A Great Debt Paid

This is a story that I found while I was walking around. I thought it was good, and helps us know what Jesus Christ did for us.
Czar Nicholas of Russia would sometimes walk about his military camps and barracks dressed as an ordinary officer, in order that he might anonymously know first hand what was going on. Late one night, Nicholas was making one of these tours of inspection and noticed a light under the paymaster's door. He opened the door quietly and stepped inside. There, a young officer, a son of an old friend of Nicholas, was seated at the table, his head resting on his arms, sound asleep. Nicholas thought to awaken him but changed his mind when he noticed a gun on the table along with some money, a sheet of paper, and a pen which had fallen from the hand of the sleeping man.
    Nicholas looked at the paper which contained a long list of gambling and other debts accumulated over a period of time, totaling thousands of rubles. The paymaster had realized how impossible it was for him to pay the debt he owed. His only way out, so he thought, was suicide, as he could not face the disgrace which awaited him for having used army funds to cover his debts. Weary with sorrow and remorse, he had written below the terrible total:  "WHO CAN PAY SO GREAT A DEBT?"
    Nicholas' first thought was to have him arrested. The nature of the crime was such that it could not be ignored. But as he pondered the matter he thought of his long friendship with the officer's father. A feeling of compassion gripped him. He took up the pen and wrote, "NICHOLAS."
    The young officer awoke soon after Nicholas had gone, intending to end his life, but noticed the name "Nicholas" below his question. He was astonished and could not believe what he saw. He compared Nicholas' signature with that on other papers on his possession, and there was no doubt about its genuineness. Joy and shame filled his heart as he thought of the fact that Nicholas knew all bout his dishonesty and recklessness and yet was willing to pay his debt. True to his word, the following morning money arrived from Nicholas just enough to pay "so great a debt."
     I thought that this story was a very good one. We have done something that we can not make up for, we have all sinned. But Jesus Christ a friend, a brother was willing to come to this earth and die for us so that we can be forgiven of our sins. That is something that I am eternally grateful for, and that is something that I know that he did for us.
Elder Matthews