Godly Man's Reading Plan

Introduction: The Call to Fruitful Ministry and God's Shepherding

0:02 Now, I trust you have God's Word before you, and I would encourage you to follow as I read in your hearing the psalm we have just been privileged to sing in God's presence, Psalm 23. Psalm 23. I will fear no evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.

1:00 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

1:27 Let us pray together.

1:32 Holy Father, we are astounded when we think of the privileges that are ours, as those who have been loved from eternity, given to your beloved Son. We thank you that as the shepherd who loved the sheep and laid down his life, for the sheep, he does not merely forgive us and bring us into your family, but ever lives to make intercession with us, takes up his residence in us by the Spirit. We thank you this morning for all of the privileges that are ours. And as I seek to minister to these men in a very practical area today, we pray for the help. We ask you, Lord, in the name of your Holy Spirit, that the things shared will indeed prove profitable in the days to come, as by your guidance, some of these things are implemented in their lives. So we look to you for your blessing with thankfulness that everything we have read in this psalm true of David is true of us, because with David we are united to his greater Son. Hear us, then, as we make our approach to you, in his worthy name.

3:00 Amen. In the letter from Dr. Venduttyward, inviting me to chapel today, he stated, and I quote him, that chapel messages may be sermons or topical addresses for the practical and spiritual benefit of the seminary community, end quote. And as I reflected on how...

3:26 best to invest my time with you today, I have chosen to bring a topical address on the subject, and here's the title to my topical address, done with the permission of the one who invited me to chapel, The Place of a Disciplined Reading Program in the Life of a Fruitful Man of God. The Place of a Disciplined Reading Program in the Life of a Fruitful Man of God. I trust that you men sitting here have as your great passion next to pleasing your God and Father and your Savior, that God would eventually lead you into a fruitful pastoral ministry, or if it's an other form of ministry, that it would be fruitful, not famous, not necessarily astounding, not necessarily leaving a record that someone would want to embalm in printer's ink and write your biography, but you long that you would be a fruitful man of God. For Jesus said, herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much.

4:50 Fruit. And the reason for choosing Psalm 23 as a platform of introduction is because this time of the year, and this particular year, has special significance for this old man, almost 78 in April, I'll turn 78, God willing. It was about this time, 60 years ago, when the Lord Jesus determined that his prophecy, his prophecy, his prophecy, his prophecy, his prophecy, his prophecy, his prophecy, his prophecy, his prophecy, his prophecy, his prophecy, his prophecy, his prophecy, his prophecy, his prophecy, his prophecy, his prophecy, his prophecy, his prophecy, his prophecy, his prophecy, his prophecy, concerning me, would be fulfilled. You'll remember his words in John 10, 16, other sheep I have, which are not of this fold, them also I must bring. And I stand before you today, on the 60th birthday of the Lord Jesus bringing me to himself. And as I look back over those, I can read this 23rd Psalm and say he has been my shepherd who has led me, who has fed me, who has comforted me, who has protected me through all these six decades of my pilgrimage.

6:08 And no little part of that work of leading me besides waters of quietness, restoring my soul, setting a table before me in the midst of the enemies, has been that he led me very early in my Christian experience to make a commitment to a disciplined reading program that would, with the blessing of God, be his means to restore my soul, to lead me in paths of righteousness, to spread the table before me in the midst of my enemies and continually set before me that sure and steadfast hope that having begun a good work in me, he would complete it at the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so my purpose in this half hour this morning, should I be done accordingly? A quarter after, I was told, that's it, okay, well aim then, I have the watch in front of me and I will make an internal covenant to respect what it says to me. And then I got a clock on the wall as a double check as well.

Priority 1: Be a Regular, Disciplined Reader of Your Whole Bible

7:21 What I want to do is to share some perspectives on this subject, perspectives that I trust you will prayerfully seek to implement as you are convinced that such implementation would be pleasing. To God, in seeking to address the subject with you, my first heading is simply this, above all other things, be a regular, disciplined reader of your whole Bible.

7:56 Now you might say, well surely, Pastor Martin, you're talking to seminary students. Why in the world are you daring to stand and say, read your Bible? Well, because my brethren, for decades it's been my privilege to preach at pastor's conferences in many countries and in many settings, to men representing many theological disciplines and frameworks of reference, and I have found again and again, one of the crowning sins of ministers is they don't read their whole Bibles regularly. I don't say that off the cuff as a 25-year-old young buck who's just graduated from Bible college or seminary. I say that based on first-hand interaction and observation with men of God over decades. And so if you would be one who can say, I know what it is to have my soul refreshed, to be led in paths of righteousness, to be fed in the presence of God. presence of my enemies, above all other things, be determined from the outset of your ministry, even while here in the seminary, with all the reading load that is upon you, all of the

9:21 pressures upon you, be determined to be a regular, disciplined reader of your whole Bible. And why do I put such emphasis upon this? Well, for a number of reasons, not the least of which is three or four texts of Scripture that have held me in their grip over the decades. The first, very familiar to us, 2 Timothy chapter 3, verses 16 and 17. Having underscored for Timothy how Scripture was instrumental in bringing him to faith in Christ, he says, but all Scripture is literally God-breathed and is also profitable for teaching, for correction, for reproof, for training in righteousness to one end. Not that the people of God generically, but that the man of God particularly might be complete, thoroughly furnished unto every good work. Timothy, if you are to be furnished unto every good work, you need the whole of God-breathed Scripture to make you such a man. And then,

10:35 those well-known words of Deuteronomy 8, in verse 3, quoted by our Lord himself, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word, or all the words that proceed from the mouth of God. God has deposited in the whole corpus of Scripture, from Genesis 1-1 to the last verse of Revelation, those spiritual minerals and those spiritual nourishments that we might be whole men made fit to every good work by a whole exposure to the Word of God. And then, of course, there's Psalm 1, the blessed man. That fruitful man is not only the one who resolutely determines that he will not walk in the way of sinners, stand in the way, and sit with scoffers, but his meditation, upon the law of God, and he meditates upon it. His delight is upon that law, and he meditates in it day and night. And then that wonderful statement concerning Apollos in Acts 18.24. He was mighty,

11:54 dunitas, in the Scriptures. How did he get that way? By the constant acquisition of heart acquaintance with the Scriptures. And so I urge upon you men, if you do not have right now a commitment to a regular, disciplined reading of the whole of your Bible, following your own program or McShane's, I have used one for years, in which reading two chapters of the Old every day, a chapter in the New, barring Lord's days, it gets me through my Bible the whole of my life. And so I urge upon you men, if you do not have right now a commitment once every two years, it gets me the Old Testament, gets me through my New Testament once a year, and for the most part, over the decades. I've had the practice of reading a psalm every morning, and this gets me through the psalms in the course of seven, eight months, sometimes a little longer. But there is no substitute for that constant exposure. Your primary focus in coming to your Bible is not to gather food for others, but to have your own soul fed by the Word of God. To be

Priority 2: Acquaint Yourself with Heart-Warming, Christ-Exalting Authors

13:11 able to say, as is written of our blessed Lord in Isaiah 54, the Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary. And where did our Lord get that tongue? He wakens morning by morning. He wakens mine ear to hear as the learned. So my first word of exhortation in following through on this matter of trying to set before you the place of a disciplined reading program is, above all other things, be determined to be a regular, disciplined reader of your whole Bible. But secondly, the second word of counsel is this. Acquaint yourself with those authors who will warm your heart, search out your sin, and set Christ before you in his beauty and his glory. Acquaint yourself personally, not taking someone else's word about it, with those authors who will warm your heart,

14:27 search out your sin, and set Christ before you. In his beauty and in his glory. There's a wonderful little statement in Alexander's thoughts on preaching, a marvelous little book. I urge it upon all of you.

14:45 And here he writes, these are just miscellaneous paragraphs to ministerial students, on page 93. I hope you will let no kind of reading keep you from looking daily, if only for five, minutes, into a class of writers who are not attractive in regard to letters, but who unite great talents, great Bible knowledge, and great unction. At the head of these stands Owen. My father used to say one should read Owen's spiritual mindedness once a year.

15:25 I have found it to be tremendously profitable. I've never read it once a year. But I believe...

15:31 I've gone through six or seven times over the course of decades. I add to his father's words, forgiveness of sin and indwelling sin and mortification. That's volume six. Here we have philosophical analysis applied to the phenomena of experience.

15:51 Yet more platonic and seraphic are how's delight in God and the blessedness of the righteous. Flavel's keeping the heart. Is less. Deep.

16:02 But more clear, pearling, and delicious. That's what I want you men to know. Pick up Flavel and read that marvelous treatise based on the text, Proverbs 423. Above all that you guard, guard your heart, for out of it are the issues of life.

16:21 And you will find it, if you have real spiritual life, you'll find it delicious. And each one of us is put together in such a way. And our lives are made for it. And our lives are ordered in such a way by divine providence that we will not have the same favorite authors who have that capacity to warm the heart, to search out our sin, and to set Christ before us in his beauty and glory.

16:50 As I was a very young man at the time and began to acquire some of the sets of the Puritan's works, I looked at them sitting on my shelves and said, no way. No way. No way I'm ever going to get through all that. But I said, yes, there is a way.

17:06 And I came up with the concept. Some of you don't even remember what you had to do to the old way of getting water when you had a pump and you had to prime it. You had to pour some water in and pump, pump, pump. And then it took hold.

17:20 And then the water would begin to come out the spout. I called them my pump primers. And in that way, over the course of years, there are whole sets. Almost everything of Flavel, Brooks, some of the other Puritan works that got reprinted by the Banner of Truth, taking 10, 15 minutes in the morning to prime the pump of my affections and to get my mind focused upon heart issues.

17:48 It's this kind of reading that I'm suggesting would, perhaps with God's blessing, be a means of grace to put you in a praying frame. To put you in a frame where the other elements of your reading of the Scriptures and seeking the face of God will be more warm, more passionate, more earnest as you seek to meet with God. I have to say, this was my experience. In fact, I'm a little bit sad this morning because when I complete my reading, years ago, Ian Murray saw some of my books and I had underlined them with ballpoint pens.

18:29 And he almost died. And I almost went to my fellow elders suggesting I be excommunicated. With Ian's love of books, the thought that anyone who would get my books 20 years after I'm gone would see the ink of a ballpoint pen bleeding through. Poor Ian, he just almost had a hairy fit.

18:49 And so he solemnly charged me from here on to use a mechanical pencil. And I do that. And whenever I've read a chapter or section of it, I put the date. And just yesterday, I finished for the fifth or sixth time, O in Volume 1, and I felt a sadness.

19:08 He has set Christ before me in ways I've never seen him before. I've wondered that I could have read that stuff four and five times, some of it's underlined. For example, he said, you know the main reason God's giving us real eyes in the resurrection body? You know what his primary reason is?

19:31 So we can actually see Christ. I almost fell off my chair and had what the old Pentecostals called a glory fit when I read that. To think, these two eyes that need this help to see clearly. God will give me glorified eyes actually to see my Savior in his glorified body.

19:54 Well, I urge you, my brothers. Find those authors. Read them wisely, judiciously. That they might be an aid to your communion with the Lord Jesus, with the Father, and with the Holy Spirit.

Priority 3: Judicious Use of Pastorally Sensitive Commentaries

20:12 My third heading is this. Learn to appreciate the judicious use of good, pastorally sensitive commentaries in conjunction with your personal Bible reading. Learn to appreciate the judicious use of good, pastorally sensitive commentaries in conjunction with your personal Bible reading. And the text that has riveted my conscience to this discipline is Ephesians 4, 11.

20:51 Where the apostle says the ascended Christ has given gifts to his church. And among those gifts are pastors slash teachers for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of service. And although the promise in the new covenant is they shall all be taught of God. That very God has in Christ given gifts to his church.

21:20 That the church might grow up into the fullness of the stature of Christ. And not all of those teachers are such that we can sit beneath them Lord's day by Lord's day. Many of them are dead. But the fruit of their God given insight into the scriptures and into the ways of God and the works of God.

21:42 And the Christian life and Christian responsibility. God led them on a given day. Those men got up and pleaded that their day might be blessed by God. That what they do would be under the superintendence of the guidance of God.

22:00 And they spent hours at their desks writing. They are God's gift to us. For our maturation and our perfection in Christian growth. Another text that has been a great help to me in trying to see this thing in a right perspective is 1 Corinthians 3, 21 and 22.

22:21 All things are yours. And among the things that are yours are Paul and Apollos and Cephas. They are all yours. And you are Christ and Christ is God's.

22:34 And so if God has given them to his church. And I am part of his church. And they are there to profit me. Woe be to me if I have the opportunity and do not avail myself of that profit.

22:51 So a number of years ago. I came to the conviction based primarily on those two passages. That I was not dishonoring the Lord when studying say the book of Deuteronomy. As my regular Old Testament reading.

23:07 I would find it good. And when I say good. One that is based on sound exposition. Sound principles of opening up the word.

23:17 But pastorally sensitive. Where the applicatory note is woven through. And constantly attendant upon the explanatory elements of those commentaries. The ones that I have found particularly helpful over the years.

23:35 If you have never read through your gospels. With old Bishop Ryle at your elbow. His expository thoughts on the gospels. This will enrich your soul.

23:46 Ryle had the ability to go into a text. Extract the major principles. Articulate them in a very clean. Unmistakably structured.

23:57 Homiletical way. And make very practical. Often searching applications to the heart. And to read through the gospels.

24:07 With Ryle at your elbow. I have found the Bible speaks today series. By the banner of truth. Some of them I have gone through three, four times.

24:18 Using them both in family worship. And in my own devotional exercises. Though they are spotty. Some of the Bible speaks today.

24:28 The IVP series are excellent. Some of them are not so. I can't give the same. Almost unqualified endorsement.

24:36 That I can with the banner of truth series. And then Jeffrey Wilson's. Very helpful commentary on the. On the Paul.

24:46 The corpus of Paul's epistles. Now. Embodied in two. Paperback volumes.

24:53 Very helpful to. Take us deeper into our understanding. Of the word of God. The Holy Spirit is given to me.

25:01 I am a member of the new covenant community. I can plead with God. That I shall be taught of him. But that God has given to his church.

25:09 Pastors and teachers. And he has given the Paul's. And the Apollos's and the Cephas's. For my good.

25:17 And for my progress. And grace. But then standing head and shoulders. Above all of these.

25:25 I must mention. John Calvin. One of my dearest friends. A few years ago said.

25:33 An interesting subject for the next. Pastors conference Pastor Martin. Would be if you spoke. On what I would do.

25:41 If I could do it over again. Well as I reflected on that. There's one thing I would do. That I didn't do.

25:50 If I could do it all over again. As a young man. I would set it as part of my. Structured reading program.

25:58 In conjunction with my own. Devotional reading of the Bible. To read the entirety. Of Calvin's commentaries.

26:06 If you have any. Question about the worth. Of those commentaries. Read Steve Lawson's article.

26:15 In that lovely book. That Mr. Parsons. Edited on Calvin.

26:21 And he has ten things. That are the dominant. Characteristics of Calvin's. Expositions.

26:29 As found in those written. Commentaries. And it's masterful stuff. The one area that I don't encourage.

26:37 People to follow Calvin's. Homiletical method. If you've got Calvin's mind. And Calvin's grace.

26:45 And Calvin's stature. You may hold a people with sermons. That are not patently. Structured.

26:53 They are always well structured. And there is tight connection. In the unfolding of thought. But the average person.

27:01 Sitting in the pew. With no text in front of them. Needs to know when you're moving. From head one to head two.

27:09 And when you're moving to head three. Where you came by head one and head two. And though I know it is not popular. If you want to have people.

27:17 Who relish your preaching. You need to know. And patently clear as you preach. But apart from that.

27:25 I cannot say enough. About the use of Calvin in this area. And also. Though this will bring sneers.

27:33 In many circles of contemporary. Academia. Is old Matthew Henry. Let me read.

27:41 A tribute I got. In my inbox. This morning. There's a dear friend.

27:49 That I've been privileged. To be close to. For a number of years. He just turned 50.

27:57 And I thought he had told me. That three years ago. Or several years ago. He set out a three year program.

28:05 To do what Whitfield did. Whitfield read through. Matthew Henry on his knees. I forgot how many times.

28:14 And says it's there. That he learned his theology. As well as his bible. And left a message.

28:22 He sent an email back. Early this morning. And this is what he said to me. In his email.

28:31 I just turned on my cell phone. At 1139 p.m. This was last night.

28:37 He ought to have been in bed. I'm sorry I didn't receive your message sooner. But hopefully you'll receive this. In time for your message tomorrow.

28:45 That's a real friend. Who's staying up till midnight. To answer my query. In January 2011.

28:53 I began reading. Matthew Henry's. Unabridged commentary. According to a three year schedule.

29:01 And I have kept up with it. If sometimes lagging by a couple days. Now and then. So I'm about one third of the way.

29:09 Through it. Two of six volumes. It takes me at least 45 minutes daily. Longer if I'm distracted.

29:17 Or less focused mentally. Currently I'm finishing Job. And on the threshold of the Psalms. My testimony is.

29:25 That this commentary. Is singularly. Unappreciated. By many pastors.

29:33 Even among those who are reformed. It is exceptionally excellent. In many respects. I understand Mr. Whitfield.

29:41 Used to recommend a read through. To young ministers. I'm now 50. And in the pastorate 22 years.

29:49 And it is proving. To me. And then he goes on to speak. Of Calvin.

29:57 And the place that he now has. In his affection. And his appreciation. He said since your topic.

30:05 Is reading habits. I would mention that last year. I finished Calvin's institutes. Also according.

30:13 To a systematic reading schedule. I was already familiar. With much of the contents. But only certain.

30:21 So from January to December. I read through books. Two through four. And this too.

30:29 Was a truly profitable investment. Of my time. In 2009. I read about 20 books.

30:37 Either by or about Calvin. And wrote a short piece. As an appreciation of him. As you know.

30:45 I cannot overestimate. How indebted I am. And I did not fully appreciate this. Until I read.

30:53 So much of him. And he's a modern techie. He's got this stuff all on his Kindle. And everything else.

31:01 And he uses all the various technologies. To have it at hand. If he's somewhere. Where he's got to sit in an office.

31:09 Picks up his iPod. Or whatever other technological device. Is at his fingertips. So I urge you.

Priority 4: Establish a Comprehensive, Realistic, and Balanced General Reading Program

31:17 My brothers. Not only. Above all things. To be a reader of your whole Bible.

31:25 Acquaint yourself with the authors. Who will warm your heart. Search out your sin. And set Christ before you.

31:33 But learn to appreciate. The judicious use. Of good pastorally sensitive commentaries. In conjunction.

31:41 With your regular Bible reading. And then. Point number four. This morning is this.

31:49 And I've chosen these words carefully. Once you are settled. Into the basic rhythms. Of your responsibilities.

31:57 And labors. As a pastor. As soon as possible. Establish a comprehensive.

32:05 Realistic. And balanced. General reading program. It would be unrealistic.

32:13 To urge you to do that here. Your reading is dictated by your professors. And rightly so. But once you settle in.

32:21 To the rhythms. Of your responsibilities. As a pastor. As soon as possible.

32:29 Establish a comprehensive. Realistic. Balanced. General reading program.

32:37 The reason I. Underscore this. Is because there are many. Principles in the word of God.

32:47 That point to the fact. That if we are to be. Real servants of Christ. We must not only grow.

32:55 In our knowledge. Of the scriptures themselves. But we must be growing. Theologically.

33:03 We must be stretching our minds. Intellectually. In the whole range. Of the theological disciplines.

33:11 To which you are now subjected. By the structure of the curriculum. In the seminary. But that's going to drop off.

33:19 There's not going to be a schedule. Of 10. The books you're required to read. The papers you're required to prepare.

33:27 And if you do not. Discipline yourself. To continue to have. A comprehensive.

33:35 Realistic reading program. There are going to be holes. In various aspects. Of your ministry.

33:44 I can remember with jealousy. Those early days in my ministry. When I didn't have. A course to put together.

33:52 Pastoral theology. And I was preaching just twice a week. On the Lord's day. And had two to three days a week.

34:00 Where my mornings were blocked out. For general reading. I only had a four year. Bible college.

34:08 Theological education. Which left much to be desired. And when I came home. In my understanding.

34:16 Of the basic contours. Of the reformed faith. In the late 50's and early 60's. I said Albert.

34:24 You've got a lot of catch up to do. And there's no way to catch up. But to catch up. And I look back upon those days.

34:32 With great gratitude to God. That the Lord gave me the sense. I didn't have a mentor at my shoulder. To help for some reason.

34:40 God was gracious. Psalm 23. He wanted to lead me. By waters of quietness.

34:48 And he wanted to restore my soul. To my mind. And it was in those years. That God helped me to do much catch up.

34:56 And I've sought even. When in the midst of many pressures. The kind some of your professors have. Preaching at this conference.

35:04 And that conference. Preparing class lectures. There was a period where I could only. Husband one morning a week.

35:12 But I cherish that morning. That I might continue. To have some kind. Of a structured.

35:20 Realistic. Comprehensive reading program. Now by those words comprehensive. I mean reading.

35:28 In the areas of. Theology. Systematics. Biblical theology.

35:36 Practical and pastoral issues. Biography. Historical. Polemical issues.

35:44 I outline those things in much greater detail. In my pastoral theology lectures. But in the course of doing that. Conscious again of the pressures of time.

35:52 I do want to make this very simple point. Seek to select your readings. So that in the course. Of your more serious theological reading.

36:00 For a period of weeks. If not months. You draw close to. One great mind.

36:08 Until something of the way. They approach the scriptures. Approach truth. Is absorbed into the texture.

36:16 Of your own soul. And of your own mind. And I used to say to my wife. She'd seen me going around.

36:24 With a volume of Warfield. Selected shorter or greater writings. Longer writings. Or some of his other works.

36:32 And she'd say you're on your Warfield kick. And I would. And I found that to be a tremendous benefit. To get inside a theological writer.

36:40 And try to understand. How he handles the word of God. That's when I came to the conviction. That Warfield.

36:48 Was not just. This Princetonian theologian. Floating by up here. When I read for the first time.

36:56 His essay. On the emotional life of our Lord. It just blew me to pieces. As exegetically.

37:04 He took me into the soul. Of my blessed savior. And I saw him. In the full range.

37:12 Of his humanity. In a way I had never seen him before. I've done that with Professor Murray. I've sought to do that.

37:20 With a number of others. Over the years. It was somewhere I think. In one of these rooms.

37:28 Or at a restaurant nearby. That Sinclair Ferguson said. Before I die. I want to master my three Johns.

37:37 You know who they are? John Calvin. John Owen. And John Murray.

37:45 He said I have less and less appetite. For much that is being cranked off. The presses today. In a kind of ragged way.

Priority 5: Incorporate Relaxing and Enriching General Reading

37:54 Let me bring this to a close. To keep my commitment. To the time frame. Say one other thing.

38:03 Try to have a time. When you have some reading. That relaxes your mind. And yet enriches your understanding.

38:11 Of humanity. Of God's common grace. Special grace. That's what I personally have found.

38:19 Very helpful at night. When we were celebrating. The 200th anniversary. Of Wilberforce's birth.

38:27 I believe it was several years ago. Someone gave me four biographies. Of Wilberforce. So for night after night.

38:35 For several months. My wife would come by. See me propped up in bed reading. Say you're with your boyfriend again.

38:43 Well Wilberforce became my boyfriend. And I feel. I've been enriched by it. And I feel the same.

38:51 Of that marvelous biography of Bonhoeffer. By Eric Metaxas. He takes an approach. That only a man.

38:59 Who had no evangelical background. Could take. And I believe. Be much more objective.

39:07 About Bonhoeffer. Without white washing. Some of his deficiencies. And personally.

39:15 I like. Because I lived through. And my stepdaughter. Know my love for that.

39:23 So for Christmas. I got two World War II books. And I devoured them. And I find them helpful.

39:31 To just relax the mind. While at the same time. Having insight. To men and things.

Conclusion and Prayer

39:39 And the real world. In which we're called to labor. Well. There's so much more could be said.

39:51 But I hope these thoughts. For the rich legacy. That lies spread before us. In the many many books.

39:59 That are accessible. To us. We think of those in other places. That have virtually nothing.

40:07 And we ask you. To look in pity upon them. And raise up people. With the gifts.

40:15 And the heart. To get these things translated. Into other tongues. Into other languages.

40:23 So that the place worldwide. Might be enriched. We thank you for this time. Together this morning.

40:31 And pray. That whatever's had the mixture of the clay. Of mere human thought. Blow upon it.

40:39 Bring it to naught. Whatever has been an expression. Of biblical principles. And biblical wisdom.

40:47 Seal it and make it profitable to us. We pray. In the name of our Lord Jesus.