He said:  Hearing may be that of mere sound.  Brutes hear in this way.  A horse, near the stand, may hear a sermon, but it will be that of mere sound to him.  I have known of people hearing somewhat after the same manner.  They can tell nothing, and seem to remember nothing of what they have heard.  Some hear to criticise the preacher’s style of expression, including his language, modulation of his voice, and gestures.  Others hear as the Pharisees and Herodians tried to hear Christ, “that they might catch him in his talk;” and like the scribes and Pharisees, “laying in wait for him, to catch something out of his mouth” with which to accuse him.  But these are not the only profitless hearings which the God-loving and soul-loving minister of the Gospel has to mourn over.  The lives of some prove that they hear mainly from a desire to make others think that they have great respect for religion and the Word of God.  They go to church and hear, but heed nothing.  “By their fruits shall ye KNOW them.”  If people were rightly to obey the injunction of my text, all such heedless and profitless hearing would be at an end.

But how is the injunction of the text to be obeyed?  And how is one to know when he is obeying it?  The command means that the hearer shall take heed.  This means “WATCH.”  What must he watch?  “HOW HE HEARS.”  The text has relation, not to WHAT ye hear, but HOW ye hear.  It does not point to the subject matter or the manner of the address, but to the end for which and to the spirit in which it is heard.  If the heartfelt desire of the hearer is to learn truth, that he may be enlightened and given to see the way of eternal life, he may feel assured that his hearing is acceptable to God.  He will then not be a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, and such a one shall be blessed in his deed.

It is enjoined upon all to hear intelligently, for this belongs to the manner of hearing.  No one can hear a sermon understandingly without some previous knowledge of the subject matter of the discourse.  To acquire this knowledge every one should read and study the Word of Divine Truth.  It is able to make all “wise unto salvation.”  Intelligent knowledge of the Scriptures can be acquired only by patient study of them:  but when they are studied to the illumination of the understanding, the truth, like water in a well, rises up into the understanding and meets you.  We sometimes hear it said of one who listens attentively and intelligently, “He seemed to drink in every word spoken.”  This, I think, is what the Lord means by these words to the woman at the well:  “He that drinketh of this water shall thirst again:  but he that drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst; but it shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”  To hear the truth attentively and understandingly is to drink it in, as we drink water when we are thirsty.