words at this particular place at this time false teachers were already beginning to enter churches in order to infiltrate and undermine the faith of believers and what they would do is they would walk into the church and they would say that they were giving a message that was spirit inspired and when they gave the message it actually instead of bringing the people together actually began to breed some confusion now that's something that you'll see in your New Testament as you read through your Bible you're gonna see that very early in the history of the church there were false teachers entering in and warnings that were being given consistently I'll give you a few examples I could give you this from almost every book of the New Testament but I'm just giving you something just kind of bolster that point Paul addressed this in 2nd Thessalonians in 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 verses 1 and 2 Paul said now brethren concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him we ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled either my spirit or by word or by letter as if from us as though the day of Christ had come so they were entering in saying that the rapture had occurred and people were being shaken up by that so Paul had a right in reference to that to clear that up Peter did the same thing in 2nd Peter in chapter 2 verse 1 the Apostle Peter said there were also false prophets among the people just as there will be false teachers among you they will secretly introduce destructive heresies even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them bringing swift destruction on themselves in the Old Testament there were false prophets in the New Testament Peter says there will be false teachers Jude in the book of Jude verse 4 said it like this for certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you they are ungodly people who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only sovereign and Lord so they were already entering in they were already bringing in messages undermining the gospel you see false teachers bring in teachings that undermine true faith and what it does is undermine everything about it especially it will undermine our hope in God in the Old Testament book of Ezekiel in chapter 13 verse 22 we read because with lies you have made the heart of the righteous sad whom I have not made sad and you have strengthened the hands of the wicked so that he does not turn from his wicked way to save his life having given the wicked a false confidence so in the Old Testament as well as the new there were false prophets as well as false teachers now in this case the people were claiming to be speaking for God and so John reminded them not to believe every word purported to be from God obviously people will say this they do it to this day they say that they're speaking for God but there needs to be a way for people to distinguish truth from error now during his day itinerant preachers would enter the church and speak and they would give prophecies but prophecy must be tested because of the abundance of false prophets how do we do that well believers test the prophet by the word of God does it line up with what the word of God says a lot of times what I've seen in my years of walking with the Lord and teaching people are deceived because they don't know God's word they just don't know it and because somebody stands up and quotes a scripture many times they don't even turn you or refer you to it I got in the habit when I was 20 23 22 23 I got in the habit of because I was taught to do this by a group called the navigators when I was in the military I I I learned to to give cross references so that when the message is given and you'll see this you see this I I quote a lot of scripture why because I'm not the authority because God is and so prophets would walk in and they would say thus saith the Lord and how are you to know whether this person's telling the truth or how you to know what they're saying is actually from God how are you to know that that's what we're looking at here in 1st John because there's a way to test the prophets and all of that you see again it has to be tested because of the abundance of false teachers and so what you do is you look to see if it lines up with scripture that means that we have to be people who are students of the word of God that means that we don't rely on just a Wednesday or a Sunday but we do our daily reading and our daily prayer and we build up our faith in Christ that's how you begin to learn to do that so when these itinerant preachers these people would go from place to place they would come they would enter in and they want to speak in the church they would enter church services they want to exercise their gifts and it became a normal practice during church services in the early church so the message that they're giving has to be proven has to be tested it has to line up with Christian doctrine you see by this time the majority of the letters and the gospels had already been written 1st John is written somewhere around 90 between 90 and 95 so by that time the majority of the writings of the New Testament had already been circulated so you could see it in scripture you could line it up with the letters of Paul of the various letters that were circulating at that time and so they were able to look at that you see the heart of the church from Jesus's pronouncement of our of our mandate our our great commission the heart of the church is to proclaim the gospel in Matthew for example chapter 28 verses 19 and 20 Jesus had said go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you surely I'm with you always to the very end of the age a lot of times in especially my early years there would be ministers who would say your great commission is to go and so that was a call for us to get up and leave the pew and take the word out and by the way I I 100% believe that we're to take this message out of these walls and give them to people obviously we share it with our friends our family co-workers neighbors when given opportunity whatever we have that opportunity we ought to take it when given to us but the great commission is larger than simply going because when you look into this Matthew 28 19 and 20 when you're looking for what is called the main verb what is the center of what he's saying what is he saying that is to be the the the way that you act that it's not the word go you would think that the word go is the main verb it's not the main verb is make disciples so as you go where you go when you go make disciples and a disciple how does a person become a disciple while he said you baptize him in the name of the father son and Holy Spirit but he goes on to say teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you so how are you gonna know everything he has commanded if you're not in the word and that's why we're to teach the whole council of God that's why we do that like Paul said I have not abstained from giving you the entire council of God I haven't hesitated to do that I've given you the whole council why because it's a whole council that makes the whole Christian and so we need the word of God in all of that and so by this time the majority of writings had been given you could look at the scripture the mandate was to teach people and so what happens is the gospel had taken root in people's lives people were being being saved when that happens the enemy counterattacks and what he does is he sends infiltrators into the church Jesus spoke of this when he was speaking in Matthew 13 concerning the the wheat and the tears you know the the enemy sows tears amongst the wheat the false that appears to be the true because a tear and wheat look the same until they come to full maturity and you can always tell only when they are fully matured and so people can look like Christians for a long time can be going to church services for a long time and you don't know the difference until the very end and so people are being saved and as this has taken place Satan is sending infiltrators and so the apostles the writers of the New Testament began to respond with letters an example would be found in Galatians in chapter 1 verses 6 through 9 listen to what Paul the Apostle said he said I'm astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel which is really no gospel at all evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to prove pervert the gospel of Christ but even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preach to you let them be eternally condemned as we have already said so now I say again if anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted let him be eternally condemned that's how serious this message of the gospel is if someone's perverting it twisting it changing it may he be condemned forever by God himself you see Satan has a false gospel and Satan has false ministers and they work tirelessly in 2nd Corinthians 11 verses 13 and 14 Paul said such are false apostles deceitful workers transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ and no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light so false teachers make their appearance come into the church they give the word in an incorrect fashion and they undermine the faith of those who love the Lord when I first got saved I began to encounter people who were professing to be Christian I was 20 years old freshly saved when I began to have people who were claiming to know Christ I began having them come into my life and share things with me and it caused me to want to know more of the truth because then the better I knew the truth the easier it would be to discern the false right and it's amazing because we've had false teachers who have come onto this campus we've had them go into the bookstore and and try and convert people as a matter of fact one of our employees many years ago was converted to a false doctrine by people were coming in here and we didn't know it until he you let us know he was leaving then we found out what had happened there were people were coming in proselytizing him so that he would follow them and he did he ended up following after them we've had that happen I remember when I was a young pastor at the church was was only less than a year old because we had a an office on B Street right off of Euclid in Ontario right by where Logan's candy was some of you are familiar with the area if not I don't care but anyway but we were we had a little office there and it was my my first office I had as the pastor of our fellowship was 10 by 10 so it's just a little little office and there were like I think three three there were six offices and it was a it was kind of like a holiday weekend and all and I had gone into the office to do some work and I heard the front door open up because the front glass door I didn't lock it and so I heard somebody walk in and I heard the door as it closed and and he went off to the right side because I was on the left side he went on the right side and I heard him knocking on and I heard somebody doing that so I'm just sitting there I'm sitting at my desk looking towards the door and I'm waiting I'm waiting for someone to knock on the door because I could hear him and they knew nobody was in the office so I was the only one there I knew I was gonna have a visit with somebody I didn't know who I'll never forget how I heard a knock on the door and I said come in so oh boy there's somebody here you know that's what he's thinking you can't believe it the door opened up just just maybe four inches just a little bit and a hand came in just a hand and it had a little finger puppet on it just a little puppet eyes and nose and a mouth and he's doing this all I can see is his hand and he goes and he talks with the high voice like that and I said I spoke to I spoke to the puppet I I said I'm doing good I said why don't you bring the rest of your body in you know so this guy comes walking in and he came to tell me that he was from a particular organization that was worldwide evangelistic and I so I asked him I said what church do you attend what church are you representing in this area he said oh I'm not from this area I'm from Los Angeles I said really and why are you here he says well I'm wanting to share people with people this good news and and turned out he was that he was a cult member he was with the Reverend son young moon he was a Mooney and you know so we had an interesting conversation and all but they will come to your office they will come to your house and if they can they'll come to your church and that's what they were doing in the early church they were itinerant they would go from place to place enter in and they would want to speak a message to the people these are false teachers and that's what John is speaking about and so because of that notice first one he says beloved do not believe every spirit but test the spirits whether they are of God because many false prophets have gone out into the world now when he says this when he says do not believe that it's in a tense in the original language that that carries with it the connotation of stop believing he's concerned that some of them are being deceived so he's saying stop believing every itinerant teacher they're leading you astray because they're preaching a false Christ you see the fruit of the true prophet is really very basic the words of this true prophet line up with scripture and Jesus is glorified when somebody stands up and gives a prophetic word if that person giving the word is regarded in such a way that it eclipses the glory of Christ he's not to be listened to people are not to put themselves in the place of drawing attention to themselves all true prophecy will bring glory to God himself and what we've seen amen and what we've seen today I have to say it what we've seen today is people are glorifying the prophet they're glorifying the person and I can I have a lot of experience with what I'm saying right now and I can tell you that when you expose somebody when you say this person isn't teaching the truth you ought to see how their followers act they get so mad they attack you they say things to you what are you jealous oh there are more people in his ministry and yours and this and I mean they always it just shows the they just shows the carnality and the fruit of that prophet because they're they're saying well a lot of people follow therefore he must be telling the truth hardly anybody follows you you you're teaching you aren't telling the truth they do that you'll see that and that's happens it happens often so the fruit of the very of a true prophet is very basic is is it lining up with what the word of God says when it's rightly divided and it's Jesus Christ the center of it in John 16 13 and 14 Jesus said it like this he said when he the spirit of truth has come he will guide you into all truth for he shall not speak of himself but whatever he shall hear that shall he speak and he'll show you things to come he shall glorify me for he shall receive of mine and shall show it to you he shall glorify me that's why we have been very careful to have Jesus the center of ministry that's just the key when you go into the main sanctuary sanctuary we would see Jesus that's the whole purpose of the church service is to see Jesus and so stop believing every itinerant teacher test them he says in verse 2 by this you know the the spirit of God every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God this is the spirit of the antichrist which you have heard was coming and is now already in the world so the key to testing is what do they say about Christ do they recognize Jesus as God in the flesh you see a true prophet says Jesus Christ is God in the flesh he is not what would be called a Christ spirit he's not the energy of God he's not a manifestation of God he's not a revelation of God he is God in human flesh now in context remember in our introduction I pointed out that John was writing to to to teach his listeners to be aware of the Gnostics a group of philosophers who had entered in to the churches and were preaching a false Christ and the Gnostics would not admit this the Gnostics denied the incarnation of Jesus now he'd already said this in 1st John chapter 2 verse 22 he had said who is a liar he went on to say it is a man who denies that Jesus is the Christ such a man is the antichrist he denies the father and the son you see why is that important to understand Jesus as God in the flesh well God as God in human flesh Jesus put away sin one time for all time by making a perfect offering in Hebrews 926 it says he then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world but now once in the end of the world has he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself Jesus made a one time for all time sacrifice so to reject his incarnation is sequenced the conviction of the Holy Spirit and in resisting the conviction of the Spirit you will reject salvation now notice in verse 3 how he says he says this is the spirit of the antichrist which you have heard was coming and is now already in the world over 2,000 years ago this particular spirit the spirit of the antichrist had already been working now when he speaks of the spirit of antichrist it speaks of that which is empowering and influencing the deceivers the deceivers who reject Jesus Christ these are unregenerate people these are unbelievers they reject the Lordship of Jesus he says in 2nd John in verse 7 many deceivers who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ is coming in the flesh have gone out into the world and he goes on to say any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist so these people are preparing the way for antichrist the final arch opponent of Jesus I want to develop this with you for a moment the antichrist will be accepted I used to wonder how is that possible I really did I used to wonder how is it possible see growing up in the America that I grew up in and I know it's ancient history but growing up in that America it was entirely different than today's America it just was it was entirely different not that it was you know I'm not longing for the old days or anything like that I don't have the spirit of nostalgia it's just a fact in the old days in the older days in the days I grew up it was a different America I can remember my mom before she went home to be with Jesus how she said to me son I just can't understand the way the world is today she said I'm ready to go home and at that time I thought well mama you know where's your hope as I've grown older and I've seen the corruption the decay that that has really overtaken much of America and every not every single place thank God but that is that the evil that has become recognized as good the things that are are said in on TV or in movies and all that at one time we're so inappropriate now we're accepted I can see how that happens I can especially see now how the antichrist and I'm not going to go into great detail about this just make a comment I can see how how the antichrist will be accepted because people want to believe what he says the way that people today are so polarized politically they're so polarized they they don't even many people don't seem to think through the issues that they feel so fervent about that they they don't think through the issues they and so if you are red then they're blue and they're blue you're not going to get along why because they believe they're what they're calling their truth is the truth and your your your your line and it's very difficult to communicate to somebody who refuses to see that there may be another side to what's being said that's kind of new because in the earlier days and I grew up and you will see in the 60s and all when people called themselves liberal they were still open-minded you know just say this people so older older people understand what I mean when I say this John F Kennedy was a liberal when he was president he would be a conservative today just by the things that he believed and said because that was America so what you've seen those of you who are bit are younger perhaps you have seen an America that is morphed in my lifetime and so when I see that people are so quick to swallow you know the things that are being said that's how anti-Christ will be accepted he will have false prophets preparing the way they're going to foster a an atmosphere of acceptance there's going to be a growing and ready audience for these false teachers and so that's already taken place now so after the rapture of the church there will be a great rejection of Christianity false prophets will continue to abound they will be proclaiming the anti-Christ and at that time the man of sin will be revealed who's called the son of perdition second Thessalonians chapter 2 verses 3 and 4 provide some details for us I'm going to read those verses and give you a few things out of that speaking of anti-Christ so in 2nd Thessalonians 2 3 and 4 it says let no one deceive you by any means for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first and the man of sin is revealed the son of perdition who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worship so that he sits as God in the temple of God showing himself that he's God so Paul gives us information about the anti-Christ one he calls him the man of sin the reason he's referred to as the man of sin is because he is satanically energized in Revelation 13 verse 2 it says the dragon gave him his power his seat and great authority because Satan so in dwells the anti-Christ his chief delight will be to break the law of God so he calls him the man of sin he also refers to him as the son of perdition or the man who is doomed to destruction that would be speaking of his destiny he's going to be destroyed he will not prevail in it speaks in verse 8 of the same chapter 2 Thessalonians the lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming but his destiny is perdition a third thing about him is he opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or worshipped his determined opposition to God will be a leading feature of the apostasy Revelation 13 6 says he opened his mouth and blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name his tabernacle and those that dwell in heaven I was mentioning in a Sunday morning recently the word blasphemy is not a word that people are familiar with anymore to blaspheme God is to its denigrate him it's to reduce him it's to show him disrespect it's a it's a it was a it was a sin punishable by capital punishment in the Old Testament blasphemy was a capital offense today you can't say certain words but you can say God's name in vain you see it on TV all the time it's easy they just come out and blaspheme God constantly we already are in a period where that's accepted in Daniel 1137 it says that he'll show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the one desired by women nor will he regard any God but will exalt himself above them all Paul said again he sits as God in the temple of God showing himself that he is God now that's been called the abomination of desolation antichrist standing in what is called the holy place demanding to be worshipped we studied the revelation I can tell you that and Daniel I can tell you that this is an event that takes place in the middle of the seven-year period called the tribulation after the rapture tribulation great tribulation in the middle of the tribulation leading to the great tribulation that's when he he stands in the temple showing himself to be God Daniel 927 says she'll confirm a covenant with many for one seven speaking of a seven-year period in the middle of the seven he will put an end to sacrifice an offering and on a wing of the temple he'll set up an abomination that causes desolation until the end that is decreed is poured out on him now antichrist is going to have a religious aspect but also a military aspect all of this is being formed right now by the way we're living in a time when this is all good you know this is going to take place I believe really soon and so what he'll do is he's going to confirm a covenant with the nation of Israel but in the middle of that covenant in the third and a half year he's going to break the covenant the way he's going to break it is by the abomination of desolation now in Revelation 11 1 and 2 we read I was given a read like a measuring rod was told go and measure the temple of God and the altar count the worshipers there but exclude the outer court do not measure it because it has been given to the Gentiles they will trample on the holy city for 42 months for three and a half years we go up into the area it's up there where the dome of the rock is and we'll go up there we've been up there many times and you'll see the dome of the rock and we walk past it we don't go into it on the dome of the rock there is a a a Quranic scripture if you will that basically paraphrasing says God has no son and that's a it's a blasphemy against Jesus himself God has no son and so we never go into it I've never been into it we go around it but as you go around it you go to an area that has what they call the dome of the spirits or the dome of the tablets when you stand there by that we have a Bible study I give a study out of Revelation 11 1 and 2 now we can't bring a Bible onto the Temple Mount you can't bring a Bible up there the Muslims have control over that they do not want you to have scripted scripture on you so they actually will we have to leave our our stuff at at a certain place when we're about to enter in and they don't want you to have that so what I do is I have a piece of paper with the scripture on it and the people will stand around me and and I read the scripture that I just read to you and and and as I do that as I read the scripture to them I say to them if you look to our right you see the dome of the rock but if you look straight ahead where I'm facing right now I'm looking towards the east I said right in front of us here in front of the dome of the spirit just spirits just up there a couple hundred yards you can see the archway to the entrance for the eastern gate that's where Christ and the priests that's where they would have come in through the eastern gate as they were entering in towards the temple but if you look to the right the dome of the rock is not lined up with the eastern gate so Asher Kaufman who is an archaeologist as well as my pastor Chuck Smith and others believed that the dome of the spirit dome of the tablet that that is the actual highest point there on the temple mount because the holy of holies would have been in the highest place and so when we're standing right there at the dome of the spirits looking straight towards the eastern gate I I read the scripture and I say how will the Jews be able to put a temple up here now when you go to Israel you go into the temple Institute they already have everything prepared that they have I don't believe they have the ashes of the red heifer but they have the different utensils that are used for sacrifice they've the priests have been trained and they've never forgotten the art of sacrifice they're called the Cohen if you know anybody who is last name is Cohen that's a name that comes from the Kohanim and they are they're the priesthood so the coins are already aware of these things they're already aware they already know how to do sacrifice they've never forgotten how they're just waiting for the opportunity and so we stand there and we'll look and write and I'll say right where we're at would have been the temple the holy of holies to my right is a place that is outside even as it says it says go and measure the temple of God and the altar count the worshipers there but exclude the outer court do not measure it because it has been given to the Gentiles they will trample on the holy city for 42 months how will Israel be able to rebuild the temple you've heard this many times there will be a covenant made between this Antichrist that is being referred to here in 1st John between the Antichrist and Israel part of that temple part of that agreement that covenant will be the rebuilding of the temple the temple will be rebuilt but in the middle of the seven in the third and a half year he breaks the covenant when he breaks that covenant Israel will realize that she has been deceived by the Antichrist and that's what's going to take place because he's going to demand that Israel worships him that isn't going to happen so as a political leader he's going to make war with the saints during the great tribulation revelation 137 it was given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them power was given him over all kindred's tongues and nations now all of that's true but the great news is that Jesus destroys him at his second coming in revelation 19 verse 20 the beast was taken and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast and them that worshiped his image these both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone and so he goes on and says in verse verse 4 you are of God little children and have overcome them so you've overcome these false teachers you haven't been completely deceived the Holy Spirit has given you victory over his deception the Holy Spirit has revealed Jesus to you because Satan's lies are overcome to the word of God through God's truth in verse 5 he says they're of the world therefore they speak as of the world and the world hears them the world loves its own message and the world receives its own messengers you know this I know this I'll say this quickly but it's true you can talk to people who are not Christians who have no heart for Christ or anything and you can get along with them even in a basic religious way they can say well will you pray for me they can say yeah I went to church this Sunday they can say I'm faithful at whatever religion I practice as long as you agree with them that what they're doing is good but if you say to them even even in a loving kind way but you don't know Jesus that's when the mask is removed that's when people show their true heart that's when they are angry at you that's they do now some people will show you that some people will get very angry they they can nash their teeth that you I mean they can they can call you name you know that some of you have experienced that other people will just smile at you and later on talk to their friends about you don't go around that that's a Jesus freak over there that one's nuts man you know they're judging me one of the most interesting things that people will do is they'll say are you judging me yeah yeah no are you judging me no you're judging yourself you're judging yourself you know you you say you love God know what you really say is you you like to be calling yourself spiritual one of the things that people refer to themselves as today and you know this is they say well I'm spiritual they'll say that it's kind of like to cover everything I'm spiritual well that's not enough because standing before the Lord he's not going to say David were you spiritual you know the word of God is too clear that's why I'm telling you we need to know what the word says and to obey it because in in it is truth and in it is freedom and and so he says you know the world will accept what the world has to say it loves its own message and and again if you say what people want to hear you'll be accepted and that's because there's no conviction that's because there's no sin that they have to deal with in John 15 18 and 19 if the world hates you you know that it hated me before it hated you if you were of the world the world would love its own yet because you are not of the world but I chose you out of the world therefore the world hates you but he goes on in verse 6 and he says we are of God he who knows God hears us he was not of God does not hear us and by this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error if you're of God you'll listen to what God says through the Apostles when he said in verse 6 we are of God he's speaking of the Apostles and if you're of God you listen to what God says to the Apostles how do we listen to what God says to the Apostles by reading the word in John 8 47 Jesus said it like this he said he who is of God hears God's words but he went on to say you do not hear because you're not of God you don't want to listen because your heart is not his like Isaiah when he saw the Lord in the book of Isaiah he said in the year the king as I died I saw the Lord he was high and lifted up his train filled the temple and he speaks of the conversation that goes on and the Lord says who will go for us and that's when Isaiah said here am I Lord send me Isaiah for four chapters had already been teaching and preaching but then he finally says in this particular year when as I had died I saw the Lord which is an interesting portion of scripture because he's already doing the work of a prophet but now he's had an incredible experience with God and God says I need someone to go for me and he said here am I I want to go for you I want to be somebody who not only hears your word but I want to give your word and so as you give the word of God out and people hear they're demonstrating that they're of God so if you're hungry to know the word of God if you're hungry to know him by his word that's a sure sign that you know the Lord you see dead people aren't hungry you've never seen a hearse pull up to a jack-in-the-box dead people aren't hungry they're not hungry that makes sense to me spiritually dead people are not hungry for God's word it's one of the ways to be able to test your own heart how hungry are you for the word of God how hungry are you for God's word are you hungry for him are you thirsting for him are you seeking for him that's a good indicator see Maria and I we had four babies and and our grandbabies and one of the ways that we learned it early is as a young married couple with our children Marie knew this faster and I did she's a good mama she say something's wrong with the baby and I'd say what how do you know she says she's not eating she's not hungry so that's you know when a baby is not hungry and they should be they're sick every mama knows that there's something wrong here when they're not hungry they're sick so that's a good way to test yourself obviously you're hungry you're here for a Bob study that's how you know I want to know God how do I know God by watching somebody on TV as they roll around on the carpet and yell and ask for money or by getting into his word saying God speak Lord for your your servant is listening what you say I want to do so that's one of the ways you know where you are with Christ it is what he says what you want to do and so John was simply saying that they are not of God they will not listen they don't know him you listen because you're hearing the word of God and that's an indicator that you're right with him we'll stop there and pick up next time