“Take Care Then How You Hear”: Hearing, Faith, and the Holy Spirit
This morning, as I was studying Luke 8:18, I was struck by Jesus’ words:
“Take care then how you hear.”
This statement seems simple, yet it carries profound spiritual consequences. Jesus is not just telling us to listen, but to listen rightly—to hear in a way that leads to faith, transformation, and obedience.
As I meditated on this verse, Romans 10:17 also came to my mind, where Paul writes:
“Faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
There is a deep connection between hearing and faith.
Hearing is not passive; it is the means by which God awakens faith in us. But not all hearing leads to faith—some hear and grow, while others hear and remain unchanged.
Jack Miller explored the theme of not listening—both in human relationships and in our relationship with God. Jack often shared a story about how his wife, Rose Marie, had told him repeatedly, “Jack, you don’t listen.” Even when he thought he had improved, she still said the same thing. Over time, he realized that not only was he failing to listen to her from the heart, but she wasn’t truly listening to him either.And deeper than that, neither of them was truly listening to God.
This insight helped me see how Jesus’ warning in Luke 8:18, Jack’s personal experience, and Paul’s teaching in Romans 10:17 all fit together:
- Hearing rightly leads to faith (Romans 10:17).
- Hearing wrongly leads to spiritual loss (Luke 8:18).
- Hearing is both a command and a gift of the Spirit—faith is our manward response to God’s Word, while the Spirit is the Godward side of applying His Word to our hearts.
So, what does it mean to hear rightly? And how does this connect to faith and the Spirit?
“Take Care How You Hear” – Jesus’ Warning in Luke
In Luke 8:16-18, Jesus gives a brief parable:
“No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light. Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.”
At first, the focus seems to be on light and seeing—why, then, does Jesus suddenly shift to hearing? Because true spiritual sight comes through rightly hearing the Word of God.
Earlier in Luke 8:10, Jesus quotes Isaiah:
“Seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.”
This connects to the Parable of the Sower (Luke 8:4-15), where different types of hearing produce different results:
- Hard soil – Hears, but Satan immediately snatches away the Word.
- Rocky soil – Hears with excitement, but faith is shallow and short-lived.
- Thorny soil – Hears, but distractions and worries choke out growth.
- Good soil – Hears, understands, and bears fruit.
The condition of the heart determines how we hear. If we hear wrongly, even what we think we have will be taken away. If we hear rightly, we will receive more revelation and spiritual growth (Luke 8:18).
This is not just an intellectual issue—it is a spiritual reality. The ability to hear rightly is the difference between growing in faith or falling into spiritual deafness.
Jack Miller on Not Listening – The Root Problem
Jack Miller’s sermon (“Correcting Yourself Before Others”) applied this principle in an everyday context. His wife, Rose Marie, repeatedly told him: “Jack, you don’t listen.” Even after months of effort, she gave him the same answer. Frustrated at first, Jack eventually realized something deeper—his failure to listen to others reflected his failure to listen to God. And, even more striking, Rose Marie wasn’t truly listening to him either. Beneath their relational struggle was a deeper spiritual issue: neither of them was fully listening to God.
Jack then applied this to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden: their failure wasn’t just eating the fruit, but listening to the serpent rather than to God. The problem wasn’t just disobedience—it was a failure to hear and trust God’s voice.
This connects directly to Luke 8:18: “Take care then how you hear.”
Many people think they are listening to God, but they are actually filtering His words through their own agendas, assumptions, distractions, and self-deception.
Jack’s insight shows that true hearing requires humility. And this is precisely why hearing and faith are so closely linked. Paul, in Romans 10:17, reminds us that faith itself comes through hearing—but not just any hearing. It is through hearing the Word of Christ that faith is awakened.
Hearing and Faith – The Connection in Romans 10:17
This is why faith is never disconnected from hearing—faith is created, built, awakened and strengthened as we receive the Word of Christ with hearts dug up by the Spirit. The Spirit uses this hearing to create and sustain faith in us, ensuring that the gospel does not remain just words but becomes living reality.
Paul emphasizes that faith comes by hearing. However, not all hearing leads to faith—it depends on how we hear. Hebrews 4:2 warns that the Israelites heard God’s voice, but because they did not combine hearing with faith, the Word did not profit them.
This is why preaching the gospel is powerful—not just for non-believers, but for believers too. The more we hear the gospel, the more the Spirit uses it to build our faith.
The Spirit and Faith: The Power of Hearing with Faith
So far, we’ve seen how hearing rightly is essential to receiving and responding to God’s Word. But there’s one more vital piece to this puzzle: the role of the Holy Spirit in hearing with faith.
Faith is powerful not simply because it helps us understand God’s Word, but because faith connects us to Christ through the Spirit.
Faith is not just intellectual agreement—it is the means by which we receive the Spirit, hear with faith, and experience the reality of God’s presence. This means that when we struggle to trust God, we should not try to manufacture faith by looking inside of ourselves. Instead of looking inward for faith we do not have, we turn to the proclaimed Word of Christ—the message of the gospel that brings life. Faith is not a feeling we conjure up but a response to hearing Christ’s voice calling us through His Spirit. This is why we need the gospel spoken into our lives continually—whether through preaching, teaching, or gospel-centered conversation—because through it, the Spirit strengthens our faith and draws us deeper into Christ.
Paul makes this clear in Galatians 3:2 when he asks,
“Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?”
The answer, of course, is that they received the Spirit through hearing with faith. In other words, the Spirit is the Godward side of the Word applied to us, while faith is the manward side of our receiving the Word of Christ by the Holy Spirit.
This explains why not all hearing leads to faith (Hebrews 4:2). The Israelites in the wilderness heard God’s voice, but because they did not combine hearing with faith, they remained spiritually dead. The Word they heard was not met with a Spirit-given response of faith, so it did not profit them.
When Jesus says in Luke 8:18, “Take care then how you hear,” He is pointing to this dynamic:
- Some hear with closed hearts, and the Word does not take root.
- Some hear with natural excitement, but without Spirit-given faith, their belief fades.
- Some hear with faith, and because faith connects them to the Spirit, the Word bears fruit in their lives.
Faith as the Spirit’s Instrument
Faith is never self-generated—it is the response of the heart awakened by the Spirit. Paul emphasizes this in Romans 8:9:
“Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him.”
This is why Romans 10:17 (“faith comes by hearing”) is so profound—hearing the Word of Christ is the means by which the Spirit creates faith, builds faith, and awakens faith.
We see this in Ezekiel 37, where God tells Ezekiel to prophesy to the dry bones:
- The bones hear the Word.
- The Spirit breathes life into them.
- They stand and live—not by their own power, but by the Spirit working through the Word.
This illustrates biblically how faith and the Spirit work together. The Word goes forth, the Spirit applies it, and faith is awakened—not just once at conversion, but every time we hear and believe the gospel.
The Spirit Gives Us Ears to Hear
- Without the Spirit, we are like the hard soil in the Parable of the Sower—the Word lands, but we remain spiritually deaf (Luke 8:12).
- But when the Spirit opens our ears, faith takes root and we truly hear with understanding(Luke 8:15).
- This is why Jesus so often says, “He who has ears, let him hear!”—because spiritual hearing is a gift of the Spirit.
Hearing with Faith: A Daily Dependence
Hearing rightly is not just a one-time event—it is a daily reality. The Spirit continually enables us to hear and respond to God.
- 2 Corinthians 3:18 – “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed…by the Spirit of the Lord.”
- The more we hear with faith, the more the Spirit transforms us into Christ’s likeness.
But what happens when we recognize that our faith is weak? Do we try harder to believe? That would be futile. Jesus gives us the answer: When faith is lacking, we must ask the Father, who loves to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask.
The Father Who Loves to Give the Spirit
Recognizing our need for faith can lead us into a frustrating cycle if we attempt to muster it from within. However, Jesus provides a liberating solution: ask the Father. In Luke 11:9-13, after teaching the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus encourages us to persist in prayer, assuring us that our heavenly Father is eager to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask:
“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13)
This promise shifts our focus from self-reliance to God-dependence. When we lack faith, we are invited to seek the Spirit, who nurtures and strengthens our faith.
Jesus: The Bread of Life
In John 6:35, Jesus declares:
“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
Here, Jesus identifies Himself as the essential sustenance for our souls, emphasizing that true satisfaction and eternal life are found in Him alone.
Jesus is the Bread of Life, the source of salvation and eternal satisfaction (John 6:35). The Spirit does not replace Jesus as the Bread but is the One who feeds us with Christ’s presence daily—sustaining our faith, renewing our hearts, and making His life real in us.
Just as physical bread sustains the body, the Spirit nourishes our faith, ensuring that the life of Christ takes root in us and bears fruit. The Father, in His love, gives both the Son for our redemption and the Spirit for our daily renewal.
The Holy Spirit: Daily Provision
While Jesus is the Bread of Life, He also teaches us to pray for our daily bread (Luke 11:3), symbolizing our ongoing physical and spiritual needs. In the same discourse, He reveals that the Father is willing to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask (Luke 11:13). This indicates that the Holy Spirit is our daily provision, continually applying the life and teachings of Jesus to our hearts.
This is not a contradiction but a harmonious relationship within the Trinity:
- Jesus is the Bread of Life, the source of our salvation and satisfaction.
- The Holy Spirit is the means by which we experience and internalize this truth daily.
The Father, in His love, provides both by giving us Jesus for our redemption and the Holy Spirit for our daily renewal.
As recipients of this abundant provision, we are not only filled ourselves but are also equipped to share this Bread of Life with others. The Spirit empowers us to extend the grace we’ve received to those around us.
Conclusion: A Spirit-Filled Hearing
In the end, faith is the means by which the Spirit of God applies the Word of God to the heart of man. This is why hearing is so powerful—not because of our ability to process information, but because through hearing, the Spirit breathes life into us.
So when Jesus says, “Take care how you hear,” He is urging us to receive His Word with faith, knowing that through it, the Spirit will continue to transform and strengthen us in Christ.
This is why preaching the gospel—both to ourselves and to others—is vital. Each time we hear the Word with faith, we are encountering the Spirit afresh, receiving more of Christ, and growing in our dependence on Him.
Would you say that you are hearing with faith today? If so, rejoice—because God has already begun a work in you. But if you find yourself struggling, don’t look inward for faith you do not have. Instead, lift your eyes to the Father, who loves to give and keep on giving the Spirit to those who ask.
Go to Him today, with confidence in Christ, and ask for more of His Spirit. Your Heavenly Father loves to give the Spirit of Christ, and He will not withhold what you need. You will find Him ready to meet you in your asking in faith.
