PRESUMPTUOUS SIN ~ A Study in Jeremiah

Imagine the pain in the heart of a husband saying of a wife whom he loves dearly: “My bride has forgotten me days without number.” Humanly speaking, a spouse who is discarded for the cheap thrills of hedonistic pleasures found outside a marriage covenant, would feel betrayed, used, and heartbroken. Surely, this one who walks away is not in her right mind.

 

We have a saying in our family that has come up many times over the years. “They can’t stand prosperity.” If what the world needs now is love, sweet love, why on earth would anyone walk away from perfect love once it finds her? The great quest is over! Anyone who would walk away from that has got to be seriously depraved. And we are. I know that if God had not saved me, I would never have come to Him on my own; if God was not holding onto me, I would surely walk away because I’m prone to wander, prone to leave this One I love. His truly is a love that will not let me go. I had nothing to do with my salvation, and I cannot do anything to keep myself saved. I owe Him everything! How presumptuous it would be for me to think, now that I am saved, that I can live anyway I want to live?

 

Israel was guilty of presumptuous sin, the ugliest of all sin.

 

Psalm 19:13—Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins; let them not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, and I shall be acquitted of great transgression.

 

Presumptuous sins are fully intentional, committed with our eyes open, and with a heart that says, “I’m going to do this, and nothing is going to stop me. I know what God says about it, and I do not care if it is wrong. I’m going to do it anyway.” Older translations use the word presumptuous while new translations use deliberate, willful, arrogant, insolent, flagrant, or similar words.

 

In Numbers 15 the law outlined what was to be done to make atonement for sins that were committed in ignorance. Then, in verses 30-31 it describes the consequences for deliberate sin that was committed: But the person who does anything defiantly, whether he is native or an alien, that one is blaspheming the Lord; and that person shall be cut off from among his people. Because he has despised the word of the Lord and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt will be on him. There was no sacrifice that could atone for willful, defiant sin. Charles Spurgeon said: “All sins are great sins, but yet some sins are greater than others. While all transgression is a greatly grievous sinful thing, yet there are some transgressions which have a deeper shade of blackness, and a more double scarlet-dyed hue of criminality than others.” (Sermon 135, New Park Street Pulpit, Volume 3) John Calvin wrote, “Unless God restrain us, our hearts will violently boil with a proud and insolent contempt of God.”

 

Presumptuous sins are premeditated and committed with full knowledge that they are sins and in full light of what God has said. Presumptuous sins can only be committed in suppression of the conscience and despite its appeals. Even as believers, we need to cry out to the Lord to be our defense in the face of temptation, to give us the wisdom to recognize this bold disobedience we are all capable of, and the strength to resist it.  

 

There is a saying most Christians know: Trials will either make you bitter or better. Israel had forgotten God, presumed on His mercy, love, and grace, and then had the audacity to shake her fist at Him when she began to suffer the consequences of her rebellion. People always want to acknowledge that God is sovereign when things are going their way; but when trouble comes, only those who know their God will turn to Him to sustain them through the trial.

 

Why do you contend with Me? You have all transgressed against Me,” declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 2:29) Contend means to strive and contend, to chide, murmur, or complain. Instead of accusing God of being unjust or unkind toward them, they needed to charge themselves with the grossest form of treason and grave wickedness. Instead of falling down before Him begging Him for mercy, they were rising up against Him hurling hypocritical, baseless accusations at Him in their rebellious pride.

 

“In vain I have struck your sons; they accepted no chastening. Your sword has devoured your prophets like a destroying lion.” (Jeremiah 2:30) When parents discipline their children, the purpose is to teach, bring correction, and ultimately, growth and maturity. God’s rod of chastisement was used in vain. Discipline from His hand did not bring repentance; it only caused them to dig in their heels deeper in rebellion. Instead of softening their hearts, it only served to harden them more.

 

Jeremiah 5:3—O Lord, do not Your eyes look for truth? You have smitten them, but they did not weaken; You have consumed them, but they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to repent.

 

Out of His great love for them, God had sent them messengers and prophets who had admonished them; and they murdered them for speaking the truth!

 

The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place; but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, until there was no remedy. (2 Chronicles 36:15-16) (See also Nehemiah 9:26) When people reject the truth of God, they commit great blasphemies. In Matthew 23:29-30 Jesus pronounced judgment on the scribes and Pharisees for all their hypocrisies: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’” God’s own Son stood before them with the same message the prophets brought, and they crucified Him. They hated Him; therefore, they hated the God whom they professed to love and serve. Matthew 23:37—“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.”

 

O generation, heed the word of the Lord. Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of thick darkness? (Jeremiah 2:31a) Heed means to see, look at, inspect, perceive, consider, to regard, observe, give attention to, discern, distinguish, to see, look at, inspect, perceive, consider, to cause to look intently at.

 

In other words, ‘If you won’t listen to my words, look back at all I have already done for you.’ Her faithful Husband had done absolutely everything for her. He poured out lavish mercy and grace upon her. When she worshiped Him in sincerity and truth, He prospered her. Even when she was in the wilderness, the place of wasteland and dry desert, her every need was met. She had not been forced to walk in darkness because He had been her light.

 

Most people give full support to a wife in an abusive marriage when she is finally able to break free from her torment. Israel had no grounds for abandoning a perfect Husband. She is like a spoiled, entitled brat of a child who, when being disciplined out of love, turns, and blames her parents for all her problems.

 

Why do My people say, ‘We are free to roam; we will no longer come to You’? (Jeremiah 2:31b) Some translations say, ‘We are lords,’ instead of ‘We are free to roam.’ Basically, what they are saying is that no longer do they want anyone to be an authority over them. They will go where they want to go and do what they want to do, worshiping whatever god they choose. It is the child foolishly asserting, “You aren’t the boss of me!” Full of ingratitude and presuming they knew what was best for them, they are telling God they no longer need Him for anything. They have determined, resolved, or made up their minds that they will no longer come to Him in worship. No one was going to restrain them or hold them back from pursuing their idolatrous lusts. They, like Lucifer, wanted to be their own god. Thinking too highly of themselves, they forgot it was God who made them who they were. Instead of looking to Him for answers, they were going to look to themselves. Believing the lie, they turned from the one true and living God to worship false gods.