Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 622
Delivered on Sunday Morning, April 2, 1865, by C. H. Spurgeon, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
“So he paid the fare.” Jonah 1:3.
AS a general rule, wherever we go, whatever we do, we must “pay the fare.” Expenditure is connected with every act, work and operation. The sun does not constantly flood this world and all its sister spheres with light and heat without some kind of consumption within itself. Nor does the earth yield her fruits of harvest except at the cost of the matter of which it is composed. By the force of wind and frost, the very “Mountain falling comes to nothing and the rock is removed out of his place” (Job 14:18). The rivers do not reach the sea without wearing away their banks and cutting channels in the earth through which their floods may flow. The raindrops, the generous gifts of Heaven, have first been loaned from the treasury of the great deep. The air itself is constantly in process of consumption, and were it not that a fresh supply is daily being produced, even the atmosphere would become exhausted.
All the processes of Nature involve a constant expenditure of power. Ponderous as is the engine of creation and little as it shows the fretting power of age, it is certain that in the whole of its machinery, from its most stupendous wheel down to its smallest valve, it is daily and necessarily experiencing an appointed amount of wear and tear. It is assuredly so with regard to the lesser world of man. The body cannot move a limb or contract a muscle without expense. The lifting of my hand, the pointing of my finger, the motion of my tongue, the stirring of my brain in thought all cost something and make a draught upon the inner store of strength—you cannot so much as gaze upon the world around you without some wear and tear of that marvelous optical instrument by which outward sights are brought to the inward mind.
Friction operates on flesh and bone and sinew and a higher friction acts on mind and intellect and passion, for even these grow weak with strain and age—“the fare”—Nature sternly demands before she will loose her cable or spread her sail to the breeze. He quarrels with God’s laws who expects something for nothing and hopes to be served without offering a just remuneration and to find friends without showing himself friendly. We must pay our fare, for the universe requires it—we will pay it cheerfully—for we are honest men.
This general rule of expenditure holds good when we enter the world of morals and commune with spiritual things. Man plucked the forbidden fruit and dearly was that apple paid for in the fall of all our race. The Lord redeemed us in His boundless love, but not without a price—the free mercy of God cannot work its way among men except Heaven’s best treasure is spent to purchase men from bondage. Expense occurs everywhere in our salvation—“The price of pardon was the Savior’s blood.” “To buy our souls it cost His own.”—
“There’s never a gift His hand bestows, But cost His heart a groan.”
Nor is it so in the kingdom of Heaven only, for even if a man would pursue a foolhardy voyage across the sea of rebellion in the ship of sin to the horrible land of perdition, he must “pay the fare.” Sinners, for that which is not bread, must spend their money and for that which profits not, must pay their labor. He who would be saved must take care to sit down and count the cost, lest, after having begun to build, he should not be able to finish it. But let him not think that he is alone in his expending, for the transgressor’s bill of costs is no light one! War of any sort is costly, but ungodly men will find that a war with Heaven is the dearest of all. God’s House, like the palace of Solomon, needs a large income to sustain its daily feasting—but it is not like the house of evil which makes a beggar of every man that comes within its doors.
I. I shall, this morning, commence my discourse by endeavoring to direct your attention to THE COST OF TRAVELLING ON THE BROAD ROAD TO HELL. Phocian paid for the poison which killed him—and the sinner pays dearly for the sin which proves his ruin. The worldling often taunts the Christian because he expends his money on his religion. The Christian may well reply to the sinner, “I wish that your taunts were more true, for I fear that I do not spend one-tenth as much in the service of God as you do in the service of your vices.” Very few except the most generous of Christians could venture to say that they spend as much upon their God as profligates squander upon their lusts.
1. Let us begin to add up the bill! We are met at once with a heavy item. The man who makes the world his idol and forgets God, has at once, at the start of his voyage, to pay down and place in a sinking fund all hope of God’s favor and all expectation of the blessings which it brings. He cannot run contrary to God’s will and command and then expect that God will be his Friend and prosper his designs! If I set myself up in rebellion against Heaven’s great King, I cannot suppose that He will make it His constant care to promote my interests, nor dare I dream that He will aid and abet me in my designs of evil.