Take Heed

"If a man think himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself." —Galatians 6:3 [KJV]

The leaven of Pharisaism, pride, self-righteousness, and self-sufficiency, is interwoven with our very nature. In the beginning that arch-deceiver, Satan, poisoned the minds of our first parents with that corrupt doctrine, "Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." This infection hath tainted the whole human race: naturally every man deceiveth himself: he thinks himself to be that which in reality he is not. Hence is rooted enmity to the salvation of Jesus and the grace of the gospel: here man is nothing; here the creature is annihilated. 

As Paul saith of an "idol, it is nothing in the world:" so that idol, a man's self, is nothing, knows nothing, can do nothing in the great work of salvation. Fallen nature, with all its boasted goodness, affected piety, devout efforts, contributes nothing; for "all is of grace," rich, free, and sovereign grace. Man, with all his vaunted "knowledge of good and evil;" his "free will" (so called) to choose the good and refuse the evil, his rectitude to perform his duty and secure his salvation, by fulfilling terms and conditions of the gospel; all these are mere nonentities; lighter than vanity when weighed in the balance of the sanctuary. 

O believer, when thou thinkest thyself nothing, knowest nothing of thyself, then thou thinkest and knowest right. But when thou art led to think, "now I am something in myself; now I know something by myself; now I can do something of myself, to keep myself in the favor of God, and to be faithful to his grace," verily thou deceivest thyself. This is acting like the church of Galatia under spiritual witchcraft, "beginning in the Spirit, and ending in the flesh." This, in the strict and proper sense, is "FALLING FROM GRACE." So nature's pride exalts one's self, and censures other Christians as carnal and unfaithful. This pride of the flesh opposeth our growth in grace, and is contrary to the humbling knowledge of Jesus Christ. 

To know the grace of God in truth, is to own its sovereign operations upon the soul, to be steady as the sun in its course, uncontrollable as the wind in its power, unfrustrable as the tide in its motion, and as unyielding to the power of nature and the will of man, as the proud waves of the great ocean. To "put on the Lord Jesus," is to "put off the old man with its deceitful lusts," and pride. To "rejoice in Christ Jesus," is to "have no confidence in the flesh." The Lord will "suffer no flesh to glory in His presence." "Let him that glorieth, glory in the Lord."—I Corinthians 1:31. Happy for us, with Paul, "most gladly therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me,"—II Corinthians 12:9.

-preacher William Mason (1724-1797 A.D.)

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