IN the private office of a wholesale merchant I in a big city there sat three people. The merchant himself, a kindly Christian man; his cashier, also a Christian; and a woman in evident distress.
The cause of the meeting was clear-she was a debtor with practically nothing to pay. Her case was a bad one, for it was not merely a matter of sudden misfortune, or of sterling honesty struggling against adversity: but for months she had deceived the wholesale dealer, telling him of property, which really was not hers, with which she declared falsely again and again she intended to realize more than enough to liquidate her debt.
But through some means or other her conscience had been aroused, and she had resolved to make a clean breast of the matter. That morning she had sought an interview with her creditor, at which she told him all, without any attempt at excuse or palliation.
The creditor asked her to withdraw from the room for a while, that he might talk the matter over with his cashier. With what anxiety she awaited the result of the consultation, and, when recalled, what fear, and hope, and appeal were in her eyes.
She was not kept waiting, however, to know what her fate was, for the cashier unlocked the cash-box, and, counting out the full amount or the debt, laid it before the creditor, and he took his pen, and wrote "Settled" across the bill.
It was all done very quietly, but an earthquake could not have surprised the woman more; but when she realized what it meant she was not slow to express her gratitude, and she left the office utterly ashamed of her past deceit, perfectly at peace about the debt, and full of thankful admiration for the merchant and his cashier.
But before the account was settled the merchant had unfolded to her a story of greater grace than his, of which his was but a faint echo,—the story of the grace of God, that justifies justly the ungodly.
What he told to her I will tell to you. She, and you, and I owed a great debt to God. In justice He must demand full payment; but neither she, nor you, nor I could meet that righteous demand, for our condition was bankrupt,—guilty sinners were we, without any goodness of our own at all.
The Bible tells us this plainly, and if we feel aright about it, we are conscious that what the Bible says is true. Then it was that Jesus came, the one Mediator between God and men, and He paid the price, for He gave Himself a Ransom for all.
But let us remember that He was God's beloved Son, He was sent by God into this world for this very purpose—to give His life a ransom for all.
So that it was out of God's own treasury that the price was drawn. And, thank God, it fully meets the demands of His holiness, so that He can now offer complete justification to all, who do but come to Him for it through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
If we come to Him, as that woman went to her creditor, confessing our guilt, owning how sinful we have been, He, too, will write “settled" across the terrible account of our sins. He will do it gladly and in righteousness because of what the Mediator has done. Then shall we, as never before, feel the sinfulness of our sins, have perfect peace with God about them, and be filled with gratitude to God and our Lord Jesus Christ.
“The sinner who believes is free,
Can say, The Savior died for me”
Can point to the atoning blood,
And say, 'This made my peace with God.'”
J. T. M