"Those who wear expensive clothes and indulge
in luxury are in palaces." Luke 7:25
"There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and
fine linen and lived in luxury every day." Luke 16:19
"The rich man also died and was buried. In hell,
where he was in torment," Luke 16:22-23
Luxury is one of the great darling sins of our age and day!
It is a very God-dishonoring sin, and a God-provoking sin,
and a soul-damning sin! It shuts them out from all the glory
of heaven—and tumbles them down to the lowest hell!
Look! no luxurious person shall enter into heaven. Of all
sorts of sinners—the luxurious sinner is most rarely reformed.
The adulterer may become chaste, the thief may become
an honest man, the swearer may obtain a sanctified tongue;
but how rare is it to see a luxurious person repent, break off
his sins, close with Christ, and walk to heaven!
Of such professors who live and wallow in luxury and
intemperance, if we compare Christ's laws and their
lives together, I think we may confidently conclude,
that they are not Christians. Panormitan, a heathen,
having read the 5th, 6th, and 7th chapters of Matthew,
and comparing those rules of Christ with the loose and
luxurious lives of professing Christians; concluded that
those people were not Christians.
Chrysostom preferred brute beasts before luxurious
people; for the beast goes from belly to labor; when
the luxurious person goes from belly to bed, or from
belly to cards or dice, if not to something worse!
"You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You
have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter." James 5:5
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Thomas Brooks (1608 - 1680)
Much of what is known about Thomas Brooks has been ascertained from his writings. Born, likely to well-to-do parents, in 1608, Brooks entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 1625, where he was preceded by such men as Thomas Hooker, John Cotton, and Thomas Shepard. He was licensed as a preacher of the Gospel by 1640. Before that date, he appears to have spent a number of years at sea, probably as a chaplain with the fleet.After the conclusion of the First English Civil War, Thomas Brooks became minister at Thomas Apostle's, London, and was sufficiently renowned to be chosen as preacher before the House of Commons on December 26, 1648. His sermon was afterwards published under the title, 'God's Delight in the Progress of the Upright', the text being Psalm 44:18: 'Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from Thy way'. Three or four years afterwards, he transferred to St. Margaret's, Fish-street Hill, London. In 1662, he fell victim to the notorious Act of Uniformity, but he appears to have remained in his parish and to have preached as opportunity arose. Treatises continued to flow from his pen.[3]
Thomas Brooks was a nonconformist preacher. Born into a Puritan family, he was sent to Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He soon became an advocate of the Congregational way and served as a chaplain in the Civil War. In 1648 he accepted the rectory of St. Margaret's, New Fish Street, London, but only after making his Congregational principles clear to the vestry.
On several occasions he preached before Parliament. He was ejected in 1660 and remained in London as a Nonconformist preacher. Government spies reported that he preached at Tower Wharf and in Moorfields. During the Great Plague and Great Fire he worked in London, and in 1672 was granted a license to preach in Lime Street. He wrote over a dozen books, most of which are devotional in character. He was buried in Bunhill Fields.