Pride and Humility
Lesson
3: Repentance (Turning from Sin)
Proverbs 28:13
He who conceals his sins doesn’t prosper, but
whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
2 Chronicles 7:14
if my people, who are called by my name, shall
humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their
wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their
sin, and will heal their land.
The Main
Points for This Lesson:
The main purpose of
this series of lessons on pride and humility is to emphasize what God
has shown us – that he resists the proud, and gives grace to the
humble. These lessons should help show what pride and humility are,
how they appear in our own lives, and what the end result of each is,
encouraging and exhorting us to put off pride and clothe ourselves
with humility.
In the first lesson,
we gave simple definitions for pride and humility. Pride is thinking
more highly of ourselves than is right and true. Humility is thinking
rightly of ourselves in the sight of (or in relation to) God the
Father Almighty and his son Jesus Christ, our lord.
Pride and sin. Pride
and sin are connected in at least two ways. Pride itself is sin.
Pride also keeps us from turning away from our sin.
Pride itself is sin. It is in pride that we say to God, or anyone in
authority, I don't have to listen to you. Such pride is often called
arrogance. Pride doesn't always manifest itself in this way. Perhaps
we just treat God, or anyone in authority, as someone not important
or worth putting in the effort to listen to. We may treat God's
commands carelessly and just forget, or say, I didn't think it was
important. This is also pride. When we think we can even “politely”
ignore the almighty maker of heaven and earth, the judge of all
flesh, we are walking in pride.
Pride prevents us from turning from sin. We refuse to listen.
Manasseh did not pay any attention to God's warnings. He went on in
his sin. This was pride. Sometimes, we refuse to admit we are wrong.
This is also pride. Pride keeps us from turning away from our own
destruction. Pride keeps us from gaining the eternal blessings of
heaven.
Humility and
repentance. If we are practicing sin, humility, or humbling
ourselves, and repentance go together. In such cases, to humble
ourselves means that we are sorry for our sin, and that we turn away
from practicing it. Manasseh humbled himself in prison. He was
willing to think rightly of himself. His own wickedness against God
had brought him to such a low place as prison. He asked for mercy and
turned from his sin, and he received grace from God. Amon would not
humble himself. This was to his own destruction.
All of us have sinned at different times. It is not always easy to
humble ourselves, to admit we were wrong and that we need to change.
While it may not be easy, this is the path of blessing for everyone
who sins. God has said this plainly (Proverbs 28:13; 1 John 1:9). He
offers great encouragement to the sinner to humble themselves,
admitting their sin and turning from it. Forgiveness and mercy are
promised to those who humble themselves in this way.
Suggestions:
To open the lesson,
pray for the teacher and the students.
Let the children
know that we are now having a few lessons on pride and humility. This
is important because God has said in his word, “God resists the
proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
In this lesson, we
will compare the stories of king Manasseh and his son, king Amon to
learn more about pride and humility and turning from sin.
Let the children
know that you will read to them two stories. You want them to listen
to the stories and notice when the main character in each story is
proud and/or humble, and what their pride and humility looks like.
Read to them the
story of king Manasseh in 2 Chronicles 33:1-2,9-13,15-20a. As you
read (or when you are done reading) you can ask the children
questions about the story. Was Manasseh good or wicked? (Wicked.)
When God sent prophets to Manasseh, did he pay attention to what they
said? (No.) Why didn't he listen? (Pride.) Since he wouldn't listen
to the prophets, what did God do next to get Manasseh's attention?
(Had him carried off in chains to prison.) That got Manasseh's
attention and he listened then. How did he humble himself? (He
prayed, and he turned from his sinful ways to do good.) What did God
do then? (Restored him to his kingdom.)
Read the second
story to the children about king Amon in 2 Chronicles 33:20b-25. As
you read (or when you are done reading) you can ask the children
questions about the story. What kind of king was Manasseh's son,
Amon? (Wicked.) Did king Amon remain proud or did he humble himself?
(He remained proud.) What did he do in his pride? (He refused to
repent, but instead he sinned more and more.) To what did his pride
lead him? (To destruction.)
You can ask the
children a few last questions. Do you think Manasseh wished he had
listened to the prophets the first time, instead of waiting to humble
himself and listen till he was put in prison? Has there been a time
when you ended up in bigger trouble because you wouldn't humble
yourself the first time by admitting you were wrong and being sorry?
In these stories, where did pride lead them? What did humility lead
to?
To close the lesson,
pray with the children and have all the children read the Lord's
prayer together.
Stories:
2 Chronicles
33:1-2,9-13,15-20a [1] Manasseh
was twelve years old when he began to reign; and he reigned
fifty-five years in Jerusalem. [2] He did that which was evil in the
sight of Yahweh, after the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh
cast out before the children of Israel. [9] Manasseh seduced Judah
and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that they did more evil than the
nations whom Yahweh destroyed before the children of Israel did. [10]
Yahweh spoke to Manasseh, and to his people; but they gave no
heed. [11] Therefore Yahweh brought on them the captains of the
army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh in chains, and bound
him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon. [12] When he was in
distress, he begged Yahweh his God, and humbled himself
greatly before the God of his fathers. [13] He prayed to him; and he
was entreated by him, and heard his supplication, and brought him
again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that
Yahweh was God. [15] He took away the foreign gods, and the
idol out of Yahweh’s house, and all the altars that he had built in
the mountain of Yahweh’s house, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out
of the city. [16] He built up the altar of Yahweh, and offered
sacrifices of peace offerings and of thanksgiving on it, and
commanded Judah to serve Yahweh, the God of Israel. [17] Nevertheless
the people sacrificed still in the high places, but only to Yahweh
their God. [18] Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer
to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name
of Yahweh, the God of Israel, behold, they are written among the acts
of the kings of Israel. [19] His prayer also, and how God was
entreated of him, and all his sin and his trespass, and the places in
which he built high places, and set up the Asherah poles and the
engraved images, before he humbled himself: behold, they are
written in the history of Hozai. [20a] So Manasseh slept with his
fathers, and they buried him in his own house:
In
Manasseh and his people we see pride. They pursued sin so that they
grew more wicked than the wicked nations God had previously destroyed
from the land of Canaan. God spoke to Manasseh and his people, but
they refused to listen. They gave no heed to God and his warnings.
This was pride. Finally, God sent a cruel messenger to speak to
Manasseh, the cruel messenger of humiliating imprisonment. Manasseh
humbled himself. He listened. He asked God for mercy. He repented of,
he turned from, his sin. God, who gives grace to the humble, brought
Manasseh out of prison and made him sit as king again in Jerusalem.
Manasseh put away the sins of his past. God is opposed to the proud,
but gives grace to the humble.
2 Chronicles
33:20b-25 [20b] and Amon
his son reigned in his place. [21] Amon was twenty-two years old when
he began to reign; and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. [22] He did
that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, as did Manasseh his
father; and Amon sacrificed to all the engraved images which Manasseh
his father had made, and served them. [23] He didn’t humble
himself before Yahweh, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself;
but this same Amon trespassed more and more. [24] His servants
conspired against him, and put him to death in his own house. [25]
But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against
king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his
place.
After
King Manasseh died, his son, Amon, became king in his stead. He was
very wicked, as his father had been before him. While Manasseh had
been finally willing to humble himself before God and turn from his
sin, King Amon went on in pride. He did not humble himself, turning
from his sin. God, who is opposed to the proud, allowed King Amon to
be murdered by his own servants after two years of being king.
More Stories
and Examples:
Jonah 1:1-2;
3:1-10
On
hearing the preaching of Jonah, the wicked people of Nineveh humbled
themselves. They fasted, put on sackcloth and turned from their evil
ways. God saw, and did not bring the disaster upon them he said would
come because of their great wickedness.
Luke 23:39-43
Two
criminals were crucified with Jesus. At first, they both mocked.
Later, one humbled himself and sought mercy from the innocent King of
the Jews, the Son of God. The other did not humble himself, but went
on in stubborn and arrogant pride to his death and to the judgment.
Other Verses:
Leviticus
26:40-45 [40] “‘If they confess their iniquity, and
the iniquity of their fathers, in their trespass which they
trespassed against me, and also that, because they walked contrary to
me, [41] I also walked contrary to them, and brought them into the
land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised heart is
humbled, and they then accept the punishment of their iniquity;
[42] then I will remember my covenant with Jacob; and also my
covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham; and I will
remember the land. [43] The land also will be left by them, and will
enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them: and they will
accept the punishment of their iniquity; because, even because they
rejected my ordinances, and their soul abhorred my statutes. [44] Yet
for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not
reject them, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and
to break my covenant with them; for I am Yahweh their God; [45] but I
will for their sake remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I
brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I
might be their God. I am Yahweh.’”
2 Chronicles 7:14
if my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves,
and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then I
will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal
their land.
Proverbs 17:11
An evil man seeks only rebellion; therefore a cruel messenger shall
be sent against him.
God
sent his messengers, the prophets, to Manasseh and his people, but
they would not listen. Because he would not listen to those
messengers, God sent the cruel messenger of imprisonment to Manasseh.
It was to this cruel messenger that Manasseh finally opened his ears.
To most, the cruel messenger has not yet been sent. They can and
should humble themselves and repent at the message of the prophets.
Do not put this off until tomorrow. Today is the day of salvation.
Not everyone humbles themselves and repents at the words of the cruel
messenger. If you find yourself before the cruel messenger, humble
yourself and repent at his words. God gives grace to the humble.
Proverbs 20:9
Who can say, “I have made my heart pure. I am clean and without
sin?”
Proverbs 28:13
He who conceals his sins doesn’t prosper, but whoever confesses
and renounces them finds mercy.
Hebrews 3:7-15
[7] Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you will
hear his voice, [8] don’t harden your hearts, as in the
rebellion, like as in the day of the trial in the wilderness, [9]
where your fathers tested me by proving me, and saw my works for
forty years. [10] Therefore I was displeased with that generation,
and said, ‘They always err in their heart, but they didn’t know
my ways;’ [11] as I swore in my wrath, ‘They will not enter into
my rest.’” [] [12] Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there be in any
one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living
God; [13] but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called
“today”; lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of
sin. [14] For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the
beginning of our confidence firm to the end: [15] while it is said,
“Today if you will hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts, as
in the rebellion.”
1 John 1:6-10
[6] If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the
darkness, we lie, and don’t tell the truth. [7] But if we walk in
the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one
another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all
sin. [8] If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,
and the truth is not in us. [9] If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness. [10] If we say that we haven’t sinned,
we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
Other Reading:
“THE PRAYER OF
MANASSES KING OF JUDAH, WHEN HE WAS HELD CAPTIVE IN BABYLON”
“The Prayer of
Manasses is recognized as Deuterocanonical Scripture by the Greek
Orthodox and Russian Orthodox Churches. It is included in an appendix
to the Latin Vulgate Bible.”
WEB – World
English Bible
1 O LORD Almighty, that are in heaven, you God of our fathers, of
Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and of their righteous seed; 2 who
have made heaven and earth, with all the ornament thereof; 3 who have
bound the sea by the word of your commandment; who have shut up the
deep, and sealed it by your terrible and glorious name; 4 whom all
things fear, yes, tremble before your power; 5 for the majesty of
your glory can’t be borne, and the anger of your threatening toward
sinners is importable: 6 your merciful promise is unmeasurable and
unsearchable; 7 for you are the Lord Most High, of great compassion,
longsuffering and abundant in mercy, and repent of bringing evils
upon men. 8 You, O Lord, according to your great goodness have
promised repentance and forgiveness to those who have sinned against
you: and of your infinite mercies have appointed repentance to
sinners, that they may be saved. You therefore, O Lord, that are the
God of the just, have not appointed repentance to the just, to
Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, which have not sinned against you; but
you have appointed repentance to me that am a sinner: 9 for I have
sinned above the number of the sands of the sea. My transgressions
are multiplied, O Lord: my transgressions are multiplied, and I am
not worthy to behold and see the height of heaven for the multitude
of my iniquities. 10 I am bowed down with many iron bands, that I
can’t lift up my head by reason of my sins, neither have I any
respite: for I have provoked your wrath, and done that which is evil
before you: I didn’t do your will, neither did I keep your
commandments: I have set up abominations, and have multiplied
detestable things. 11 Now therefore I bow the knee of my heart,
beseeching you of grace. 12 I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned, and
I acknowledge my iniquities: 13 but, I humbly beseech you, forgive
me, O Lord, forgive me, and destroy me not with my iniquities. Be not
angry with me forever, by reserving evil for me; neither condemn me
into the lower parts of the earth. For you, O Lord, are the God of
those who repent; 14 and in me you will show all your goodness: for
you will save me, that am unworthy, according to your great mercy. 15
And I will praise the forever all the days of my life: for all the
army of heaven does sing your praise, and yours is the glory forever
and ever. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment