Luke 8:18 Take heed therefore how you hear: for whoever has, to him shall be given; and whoever has not… I. SOME THINGS ARE TO GO BEFORE HEARING. 1. Preparation. (1) Getting the heart impressed with an awful sense of the majesty and holiness of that God into whose presence we are going, and whose word we are to hear (Psalm 89:6). (2) Banishing out of the heart worldly cares that are lawful at other times (Matthew 13:7). (3) Application of the blood of Christ to the soul for removing guilt, and doing away any controversy betwixt God and the soul (Amos 3:3). (4) Purging the heart of carnal and corrupt lusts and affections (1 Peter 2:1, 2). (5) Stirring up in the heart spiritual desires (1 Peter 2:2). 2. Prayer. Pray (1) For assistance to the minister (2 Thessalonians 3:1). (2) For a meal to ourselves (Psalm 119:18). (3) For an outpouring of the Spirit in His own ordinances. II. SOME THINGS ARE TO GO ALONG WITH HEARING. 1. Attending unto the Word diligently. This implies — (1) Waiting diligently upon the ordinances, so as people make it their business to catch opportunities of the Word, and let none slip which Providence will allow them to overtake. They that are only chance customers to ordinances, whose attendance is ruled by their own conveniences, without conscience of duty, causing them to take them only now and then as their fancy takes them, cannot expect good of them. (2) A fixing and bending of the ear and mind to what is spoken. Hence is that counsel of the wise man (Proverbs 2:1, 2). (3) A discerning of what they hear, so as to distinguish betwixt truth and error, the corn and the chaff (Murk 4:24; Acts 17:11). (4) An endeavouring to know the mind of God in His Word, to hear with understanding. 2. Receiving the Word rightly. (1) With faith. A faith of assent. And a faith of application. (2) With love. A love of esteem, highly prizing it. A love of desire after it. A love of complacency in it. 3. Laying it up in our hearts. III. SOME THINGS ARE TO FOLLOW AFTER HEARING THE WORD. 1. Meditation on it in your hearts (Psalm 1:2). 2. Conferring of it on your discourse. 3. The main thing is practising it in your lives. (T. Boston, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have. |
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