in his own eyes.
Moses, Lot, David, Jeremiah, Paul, and those in Ezek 9:4,6, mourned for others' sins as well as their own; but Pharaoh, Ahab, Judas, Demas; Simon Magus never did. 3. He can never hate sin as sin.
8. No hypocrite is habitually low or little in his own eyes.
No hypocrite regularly has humble thoughts of himself, or a poor esteem of himself. No hypocrite loves to lessen himself to greaten Christ, to debase himself to exalt Christ. No hypocrite loves to be outshined; all hypocrites love to write an "I" upon what they do. The pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself: "God, I thank you that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican; I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess," Luke 18:11, 12. All hypocrites stand much upon their negative righteousness and their comparative goodness. There is no hypocrite in the world but sets down his penny for a pound, and always prizes himself above the market: 2 Kings 10:16, "Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord." Jehu's words were for the Lord— but his project was for the kingdom. Jehu made a great blaze—but he was but a comet.
A hypocrite always loves the praise of men more than the praise of God. He loves more to be honored by men than to be honored by God: "How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?" John 5:44. Nothing below that power which raised Christ from the grave can make a hypocrite purely nothing in his own eyes.
A hypocrite is always a great thing in his own eyes; and when he is nothing, a great nothing in others' eyes; he cannot bear it.
A hypocrite cannot endure to be outshined in gifts, in graces, in experiences, in duties, in communion with God, in spiritual enjoyments. A hypocrite's heart is full of pride—when his deportment is most humble. He always thinks best of himself, and worst of others; he looks upon his own vices as graces, and he looks upon other men's graces as vices, or at least as no true current coin. A proud spirit will cast disgrace upon that excellency which he himself lacks. The emptiest barrels make the loudest sound, the worst metal the greatest noise, and the lightest ears of corn hold their heads highest.
But sincere Christians are men of another spirit, of another temper, of another metal, of another mind; their hearts lie low when their gifts and graces and spiritual enjoyments are high. Abraham is but "dust and ashes" in his own eyes. The higher any man is in his communion with God, the lower that man will be in his own eyes. Dust and ashes are poor, base, vile, worthless things—and such things as these was Abraham in his own eyes.
So Jacob was a plain man, an upright man, and lo! what a low esteem had he of himself: "I am not worthy of all the faithfulness and unfailing love you have shown to me, your servant," Gen 32:10. In the Hebrew it is, "I am little before your mercies." When Jacob had to do with Laban, he pleads his merits; but when he has to do with God, he pleads nothing but grace, setting a very low esteem upon himself. He looks upon himself as worthy of less than the least of mercies, and as worse than the worst of creatures. "The least of my mercies are greater than I deserve, and the greatest of my troubles are less than I deserve," says Jacob. The language of a plain-hearted
Jacob is this: "O Lord, I might with Job have been stripped of all my comforts and enjoyments at once, and set upon an ash-heap; I might with Lazarus have been begging my bread from door to door; or I might have been getting my bread with the peril of my life, because of the sword of the wilderness, or I might have been with Dives in hell a-crying out for a drop of water to cool my tongue!"
A sincere Christian cannot tell how to speak good enough of God, nor bad enough of himself. Agur was one of the wisest and holiest men on earth, and see how greatly he debases himself, "Surely, I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man," Prov 30:1-2. Agur had seen Ithiel, God with me, and Ucal, God Almighty, and this made him so vile and base in his own eyes; this made him vilify, yes, revile himself to the utmost.
You know no man ever received a fairer or a more valuable certificate under the hand of God, or the broad seal of heaven, for his being a soul famous in uprightness and holiness, than Job, as you may see, Job 1:8, "And the Lord said unto Satan—Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth—a man of complete integrity. He fears God and will have nothing to do with evil." Job was high in worth and humble in heart: Job 42:5-6, "I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear—but now my eye sees you, I abhor myself in dust and ashes." This expression is the deepest act of abhorrency. Abhorrency strictly taken is hatred wound up to the height: "I abhor myself." The Hebrew word that is rendered abhor signifies to reject, to disdain, to condemn, to cast off. "Ah!" says Job, "I abhor myself, I reject myself, I disdain myself, I cast off myself, I have a very vile and base esteem of myself!"
David was a man of great integrity, a man after God's own heart, and yet he looks upon himself as a flea; and what is more
contemptible than a flea? And as he looks upon himself as a flea, so he looks upon himself as a worm: "I am a worm, and no man," Psalm 22:6. The Hebrew word that is here rendered a worm, signifies a very little worm—a worm that is so little that a man can hardly perceive it. A worm is the most despicable creature in the world, trampled under foot by man and beasts. He who was in God's eye a man after his own heart, is in his own eye but a despicable worm. A sincere Christian is a little nothing in his own eyes.
So Paul, who had been caught up into the third heaven, and learned his divinity among the angels, as one speaks, and had such glorious revelations as could not be uttered, yet he accounts himself less than the least of all saints: Eph 3:8, "Unto me who am less than the least of all saints." The Greek signifies lesser than the least, if lesser might be; not that anything can be less than the least. The original word being a double diminutive, his meaning is that he was as little as could be; therefore he put himself down so little as to be less than the least. Here you have the greatest apostle descending down to the lowest step of humility. Great Paul sees himself as least of saints, and greatest of sinners.
So Peter, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord," Luke 5:8, or as the Greek runs, "a man, a sinner," a mixture and compound of dirt and sin; a mere bundle of vice and vanity, of folly and iniquity. So Luther, "I have no other name than sinner; sinner is my name, sinner is my surname; this is the name by which I shall be always known." "I have sinned, I do sin, I shall sin," says Luther, speaking vilely and basely of himself. "Lord, I am hell and you are heaven," said blessed Hooper. "I am a most hypocritical wretch, not worthy that the earth should bear me," said blessed Bradford. Thus you see by these several instances that sincere Christians do as it were, take a holy pleasure and delight to debase, humble, and vilify themselves.