Introduction

Good morning, we will be looking at Leviticus Chapter 20 today. As we read the Book of Leviticus, we will find something very interesting: the concept of “holiness unto the Lord” is discussed alongside the concept of “being put to death.” Don't you find this rather strange? It is quite remarkable.

We often feel that people need not be held accountable for their sins, especially Christians, who often think: I am a Christian; even if I sin, the blood of Jesus Christ will wash it away. I feel so peaceful, great! Everything is fine! Then some non-Christians come to me and say: You Christians are the worst! And I agree with them.

They would look surprised and ask: How can you agree with what I say? I would ask: Tell me, how are Christians the worst? They would say: You Christians do bad things, then you go back and kneel down to pray, asking your God to forgive you. Once God forgives you, you continue to do bad things, and then you ask for the blood of Jesus to cleanse you. This blood of Jesus is so effective!

No matter what bad things you do, the blood of Jesus is effective, is that right? If that's the case, then there's a problem! I say: I know about this, but there's something you don't understand. The Jehovah God we believe in is the Most High, the Most Holy God, who will by no means clear the guilty and will by no means condemn the innocent. There is a price to pay for sin.

If you read the Bible carefully, will you see if there is a price to pay for sin? The blood of Jesus can save you; it can indeed spare you from the penalty of death, but the problem is you can’t do this all the time, because there are sins that lead to death. So Leviticus Chapter 20 is about sins that lead to death.

Repentance, Turning to God

After listening to Leviticus Chapter 20, don't blame yourself, because blaming yourself is useless. It's best to repent thoroughly and get on the right path. It doesn't matter if you walk slowly; God won't blame you. But if you walk backwards, then there’s trouble! If you feel uncomfortable after listening to me, it's not just today that you feel uncomfortable, but you should have felt uncomfortable long ago. Today's discomfort is already belated discomfort.

So everyone should know that walking the Christian path requires caution. I divide the people in the world into two categories. You may say you know them, which are Christians and non-Christians. Actually, that's not how I divide them. I divide them into those who carefully observe and follow God's word and those who don't, or those who love God and those who don't. Everyone needs to start pondering: It's not important whether you are a Christian; what’s important is whether you carefully observe and follow God's word.

The song I just played was written by our music ministry, called Carefully Observe and Follow. Chinese Mingding Destiny speaks of carefully observing and following. It doesn't matter if you can't keep it, because there is God's power to help you keep it, but if you are unwilling to keep it, that’s a problem, and you will pay the price.

The Concept of Sanctification

We find that once Christians get sick, it's hard to cure them! I met a Christian who had believed in the Lord for 20 years and had a body full of illnesses. I was exhausted from praying for him, so exhausted that I had diarrhea. Why? Because Christians accumulate a lot of rubbish in their heads as they believe in the Lord, and it's too difficult to remove the filth in them! Reading Leviticus is very refreshing, and this chapter is called “Sanctification and Sins Leading to Death”.

Don't think that being sanctified and turning to God is as simple as using the blood of Jesus to cleanse your sins. Some people cleanse themselves like this, but they cleanse themselves to death. Why? Because there are sins that lead to death! The word “sanctification” is extremely widely misused in the Christian faith.

For example, there is a place called St. Paul's Cathedral. Why is it named this way? Because a man named Paul was canonized as a saint by the Roman Pope. We Chinese have Confucius, Mencius... many saints. But what does this “saint” actually mean? In the Christian faith, it means holiness unto the Lord. Since it is holiness unto the Lord, this matter is very serious. Because after we are holy unto the Lord, we commit sins that lead to death. Isn't this courting death?

Recently, I had a bold conjecture. What is it? Everyone can listen to it as a story, because I haven't seen it. It’s just my conjecture. After thinking about it, I am willing to share it with everyone. Don't blame me; don't argue with me. There is Goldbach's conjecture in the mathematical world. Today I’m also going to make my own conjecture. What is this conjecture? That Satan fell with the angels. Did this happen once or multiple times? I think it happened multiple times, more than once. Because once there is one, there is two, and once there is two, there is three. My idea is very simple.

We Chinese have a story called The Fairy Maiden Match. Have everyone heard of it? It tells the story of how the seven fairy maidens got bored of being immortals in heaven. They were overcome by lust and wanted to go down to earth to marry Brother Dong. Similarly, there is Zhu Yingtai who wants to marry Brother Liang. Isn't it very interesting! When we read Journey to the West, we will also see that Pigsy was originally Marshal Tianpeng in heaven, but as a result, he was overcome by lust and was beaten down. There was also the mount of the Supreme Lord Lao Tzu who privately descended to the earth to become a demon...

So, if we are sanctified in the future, is there a possibility of falling again? Even angels can fall, so after humans are sanctified like angels, do you think they will fall? If a person is sanctified and then falls one day, they will commit a sin that leads to death. If a person eats the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and also eats the fruit of the tree of life, they will never die and cannot be redeemed. Angels cannot be redeemed, but humans still have a chance to be redeemed.

Leviticus Chapter 20 talks about many things about holiness unto the Lord, as well as being put to death in this way or that way. For example, being stoned to death. All the ways of death are mentioned. After reading these, don't get confused. After reading the New Testament and the Old Testament, it feels like the God of the New Testament won the election, and the God of the Old Testament was voted out.

I am telling you, that's not the case. It’s not that the God of the Old Testament has changed. In fact, from ancient times to the present, our God has never changed. Don't think that what Leviticus says is useless; it is not. In fact, there are still sins that lead to death in the New Testament, and people must still be holy unto the Lord. What the Old Testament has, the New Testament also has. The key is in people's choices.

Whether you are a human or an angel, it is the same. Our God has never changed. We misunderstand the Old Testament and think that our God does not want to kill people. Actually, that's exactly what it is about. Our God has long determined that if you carefully observe and follow, you will surely obtain life, and if you do not carefully observe and follow, you will surely perish. So we need to start re-examining ourselves.

Thank God, in this Christian faith, I desperately read the Bible from the beginning of my belief, and I have read many copies until they were worn out. Why did I read so much? Because I really wanted to know what kind of people God likes and what kind of people God hates. I have a very clear understanding of what kind of people God likes! So, in the past few years, I have been very careful not to commit sins that lead to death.

We need to start pondering this matter: To do what is righteous in God's eyes and please God. Why did I summarise these rules on the path of being a Christian? Because when I read the Bible, I saw that Achan died, Korah died. This person died, that person died, and batches of people died. When these people died, I wasn't saying that God made a mistake; I thought we were the ones making mistakes. I said to God: Help me to be pleasing to you in the days that I live.

So later, I became a pastor and established a church. Thank God, God is really very pleased with me and has revealed many things to me so that I can understand His good will. Many Christians do not understand how wonderful it is to please God. They feel that it is too difficult to live without sinning! But I feel that if I don’t please God, how difficult it would be for me to live! If I please God, will there still be other problems in life? Other problems are minor problems.

To be sanctified and holy unto the Lord, we must know that there is such a thing as “sins that lead to death”. If we ascend to heaven in the future, some people will feel that the word ascending to heaven is not very good, as if it is going to kill people. Some people also preach the gospel of sending people to heaven. The problem is, do you think you are safe once you go to heaven? Didn't the angels fall in heaven?

So, to be holy unto the Lord, we still have to rely on our careful observance and following. If we are resurrected from the dead, ascend to heaven, and are with God in the future, and then fall again, we will still be finished. Don't think that “sanctification” is very safe. The angels thought it was very safe, but later they became demons. People thought it was very safe, but they also became demons.

Capital Offences: Idolatry

To carefully observe and follow, it is crucial to know which sins are capital offences. Which sins are capital offences? The first is idolatry, necromancy.

“Any Israelite or any foreigner residing in Israel who sacrifices any of his children to Molek must be put to death. The members of the community are to stone him. I myself will set my face against him and will cut him off from his people; for by sacrificing his children to Molek, he has defiled my sanctuary and profaned my holy name. (Leviticus 20:2-3)

This kind of idolatry and necromancy is not ordinary worship; it is offering one's own children as sacrifices to idols. This is very spiritual. What kind of person would be willing to offer their children to idols? Tell me, I don't understand these people? These people are possessed! We would say: This is a beast, a madman. Offering children to idols is no joke.

In a secondary school textbook, there is an article called Ximen Bao Governs Ye. The local people, because the river often flooded, would seize children and offer them to the river god. How abominable! People are so outrageously selfish that they don't even care about their own children: to preserve his throne, he offers his children; to preserve his business, he offers his children. Because he sees these things as more important than his children, this is utterly detestable.

Leviticus 19 talked about dealing with selfishness. When people become selfish to a certain extent, their children are not important to them. In the Old Testament, when the Israelites were fleeing for their lives, they ate each other’s children. Why? Because they were hungry, they killed each other's children for food. When people's lives are threatened, they can do anything, how abominable!

Especially the descendants of the royal family, the curse is very deep. Because they value the throne more than anything else, they kill many people to preserve it. Some people do not even pose a threat to his throne, but if he thinks they do, he would rather betray the world than let the world betray him. Even if you are my son, my brother, and want to seize my throne, I will kill you.

In God's eyes, how detestable it is for people to offer their children to the idols they worship for their own sake! Why would people do this? Because there are demons dwelling within them. Although the flesh is in the form of a human, who knows what dwells inside? I have a conjecture, a well-founded conjecture: many people, although alive in the flesh, have had someone else take their place inside.

In addition to their own spirit, other spirits dwell within them, and then these other spirits push their own spirit aside, saying: I will take charge of him! Thus, the person is replaced. It's like a car with a new driver; or like going to a restaurant and feeling that the taste of the dishes is different from the last time. Upon asking, you find out that the chef has been replaced. The restaurant is the same, the operators are the same, but the chef inside has changed. So it is the spirit that gives life.

Can you imagine parents selling their children, or brothers betraying each other? Just to live, they do such things. The ugliness of human nature exceeds our imagination. In the past, in those times when class struggle was paramount, people were in such an environment that they would do anything for their own sake. I heard when I was young that in our courtyard, someone denounced her husband, someone denounced his father, listing his father's crimes. People lost their humanity.

Later, these people were dragged out for criticism, had to draw a clear line, and even had to write materials confessing and betraying, all for the sake of staying alive. If Christians are so afraid of death, they are traitors to the Kingdom of God. It is the spirit that gives life. Once people are afraid of death, evil spirits will come in and threaten you, and you will do a series of outrageous things.

In her last years, my mother would suddenly change in her speech and behaviour. When I saw this was not my mother, I struck down the evil spirit. I said: Confess, who are you? And it would tell me who it was. When I rescued my mother, she said: Son, thank goodness you rescued me. She had been captured by Lao Ma and taken to a water prison in a cave, where it was very cold.

I thought, for that half a day, although my mother was alive, the flesh was my mother, but the spirit was not. The spirit had been captured by Lao Ma. I killed Lao Ma and rescued my mother. My mother cried, saying that if I had not rescued her, she would not have been able to return. Many people whose parents are paralyzed in bed, and suffer from illnesses, undergo a great change in temperament, and then abuse their children. Their own children take care of them, and they will find that their disposition has changed.

We thought it was the nature of the person that had changed, but in fact, the person inside had been replaced, replaced by a demon. It is not taking care of your own parents, it is taking care of a demon. There are also people who get malignant diseases. In the last few months of their lives, it is not your relatives at all; there are demons living inside, who do not even recognize their family, and do not recognize anything. We thought they were confused, but it was actually demons.

It is the spirit that gives life. What kind of person would do this, offer their children to Molek? Why must they be put to death? In fact, they are living with a demon inside. If people turn to mediums and spiritists, prostituting themselves to them, they must be cut off from their people. Being cut off from the people is not considered a capital offence, but they are not counted as Israelites, not God's people.

If you want to be God's people, on the one hand, you have the risk of being cut off and no longer being God's people; on the other hand, you have the risk of being put to death. So we must understand that many times, as we live, we become very unified with demons. When we are perfectly unified with demons, what we do is the same as what the demons do, and what the demons do is the same as what we do.

So, when interacting with people, you must have spiritual discernment. Some people look like a person on the surface, but you don't know when they will turn into a demon, so God wants to put them to death. Some people, after being put to death, must also be burned with fire.

When I was young, my siblings and I were quite filial. Occasionally, we would talk back to our parents a bit, because sometimes they would act foolishly, and we had to correct them! Things of the flesh attract demons, so we would turn them around. I saw that many of our neighbours' children abused the elderly, and sponged off them, snatching money from the elderly. Some elderly people were even afraid to tell their sons that they had some money, because if they told their sons, the money would be gone.

Capital Offences: Adultery and Unfaithfulness

When people become selfish to a certain extent, parents may not recognize their children, and children may not recognize their parents. How powerful evil spirits are, turning people so selfish. Cursing parents, this kind of unfilial behavior is very serious. Why would people do this? Because of selfishness. When parents are selfish to a certain extent, they offer their children to idols. When children are selfish to a certain extent, they may offer their parents to idols as well,搶奪resources from their parents!

So God puts them to death. Among these sins that are put to death, there is something closely related to adultery. If we look carefully at Leviticus 19 today, the first point is to deal with selfishness, the second point is to deal with adultery and unfaithfulness. Adultery and unfaithfulness are related to the sexual organs, related to one's spiritual adultery. Many of these are done by demons!

For example, some people cannot control their sexual desires. After they cannot control themselves, they feel that the neighbour's wife is particularly good. Isn't this devilish? They have to commit adultery with the neighbour's wife. How did they get their eyes on the neighbour's wife? The two of them start doing these adulterous things. This is a capital offence!

When I was young, interesting things often happened around my house. Now it has become even more serious than then. Adultery now is more advanced than it was then! When I was a child, I heard adults chatting idly about how someone in the factory swapped wives with someone else. You say the couple is willing to do this. What's the fun in that? They just think it's interesting. In fact, these are all evil spirits entering people, and people cannot control themselves and will do this!

Don't feel speechless. There is an elementary school principal in Hainan who specializes in raping and molesting elementary school students. It's horrible! Once, I went to a city, and a second or third grade student got meningitis. How did he get it? Because his classmate was raped, and then killed and thrown into a puddle that he had to pass on his way home from school. Later, the child's body was fished out of the puddle.

Every time he passed that place, he would tremble and be extremely afraid, and later he got meningitis. I went to that city, and someone invited me to minister, and I heard the story of this child. What kind of people can do these things? People who are controlled by demons! So everyone must know that adultery is closely related to demons!

There are also people who have to be with their stepmother. After his mother died, his father married another wife. You say, with whom can you not be with, but you have to have sex with your stepmother. It's very strange! Behind this are all evil spirits! This includes men having sex with men, who must be put to death. Isn't this great? But in the Bible, these are all spiritual things, behind them are all evil spirits!

Some people marry a wife, and then marry his mother-in-law as well. Both mother and daughter become his wives. What's going on! These three people must be burned with fire. Can you understand? These are all demons! In the world of demons, they all do this! There are also those who have sexual relations with animals. Some women keep a pet and have淫亂 relations with the pet. All kinds of things happen! Why are these things happening? Everyone must know that these things are closely related to the spiritual realm!

Since we are the people of Jehovah God, since we are set apart by Him, we must live a holy life and not yield to these things of the spiritual realm. Anything related to these things of the spiritual realm is basically to be put to death! We must understand, why do we get involved in these things? Because we see that people do this and it's okay. If people do this and it's okay, then you do this? Isn't this very strange?

So everyone must know that God has established a rule, this rule is established by God for His people, not for the people of the world. You must know that the Bible, such as Deuteronomy, is not written for the people of the world, but is written for God's chosen people! Do you agree with this statement? It is written by God for His people! If it is written for His people, I ask you, the people of the world do those things and it seems okay, but what will happen if we, the set-apart people of God, do these things? Doing these things will be troublesome, committing a capital offence!

God has told us early on that these are capital offences! Why? Once people fall into that, there is no possibility of turning back! If there is still a possibility of turning back, God will definitely save us, but at this point, there is basically no possibility of turning back! So it is written for God's people, so that when we see it, we don't say that doing these things is okay, but we know that it will be troublesome if we go and do it!

The other day I received a very interesting joke, told in a Shandong accent: Three people got drunk while drinking. One person said to another: If you run around naked and come back, I will give you five hundred yuan. As a result, that person took off his clothes and ran around and came back. Nothing happened. The police didn't catch him, so he got five hundred yuan. The second person saw that getting five hundred yuan was so easy! Then I will also run around, and you give me five hundred yuan.

As a result, the second person ran around and came back, and nothing happened. Then he gave him five hundred yuan. This person was so纠结 ! How did he lose one thousand yuan after drinking a little wine? As a result, those two people said, if you run around naked, we will each give you five hundred yuan, and this one thousand yuan will be back, how great!

In fact, what can this third person earn by running around naked! When he ran halfway, he was held down by the police. The police said: I didn't say anything about the first two rounds! Arrest him and detain him for seven days, and fine him two thousand! Alas, what an injustice! So don't think that if others run around and nothing happens, you can also go. If you run around, you will be caught by the police!

Carefully Observe and Follow God's Word

So we brothers and sisters must be careful! Don't get it wrong! It's not that if others run a red light and nothing happens, you also run a red light. As a result, a car is coming from the opposite side, and your little life is gone! So we must carefully observe and follow God's word! Because some are capital offences! Don't bullshit!

If you are a child of the eternal God, and you are still praying very piously: God, I want to rob a bank. You try it. After praying, you go, and you will be caught red-handed! God has already notified the police to wait for you there! The policeman slaps his head: It seems that someone will rob a bank in a while!

I tell you, Christians are like this. If you are a set-apart person, you try to do these things! It's okay not to pray, but after praying, it's sure to happen, specifically to be caught. Why? Because our God is a separate, holy God! So He told us early on that these are capital offences, these psychic things are closely related to the spiritual realm, and you will definitely be put to death! It won't get better!

King Saul went to a medium, and as a result, he lost his life on the battlefield! So we must know that it is the spirit that gives life. Living a holy life is not because of anything else, but because in the spiritual world, demons also know who we are, we ourselves also know, and God also knows.

If we are God’s people, and then we are not determined to live a holy life, not determined to see through everything in the world, and do not know that it is the spirit that gives life, but instead obey the lies of the devil, I tell you, even if you become an angel, you will be finished, let alone you are just a person! Do you think that if you put two wings on your back, it will be okay to sin? Like that song: If you flee to the ends of the earth, God's hand is also there. So I tell you, carefully observing and following is a lesson that we Christians must learn throughout our lives!

Summary: Deal with Selfishness, Become a Giving Person

Today, let us begin to determine to set ourselves apart to Jehovah God! Because our God is a holy God, so we must be different from the nations of the earth. So that we can be God's people, and God can be our God. Whether male or female, as long as you obey the demons in the spiritual realm, I tell you, you have basically committed a deadly sin! You are basically about to be finished!

I think why people go to worship idols? To get benefits for themselves. To put it bluntly, it is still selfishness! If we connect it with Leviticus 19, the first is to deal with selfishness, the second is to deal with adultery and unfaithfulness, and the third is to deal with a poor mentality. If people deal with these three, why go looking for demons? Why do we offer our children to Molek?

If we don't have these murky things inside, these selfishness, adultery, and poverty, if we don't have these things, if we know that we are God's people, and we have extremely abundant grace and extremely abundant glory in the Kingdom of God, do we still need to go looking for Molek? If we have a giving mentality, a faithful mentality, and a wealthy mentality, why do we go looking for demons?

Basically, looking for demons is all for getting benefits for oneself! So in the end, we have to deal with the very fundamental issues! If we deal with selfishness, and continue to deal with it, won't we be set apart? If we constantly deal with adultery, and then become a faithful people, how can we walk into a capital offence? If we deal with a poor mentality, and then have a wealthy mentality, why do we have to walk into this capital offence?

Why do we obey these customs of this world? We are originally different from the nations! We should live in God's logical system. If a person lives in this world, living in God's logical system, life and death have no meaning for us. We only have one thing, which is to live by God's Spirit!