Jewish teachers exhorted students to listen intently and memorize their teachings (for example, Mek. Pisha 1.135-36; Sipre Deut. 306.19.1-3). Yet many who listened to Jesus would forget the message of his kingdom. Such neglect, Jesus says, is the devil's work. Sometimes in counseling I encounter people who have heard the gospel every week in church yet insist that they do not know how to be saved. Simply hearing the gospel does not guarantee understanding or embracing it.