Saturday, July 18, 2020

"A Man's Life Does Not Consist In The Abundance Of His Possessions."

The plague of unsatisfiedness
(Thomas Brooks, "The Crown and Glory of Christianity, 

or, HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness", 1662)

"Watch out! Be on your guard against 

all kinds of covetousness; a man's life 
does not consist in the abundance of his 
possessions." Luke 12:15 

Covetousness is . . . 
  a very great and grievous sin;
  a mother sin;
  a breeding sin; 
  a sin which has all sin in its womb; 
  a very vile and heinous sin;
  the root of all evil.

Covetousness makes the soul earthly--

which should be celestial. 

Covetousness is an evil which subjects 

men to the basest and vilest evils. 

Covetousness makes a man a fool! 


"You fool! This very night your life 
will be demanded from you. Then who 
will get what you have prepared for 
yourself?" Luke 12:20

Covetousness robs a man of all true 

peace, comfort, contentment and quiet. 

Covetousness brings men into snares 

which drown their souls in perdition.

Covetousness renders men unsatisfied 

under all their outward enjoyments. Though 
a covetous wretch has enough to sink him--
yet he can never have enough to satisfy him. 
First he wishes for a bag full, and then 
chest full, and then a room full, and 
then a house full, etc. 

The plague of unsatisfiedness--

is the great plague which covetous men 
are under. Certainly you shall as soon fill 
a triangle with a circle, and a chest with grace--
as you shall be able to fill and satisfy 
a covetous mind with money. 

A covetous man is like a swine--

which is good for nothing while it lives. 
The horse is good to carry, 
the ox is good to draw, 
the sheep is good for cloth, 
the cow is good to give milk, 
and the dog is good to guard the house--
but the hog is good for nothing while he lives! 


Just so, a covetous man is only 

serviceable when he is dead. 
That scripture often proves true, 

"the riches of a sinner are laid up 
or the just." Job 27:17 

No sin lays men under greater woes! 

"People who want to get rich fall into 

temptation and a trap and into many 
foolish and harmful desires that plunge 
men into ruin and destruction. For the love 
of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some 
people, eager for money, have wandered 
from the faith and pierced themselves 
with many griefs!" 1 Timothy 6:9-10 
   ~  ~  ~  ~

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