IT was just one of those cases, which unfortunately appear by thousands in our police courts. He had been intoxicated and a little disorderly, and now he stood in the dock before the magistrate, and was fined a small sum, or in default a brief period of imprisonment.
He was not short of cash, however, and so the fine was promptly paid; but as, the money was handed over he proffered an unusual request, which for a moment produced a mild sensation. “Please,” said he, “to furnish me with a receipt.”
The magistrate’s reply was to wave him out of the dock with these words, “Your liberty is your receipt.” An answer well worth pondering.
The magistrate’s words were true! The law does not relax its hold on a lawbreaker until all its demands are satisfied; but when satisfied, liberty must be at once granted unless the law is prepared itself to be convicted of injustice. Let a convicted prisoner walk out free from dock or prison house, then his liberty proclaims as clearly as any receipt that every righteous penalty has been paid.
Do these lines meet the eye of an anxious sinner, one who has for long, perhaps, sought the evidences of salvation within himself? Let such an one find in our simple story a parable, which shall illustrate how they may find the “receipt” granted by the Judge of all, which evidences their own clearance from the guilt of sin and its righteous deserts. One word only needs to be changed—that the sentence may read, “CHRIST’S liberty is your receipt.”
Such a scripture as “Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5:66For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6)) entitles you to say with confidence, “Christ died for me.”
But if you have trusted Him, and have learned that He has paid your penalty, the question surely is, not “What are my feelings or experiences?” but “How does He—my Substitute—stand in regard to the claims of divine justice, now that payment has been made?”
Is there any doubt as to the answer to be given to this latter question? None whatever. We read: He “was delivered for our offenses, and was RAISED again for our justification.” (Rom. 4:2525Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. (Romans 4:25).)
His resurrection was His complete clearance from death’s penalty and the prison house of the grave—it was His liberty! And that liberty He got for “our justification,”—that is, for us who believe in Him, and for whom He died. HIS liberty is our receipt.
Lay hold of this, trembling believer, if you would be sure and happy, for the fact is that many, because of not seeing the bearing of Christ’s resurrection, live their days just as though they were condemned Suffragettes, but released now and again under the “Cat and Mouse Act.” They pray, and by dint of self-denial slip now and again out into the sunshine for a brief period, only to slip back into the prison house of doubt shortly after.
And all the time the true believer in Jesus is entitled to turn his gaze away from himself, his doings, and his feelings, and to fix it upon Christ,—Christ risen and glorified, the proof of the complete clearance, which has been wrought for the believer by His death.
Fix the eyes of your heart on Him, dear friend, and say with joy, “His liberty is my receipt.”
F. B. H.