I had a Christian friend, a wholesale provision merchant; one Sunday night he had been to a stirring gospel meeting in which sinners had been saved. He woke up the next morning and went to his business with the joy of the gospel in his heart.
He had not been sitting in his office very long when a woman was shown in. She was one of his customers who owed him a considerable sum of money. He had allowed the bill to run on, and continued to supply her with goods because she had told him she was just about to realize on some property; and he had believed her, but she had deceived him all the time.
She had come that morning to tell the truth — she had nothing to pay. She was really a bankrupt, and she cast herself upon his mercy. He had a Christian cashier who had also been to the gospel meeting the night before, and the woman was asked to retire into the outer office while my friend and his cashier discussed the matter between them. Then she was called back, and the cashier put his hand into his pocket and took out his bunch of keys, unlocked the safe, took out the cash-box, and counted out from it the full amount of the bill, and pushed the money across the desk to the master. He counted the money, put it into his pocket, then he stamped the bill and wrote across it "Amount received in full," and dated it and signed it and handed the receipted bill to the poor bankrupt storekeeper.
It was some minutes before she realized what it meant; she looked at the receipted bill, and then at her erstwhile creditor and then the tears burst from her eyes and rolled down her cheeks as she thanked him. She was free, she was at peace with him, and she went out of the office clear of that debt; the bill was never sent to her again; it was remembered against her no more. But the amount came out of his own cashbox. Exactly; but it was the amount due and he accepted it, and she was clear.
How every illustration fails in the presence of the fact that out of the glory of God came God's beloved Son, and for us He went into death to pay the mighty price which God has accepted, the price that only could clear us righteously before a righteous God. The amount has been received in full, God has accepted it and set His seal upon it, by raising His Son, even Jesus, from the dead, and we who believe are justified, we are free, and the bill never can be sent in to us again.
That is the meaning of that blessed statement of Scripture, "Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." There is then no condemnation when it is a question of our sins. Have you got as far as that? If you have you have peace with God. The One who paid the mighty price and did the great work is raised again from the dead, an evidence that God is satisfied with that which He did, and since He was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification, we have peace with God through Him.
"Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." The song begins in the heart and bursts from the lips when that point is reached and our feet are set on the march to victory.