SOUNDINGS

F. C. Mutton

Luke 7: 36–50; Romans 7: 18 (to “dwell”); 8: 1–4; 11: 32–36

I desire grace, beloved brethren, to speak of depth in the soul of the believer. I was very interested to come across a remark of Mr. Taylor’s as to soundings. I think we only get it once in the Scriptures where, you remember, in Paul’s shipwreck in Acts 27, as they were getting nearer and nearer the coast they took soundings; they let down the sounding-line. Mr.

Taylor applied this to how believers are to take soundings so that we know where we are, soundings within ourselves. That is why I read Luke 7 and Romans 7 because both relate to persons letting down the sounding line in themselves so that they know just where they are.

But, thank God, it does not stop at that. If it did, Christianity would be a sad and miserable and hopeless thing. If the end of Christianity was, “For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, good

does not dwell”, what gloom that would leave us in! But God calls us to make these soundings and to have these inner soul exercises in order to get through to the depths of what He is in Himself, in His mercy and in His grace and in His purposes. And I would just say this, that unless we are prepared for these soundings within ourselves, we shall not get very far into the depths of God.

We were reading at home this week about Abram in Genesis 15, a very striking chapter.

Early in that chapter God calls on Abram to look at the stars, that is, to look at the heavenly order of things, and God says, I am going to bless you in relation to that. That is like Ephesians, the heavenlies, “every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies” (Ephesians 1: 3); then at the end of the chapter God speaks of the vastness of the inheritance, extending right to the Euphrates and says, I am going to give it all to your seed. And what is in between those two promises? The deepest experience, I suppose, that Abraham ever had; the sun going down and a horror, a great darkness, and then after the sun had gone down there was a smoking furnace and a flame of fire. You will remember those sacrifices that were divided and the flame went between the pieces. I am not going into this at all, but I do want to make this point, that God has heavenly blessing in mind for us and the vastness of His inheritance for us to enjoy and explore, but if you and I are going to get into it, we have to do with the moral depths that were faced at Calvary—the smoking furnace speaks of that—and our inwards have to be divided and searched. Perhaps some young person would say, ‘This sounds frightening to me’. It is not meant to be, because the horror of the darkness was borne by Jesus, and if He calls us to face these deep realities within us, what the flesh is and what sin is, it is in the light of the fact that He has answered every question Himself and, as we are prepared to plumb the depths in our own hearts and to face up to the facts of what we are, the answer to it all is in Jesus, the answer to it is in God, and the answer to it is in the Holy Spirit. But we must go that way in order to be brought to the end of ourselves, because if I am not brought to the end of myself, what I am in the flesh will keep coming up in my own life and among the brethren and will be a constant source of trouble, and I shall never be in true Christian liberty.

Well, we are familiar with this wonderful incident in Luke 7. Let us put ourselves into it. This woman is you or me. The Lord Jesus was graciously available in the Pharisee’s house to “a woman in the city, who was a sinner”—that is you or me, a sinner. It is not a nice label to have put on us, is it?—but it is a true one, “a sinner”. That is the label Paul took. He was the first of the apostles, exceeding all in his labours, but he says, “... sinners, of whom I am the first”, 1 Timothy 1: 15. That often strikes me. He might have said, ‘of whom at one time I was the first’. No, ‘of whom I am the first’. You know, you would like to meet Paul, would you not?—not only to get the advantage of his gift and his knowledge, his intelligence in the mystery, but to see a man who really, truly knew—and that was his judgment of himself—

that he was the first of sinners. You would like to look into the face of that utterly genuine, self-judged man, would you not? to see the integrity there, the moral stability of which we spoke in the reading. So he accepted the label, “a sinner”. In fact Paul would say, ‘No, that is not enough for me. If you are going to put a label on me say, the first of sinners’.

Well, this woman was a sinner, and everybody knew it. Everybody in the place knew that she was, as we would say, a woman of the streets. Now she comes into the presence of Jesus, drawn there. What conflicting emotions burned in her soul—her own utter shame and degradation, and yet drawn into the presence of perfect love and grace, irresistibly drawn to Jesus; not yet there restfully to enjoy His presence; she was weeping. She felt the unutterable, immeasurable moral gulf between the purity and holiness and love in that blessed Man and her own shameful, sinful condition, but, in the boldness of her love to Him and her attraction to Him, she was there repenting, repenting. What a wonderful thing! She really was at the mercy-seat. The truth of it was not out as we know it now, but here was the Person who is now set forth in the gospel as the mercy-seat, through faith in His blood (Romans 3: 25). She did not understand the teaching, but the light of the reality of it was in her soul, that here was a place where she could receive mercy, relief, forgiveness, pardon, and peace, and she was there in the only attitude suited to a sinner; she was weeping; she was repenting. This woman was plumbing the depths of her own soul. She knew she was a sinner. She let down that sounding line. If you had asked her, ‘What are you?’, she would say, ‘I am a poor sinner. I need forgiveness, and I need a Saviour, and I have found a Saviour. There is one spot in the universe for such a person as I, and it is here at the feet of Jesus’. She took her place behind him, weeping.

But, you know, she had something—it was the work of God in her, as we would speak of it; she had an alabaster box of myrrh. How wonderful the work of God is, and the work of God will always draw us to Jesus. This was the very beginning of her experience. Have you got some little bit of love for Jesus? I would say that to the boys and girls. Have you love for Jesus? I am not asking you how much; I wish mine were more. If you have love for Jesus, it is of exceeding preciousness, something choice, something treasured, “an alabaster box of myrrh”. It is marvellous how God in His grace can use the very state into which we have come; He can use it in grace and in righteousness to draw us to Jesus and to beget in our souls love for the blessed Saviour whose feet have brought Him into the very scene of our need.

And so she “began to wash his feet with tears”. How the Lord valued that! He draws attention to it later, these tears of repentance were refreshment in the cold, hard, critical atmosphere of this Pharisee’s house in which Jesus most graciously took His place at table. Think of that!

What a cold reception! He had no real place there except in the soul of one woman, but He took His place there for her sake, though equally He was available to the Pharisee. She

“began to wash his feet with tears; and she wiped them with the hairs of her head”—she had long hair, that is evident—“and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the myrrh”. I do not go into the detail; it was a wonderful, skilful, delicate, holy service to the blessed Son of God which the Lord valued deeply, and it sprang from this woman having come to the end of herself as a sinner.

I trust we have all been that way. I trust we are with Paul in the confession of our sinnership.

It is an interesting thing with Paul that he becomes harder and harder upon himself—I am thinking of his accounts of his conversion and how he speaks of his having persecuted the saints. In his final appearing, before Agrippa, he is more severe upon himself then previously; so we are to deepen in repentance.

Then we get the inward, unspoken criticism of the Pharisee and then the Lord’s word, “There were two debtors of a certain creditor—one owed five hundred denarii and the other fifty; but as they had nothing to pay, he forgave both of them their debt”. Now the question—“Say, which of them therefore will love him most?” What a question that is, and the Lord answers it later, “Her many sins are forgiven; for she loved much; but he to whom little is forgiven loves little”. It shows the importance of self-judgment; it shows the importance of taking these soundings within ourselves, “he to whom little is forgiven loves little”. I wonder how deeply we appreciate the fact that Christ died for our sins, that He bore our sins in His body on the tree. The deeper our appreciation of that the greater our love, and this is one of the most marvellous commendations anyone could ever have, “she loved much”.

How the Lord valued this woman! How He loves to go over the affection and delicacy that enabled her to undertake this precious service to Himself—“she has washed my feet with tears ... she ... has not ceased kissing my feet ... she has anointed my feet with myrrh”. All this was the service of a newly forgiven, repenting sinner. What a start! It was the product of depth in soul experience, the product of soundings within herself that would overwhelm her with the enormity of her need, but that drew her into the experience of the fulness of the salvation which was in Jesus, and, “she loved much”. The Lord has a word for her, “And he said to her, Thy sins are forgiven”, and then another word, “Thy faith has saved thee; go in peace”.

I often think as I read these incidents, one would have loved to see these persons leaving the presence of Jesus. How she came in, overwhelmed, weeping, and now you see her step, her purposeful step, her dignified step; she is going free, forgiven, attached to Christ, and she is going in

peace. She is going; that is, her feet are set now in the way of righteousness, in the way of peace, in relation to the will of the Lord, and she is in peace. May we all, beloved brethren, go through this essential first chapter of soul history, and go through it deeply, so that we love much. Again I would say, it is one of the finest commendations anyone could have from the lips of Jesus; I do not think there is any greater commendation in one sense, “she loved much”. Our real measure is our measure in love.

Now we come on to Romans 7. We have been speaking in Luke of sins, and here, of course, in Romans 7 it is sin, sin in the flesh, and this has to be faced in depth. If I went along to our dear brother here and said, ‘Look, doctor, I keep getting recurring pains. Can you do something for me?’, he would not say, ‘Well, I have a good painkiller here. You just take these and that will relieve it’. Oh, no; he would get to work with his instruments; he would do some sounding, he would look into the thing in depth. In Romans 7 Paul is dealing with the depths. Dear brethren, it is absolutely vital that we have to do with the depths, not only of our sins but of our sinful state that gives rise to those sins, sin in the flesh.

Now, Paul has been making soundings. I think that in a way this is one of the grandest statements in the Bible; “For I know”—that is subjective knowledge; he knew from soundings; he had been letting down his sounding line all through himself; once a proud, boastful, self-confident Pharisee of Pharisees—“For I know that in me,” (he is not talking about you or anybody else at all) “that is, in my flesh, good does not dwell”. Have you and I come to that? I would speak in the greatest humility because, dear brethren, this state belongs to us all; none of us is exempt. The question is whether we have taken soundings and come to Paul’s conclusion. Please do not think of anyone else at all, be personal, like Paul, “I know”—this is the result, the precious, costly result of his own soundings within himself—“that in me, that is, in my flesh, good does not dwell”. I trust every one of us can say that. It is the product of the deep conflict of which the preceding and succeeding verses speak. Mr. Taylor spoke of this as the great analytical chapter of Scripture, and he added solemnly that no one is rightly in the assembly unless he goes through it with God (Vol. 16, p.292). I believe that to be the truth, and I believe that relates to what came up in the reading as to giving ourselves to Paul (2 Corinthians 8: 5). This is Paul speaking and I do not doubt it is the product of his own personal experience. Beloved brethren, I would say appealingly, Let there be no controversy over Romans 7.

It reminds me of Proverbs, “Wisdom hath built her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars”, Proverbs 9: 1. We have some of wisdom’s pillars in Romans 7 and 8. They stand there in their stability and grandeur, an essential part of the structure of this wonderful epistle.

Oh the blessedness of laying hold of the experience of them, of being able to say, “For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, good does not dwell”. Paul had let down his sounding line all through his soul, his heart, his whole being, and not one bit of good was there. Well, what is the answer? Despair? No— deliverance! It is marvellous how the whole Trinity comes in at the end of this chapter, “I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord”, and then in Romans 8: 1, “There is then now no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and of death”. He is under another control, blessedly attached to Christ, “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus”. It is no longer the law of sin and of death that had formerly held him in bondage. I have often thought of it as if you could transfer a planet from one system, a dark, evil system, and set it in orbit round the sun. By “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” Paul has been brought into another system, under another gracious control, the beneficent control of Christ, life-giving, governing. “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and of death”. And what about the flesh? What has happened to that? God has dealt with it. “God, having sent his own Son, in likeness of flesh of sin, and for sin, has condemned sin in the flesh”. Paul had come to an end of it in himself, come to it that there was nothing in him except this evil principle, but oh how wonderful to lay hold of the fact that God has dealt with it Himself. God finished with it at the cross when Jesus, His own Son, was made sin. He is no longer regarding me as in that condition, but as related to Christ by “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus”. What deliverance this is, to know new, settled, abiding, righteous relations with God, with Christ, and with the Holy Spirit. Thus we are in deliverance, divinely bestowed deliverance, from what hitherto has held us in its grip. And we have a new power of life, “in order that the righteous requirement of the law should be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to flesh but according to Spirit”. So the whole situation is transformed. We are delivered and set now in right relations with God, with Christ, with the Holy Spirit. Paul, you might say, goes on his way rejoicing.

I wish we had time to go into chapter 8, but we have not. What a delightful chapter it is! The victory is won! Not that pressures, tests and tribulations are over, but the Holy Spirit is with us in a most devoted, intimate and intense way, whether it be in our privileges as the children of God and heirs of God or in His groanings in relation to the weaknesses and tribulations of the saints. The Holy Spirit is with us, leading us in our new path. Paul is exultant—“If God be for us, who against us?” (Romans 8: 31), and nothing can separate us from “the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8: 39). One point I would make is this, that if you and I are prepared to let down that sounding line, in relation to what is negative, sins and sin, we can then have entrance into the wondrous depths of our God, His mercy, His righteousness, His grace, His love, His purposes.

That brings us to Romans 11. The end of Romans 11 is universal in its bearing. There is what is individual with each of us, but now Paul is letting down his sounding line in relation to God’s universal operations. He speaks of depth. Depth and height are related. We need to plumb the depths to reach the heights, “O depth of riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” or, as the footnote says, it could read, ‘O depth of God’s riches, and wisdom and knowledge’. Here is a man who is reaching the heights, and yet they are the depths, are they not? These are the heights of God, and these are the depths of God, “O depth of riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable his judgments, and untraceable his ways!” In fact, you will find that your sounding line will never reach the bottom here; we are having to do with what is unsearchable and untraceable in the wisdom and goodness of God.

Verse 32 says, “For God hath shut up together all in unbelief”—Why? “In order that he might shew mercy to all”. What a God we have! That is His outlook in the gospel. His universal outlook is one of mercy, because the blood is on the mercy-seat. God looks out and holds available to all men the value of that precious work, that precious blood. He has shut up all in unbelief that He might show mercy to all, and that brings out this doxology from the beloved apostle, “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counsellor?”; that is, it is all of God, it is His own sovereign disposition and wisdom and mercy; “or who has first given to him, and it shall be rendered to him?”; that is to say, man’s hand has not entered into it at all. “For of him, and through him, and for him are all things—to him be glory for ever. Amen”. These are the depths into which Paul enters, springing from his profound impression of mercy. Mercy, I think, is one of the things that affects us most deeply, the sovereign intervention of God in mercy. When we were in an utterly estranged condition, without God, without Christ, without hope, God intervenes in the majesty of mercy and righteous grace. We are shut up to God.

Every other agent or mind is excluded, and Paul is now in the very depths of what God is Himself, involving the Trinity. “Of him”—the purpose, the counsel, was His and His alone—“and through him” the infinite patient workings, involving untold suffering and sacrifice, the abandonment, the shedding of the blood of Jesus, His death, His burial, His resurrection, His glorification—“and for him are all things”. We have been taken up in grace and mercy and infinitely blessed, but, beloved, God has done it for Himself. As has often been said, He is His own Object. He has as God the right to be His own Object. “For of him, and through him, and for him are all things—to him be glory for ever. Amen”. May that be the language of our hearts, and may we, dear brethren—I need it deeply myself—know what it is to make these inward soundings, not as an end in themselves but that we might be correspondingly liberated in praise and worship and response to our glorious God who has wrought these wonders for His own name’s sake and His own glory. Amen.

Address at Croydon
22 September 1984

 

Published by F. C. Mutton, 22 Christchurch Road, Ilford, Essex, IG1 4QY, England Printed by Crystal Stationery, 22 Rushdene Road, Billericay, Essex, CM12 9NJ