They first rejoice, and are elevated with the fact that they are made much of by God; and then on that ground, God seems in a sort, lovely to them. They are pleased in the highest degree, in hearing how much God and Christ make of them. So that their joy is really a joy in themselves, and not in God.
This is the difference between the joy of the hypocrite, and the joy of the true saint. The hypocrite rejoices in himself; self is the first foundation of his joy; the true saint rejoices in God. True saints have their minds, in the first place, inexpressibly pleased and delighted with the sweet ideas of the glorious and amiable nature of the things of God. And this is the spring of all their delights, and the cream of all their pleasures. But the dependence of the affections of hypocrites is in a contrary order: they first rejoice that they are made so much of by God; and then on that ground, he seems in a sort, lovely to them.
– Jonathan Edwards, Religious Affections