Exegesis:

Introduction

Good day to everyone. Let's delve into Leviticus, Chapter 26. This is the second last chapter of Leviticus, and before we know it, we are about to complete our exegesis of Leviticus. Actually, I have been hesitant to embark on Leviticus, until one day I felt I could no longer avoid it and began to study it. During my prayers, I had a strong conviction: many would be liberated through reading Leviticus. Indeed, we have ascended to a new level in healing and deliverance, closely tied to God's requirements for priests and the people in Leviticus.

The Development of Matters Is Solely Related to God's Will

Though Leviticus is a book of law, it speaks of faith. Many read law into Leviticus, failing to discern God's love. When we see God making this or that demand, the common reaction is: Oh, how troublesome! But, in fact, facing disasters is even more troublesome!

Take the current pandemic, some places are seeing a surge while others are declining. People are truly helpless. Therefore, we discover that in man's struggle against nature, against destiny, we can only reveal how insignificant we are! We always think that only by doing something right can we earn money. Only by doing something right will the pandemic subside, the economy recover, and life improve. But more often than not, we see that the situation is not like that.

Two people in the same situation, with the same background, with the same effort, one succeeds, while the other performs poorly. It appears baffling. So, you don't have to be so concerned about whether you are doing right or wrong, these are of little consequence. The development of matters is solely related to God.

How You Know God Determines How You Receive Him

Leviticus 26 is almost identical to Deuteronomy 28. So, what is the theme of Leviticus 26? The theme is: God will remember the covenant He made with us. I find the word remember very comforting. God will remember the covenant He made with us! What comfort that brings us!

When we read the Bible, we must read it with this understanding. If what you read makes God seem harsh, causing your eyes to fail, your strength to be spent, and bringing fever and disease, then you sow your seed in vain, your enemies devour your produce, and you are defeated before them… If that's your experience, then that's what you'll get. It's a tragedy if we can't discern how much God loves us! How you know God determines how you receive Him.

If you think God is stingy, then what you receive will be similar to what you know. If you think God reaps where He has not sown and gathers where He has not scattered, you will find that God is indeed like that. But if you believe that God is full of love and will not break His covenant, you will find that God is truly loving. If you believe that God is a healing God, you will discover that God is indeed a healing God. If you don't believe that God is a healing God, but a God who lets you die to go to heaven, then you really won't receive healing while you are alive…

So, do not perceive God through our own narrow perspectives and limited ideas. We must know God according to the revelation He gives us in the Bible.

How many of us today believe that keeping and obeying God's word will bring blessings? Not many. If many people believed that keeping and obeying God's word would bring blessings, then they would wake up when they compare it with their own results. For example, if your business never takes off, even if you have a good plan and everything seems right, but someone else takes over in the end. Or perhaps you succeeded, but someone else reaps the benefits, and you just played a supporting role. Shouldn't you reflect on that? Keeping and obeying has its consequences, and not keeping and obeying has its consequences.

Leviticus 25 talks a lot about rest. God does not want us to be so busy that we forget that we have a God who made a covenant with us, so busy that we think our work is the most effective thing, rather than God's blessing. What happens as a result? We experience it again and again, and we are still repeating the past. Isn't that a tragedy? So, stop being so busy! Rest.

In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and trust shall be your strength (Isaiah 30:15).

You can be quiet and carefully ponder and reflect on the wrong paths you have taken in the past. How did you end up under these curses? Why are you so unlucky, so jinxed, and the more you do, the worse it gets?

God Remembers the Covenant He Made With Us, Not Because of Human Righteousness

I lament that people do not know God! So, this Sunday, I want to talk to you about People Establishing Their Own Righteousness. Do you know what it means for people to establish their own righteousness? It means people rely on what they do. Whether I do right or wrong, do well or badly… the reason is all because of what I did. But actually, it has little to do with what you do.

Last week, in my ministry, I experienced shock after shock. What shocked me was that some of our sisters were being oppressed, and after being oppressed, they went crazy, in a frightening way, not eating or sleeping, just sitting there. I thought our God is a God who makes covenants with us, and God will remember the covenant He made with us. So, after we ministered to her, God set her free, praise God!

God will not despise us, abandon us, reject us, or destroy us just because we went a little crazy. No, whenever we turn back, God turns to us. Our God will never break the covenant He made with us! Thank God! Because God is a God who remembers the covenant He made with us, those who trust in Him will never be put to shame.

No matter when, no matter whether you are worthy or unworthy, it is because God is a God who does not break the covenant He made with us, so it’s never too late to turn back. It's not about what you do, but about your heart turning back! Do not think that if you go crazy, it's over, and even if you turn back to God, God will not turn back to you. That would be even worse.

God is a God who remembers the covenant He made with us, but He remembers it in a unique way. This is how He remembers it:

If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. Your threshing shall last to the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last to the time for sowing. And you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely.

I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none will make you afraid. And I will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land. You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.

I will turn to you and will make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you. You shall eat old store and clear out the old to make way for the new. I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people.

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect (Leviticus 26:3-13).

What wonderful promises! Do you live by God's promises or by your own efforts? If you live by your own efforts, you will find that effort doesn't work. Why? Because God does not want us to be slaves to effort. God wants us to keep the Sabbath (Sabbath years, Sabbath days, etc., are all Sabbath). God does not want us to live in toil, does not like us to live under a curse. God wants us to do things with rhythm, to rest when we should rest, to have Sabbath when we should have Sabbath, to work when we should work, and to enjoy when we should enjoy.

In fact, if a person keeps and obeys God's word, what a blessed life it is! Why don't people like to live a life of rest? It's strange; people just like to toil. Why is that? I have been exploring this answer.

What God Promises Will Surely Come to Pass

People have a great delusion: I must have money to live well. But look closely at what happens when people pursue money. Not just in business, but even pastors, what happens if they love money? They can only see the offerings of the congregation. To get offerings, you need people. They only care about getting people in, because keeping and obeying God's word can't be used as money, right?

Once people love money, whether they are in business or anything else, it's troublesome! Take the high priest who crucified Jesus, for example. He was very shrewd in his calculations! Why? Because everyone had to come to the temple to offer sacrifices, so this was a great place to do business. As a result, he divided the temple into stalls.

If I were a money-loving person and the head of the temple, I would want to be a rental-collecting high priest, not a sacrificing high priest. Isn't that what we think now? Holding a large string of keys, owning a hundred houses, being a rent collector, earning a lot of money every month—everyone envies that kind of life. The high priest had a good plan! But it caused trouble and offended God.

In fact, people either love God or love money. You must know that few of the things money promises can be fulfilled, but few of the things God promises cannot be fulfilled. Look closely; we have all kinds of people in our families. Relatives, friends, people who worship idols in business—what are they after? They are not after world peace, nor are they after a good life for the people. They are only after their own interests.

Many things people do in pursuit of money are quite abominable. Recently, there's a new term in the international market: cutting leeks. For example, the Occupy Wall Street movement—we don't really understand these things. But one thing I am clear about: Wall Street is a place to collect money. Everyone can understand that.

I went to Hong Kong and didn't have a very good impression. I think Singapore is better than Hong Kong, which might offend some people. But 95% of the people in Singapore own their own homes. Why can Singapore achieve this? Because the Singaporean government is a large government that manages many things. The government has money, and the capitalists don't. Hong Kong is the opposite; the government has no money, and the capitalists do.

Capitalists don't care about the lives of the people, so the people of Hong Kong live a very hard life. You have to think about this. I went to a local church in Hong Kong, and all their full-time staff were renting houses; they couldn't afford to buy them. Capitalists' goal is just to make money. People who love money won't care about the lives of the people, only occasionally doing some charity to ease their conscience. People who love money are scary! So be careful when making friends. People who love money won't say they love money.

Someone and his friend came to me. He said, If I had money, I would do charity. I said, Forget it. Quickly pay back the money you owe people. He borrowed hundreds of thousands of dollars from someone, and the person said, I don't want it back. He said, What? Do you think I won't pay it back?! The person could only reply, If you want to pay it back, then pay it back. He then said, You don't need the money anyway, so why should I pay it back? This person was completely unreasonable and even claimed he wanted to do charity! It amazed me.

Those Who Love God Will Live Out the Glorious Image of God

You shall not make idols for yourselves or erect an image or pillar, and you shall not set up a carved stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the Lord your God. You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.

If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. Your threshing shall last to the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last to the time for sowing; and you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely.

I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none will make you afraid. And I will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land. You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand; and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will turn to you and will make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you.

You shall eat old store and clear out the old to make way for the new. I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect (Leviticus 26:3-13).

What good promises! God sends rain in its season. But people still don't keep the Sabbath, and they don't want to keep the Sabbath. And they worship idols, all for money. The Israelites saw their neighbour, Old Wang (the local aboriginal), doing well in business by worshipping idols, and they envied him: How do you earn so much money? Old Wang said, I earn so much money because I worship my idols. Money is the reason why many people worship idols.

Do you think people worship idols for world peace, or to make the lives of the people comfortable and prosperous? No. Does anyone bow their head again and again and say, May there be world peace, and may the people live a good life...? No! It's all for money. There are even more outrageous things. The day before robbing a bank, they pray: Protect me as I rob the bank. People who rob banks do that too. Or take gangsters, for example. They pray and say, Protect me this time as I do this and that... and then they go and do bad things. Even drug dealers pray, also for money.

So, those who love money cannot love God, and those who love God should not love money. I lament why people worship idols. You can think about it. What I say may not be right, but think about it carefully. People who worship idols are all seeking wealth! We Chinese invented the God of Wealth. What a delusion! People think that with money they can live well, but they end up not living well.

When people pursue certain things, they forget that the key to living well is to have God's blessing! If a person is a money-loving person at heart, it is very difficult for them to serve God. They will do business at the first opportunity. It is so difficult to get them to serve God properly. I lament: Go ahead, keep doing it. After you're done, go back to the starting point and talk again. So, such good blessings are in Leviticus 26:3-13. Let me read it again:

If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase (Leviticus 26:3-4).

It's the same for us who are in business; the business will surely have good results.

Your threshing shall last to the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last to the time for sowing; and you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely (Leviticus 26:5).

That is, we will always have harvests and rarely run out. Today, some of our brothers and sisters who are in sales have a constant stream of orders. Where do these orders come from? They are all God's blessings.

I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none will make you afraid. And I will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land. You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand; and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword (Leviticus 26:6-8).

How well said! In the market, five people can beat a hundred—do you believe it? If you have a hundred people, you can beat ten thousand—do you believe it? The problem is people don't believe it.

I will turn to you and will make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you. You shall eat old store and clear out the old to make way for the new. I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect (Leviticus 26:8-13).

What a glorious life! Those who love God will surely prosper, but can a money-loving pastor see this? If you see a pastor who lives a barren and withered life, then basically he does not love God at heart. I say this somewhat absolutely, but can you read in the Bible that if you carefully keep and obey my words, your life will be withered? There's no such thing!

Everything we need in life can be satisfied in Jesus Christ, so we can stand up straight and live with great dignity, like great princes. Don't live like hicks. In the market, don't say that five people can beat a hundred; rather your hundred people can't beat their five people. Everyone sees you as a pile of dog shit, and what you do is not as good as those who worship idols. You treat Jesus Christ as Jesus the Bodhisattva, Jesus the scribe, Jesus the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, Jesus the Medicine Buddha, and you think that's great.

We must not forget that the reason we are blessed for keeping and obeying the covenant is that our God remembers the covenant He made with us. This is how He remembers it. God will never forget to send rain on the earth in its season, never forget to give you some sales orders, never forget to have a tenant come and rent your house when you rent it out. If you can understand this, you will not rely on your own efforts.

Today I tell you, you can beat me to death, and I will never rely on myself again. I will never establish my own righteousness, because it cannot be established. I only pursue God's righteousness. God is a God who makes covenants with us, and God will remember the covenant He made with us. Although we are faithless, our God will never forsake us, never reject the covenant He made with us. Whenever we turn back to Him, He will turn back to us.

Some time ago, the sister I was ministering to turned back, but she was still worried in her heart: I want to turn back, but what if God rejects me? Don't worry; our God will never reject us. Our God will never forget the covenant He made with us. Even if we forget, it doesn't matter a hundred times, a thousand times, ten thousand times, countless times. Our God still loves us.

Sometimes, when I mention that God loves us, my heartstrings are touched, and my eyes get wet. What love that is! Whenever we turn back to God, God will turn back to us. What is this! Can such a good thing be found in heaven or on earth?

So, no matter how evil, how self-righteous, or how discerning of good and evil the people I minister to are, I will constantly proclaim that our God is a God who loves us, a good God, a God who prospers us, carrying the covenant God made with us. So, hold tight to God! Some people will say, No, God is also a God who sends disaster! Doesn't God send disaster to make us turn back?

But if you will not listen टू me and will not do all these commandments, if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my rules, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant, then I will do this टू you: I will visit you with panic, with wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and cause life टू pine away. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. I will set my face against you, and you shall be struck down before your enemies. Those who hate you shall rule ओवर you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you. And if in spite of this you will not listen टू me, then I will discipline you again sevenfold for your sins (Leviticus 26:14-18).

If you can read God's love from this passage, you will not despise our God. If you read only punishment, you do not know how wide, long, high, and deep God's love is. Why does God do this, letting us experience these things? Can't God be like Santa Claus, accepting our forsaking His statutes, abhorring His rules, and not keeping His commandments? God, why are you so stingy, insisting on sending us these curses?

Because our God really wants us to experience the blessings described in Leviticus 26:3-13 or Deuteronomy 28:1-14, so that because of these things, we will quickly come back to listen to God's word. Aren't there many among us who suffer from wasting diseases? Whose eyes fail? Who sow their seed in vain, and the final fruit is all reaped by others? Aren't we busy and eventually cut leeks by others? Aren't we competing with our peers, whether in the workplace or in the marketplace, and often beaten to a pulp? Don't we need to reflect?

People Need to Learn to Reflect and Repent

Some time ago, a sister from Europe got COVID-19. As we ministered to her, we realised that on the surface she seemed to love God very much, but in her heart there were still many things that needed to be rejected. If a person gets a fever, shouldn't they adjust? Shouldn't they reflect on themselves? If these things happen and still don't make people learn to reflect, God will discipline you again sevenfold for your sins.

The problem is that people experience these panic, failing eyes, wasted strength, sowing in vain and being reaped by others, being defeated before their enemies, fleeing when no one pursues them, and yet they still don't care. What's going on? Do they feel they haven't lived miserably enough?

It doesn't matter; you can keep doing what you're doing. You can keep examining your projects until they are flawless, but if you do not carefully keep and obey God's statutes, rules, and commandments, even if your examination is flawless, if they are doing Alibaba and you are doing Ali-Mom, wouldn't that be miserable? Remember, our God is the God who gives us victory. Don't refuse to listen, insisting that the last time you failed in your investment, it was because of this and that reason. You didn't do it right. This time you will learn your lesson and keep going. This will only increase your sin and bring sevenfold disaster upon you.

And I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. And your strength shall be spent in vain, for your land shall not yield its increase, and the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit (Leviticus 26:19-20).

I have an angel investor, this and that… It doesn't matter; God will surely break the pride of your power. If you are a cursed person, no matter what you do, your heavens will be like iron and your earth like bronze, and your strength will be spent in vain. Because your land will not yield its increase, and the trees of the land will not yield their fruit. If you encounter these things and still continue to run your own path, still choose to rely on your own efforts and not trust in God, things will only get worse.

Someone asked me, If I don't rely on my own efforts, what will I live on? Trust in God! Are you saying that if I trust in God, I won't work hard? No, if you trust in God and then work hard, it's still okay. God didn't say to rest on Saturday and Sunday. God didn't tell you to rest in the first year and the seventh year. God told you to work in the first year through the sixth year and rest in the seventh year.

If what you do is not blessed, what are you busy with? Busy losing money? If you are a cursed person, not carefully keeping and obeying God's statutes and rules, not understanding God's will, not knowing God, not knowing that the God we believe in is a God who remembers the covenant He made with us. What are you busy with? God will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze.

Although you see an opportunity right in front of your eyes, it is a snare. If you encounter these things and still don't reflect, what I most often say is that if you have lived for 30 years, 40 years, 50 years, I will have you reflect on what you have done in the past 30 years, 40 years, 50 years, but not many people reflect properly. They even reflect and come up with many successful cases of their own. Then you should have results today, but even if you succeed, it's useless. He will bring increasing sevenfold plagues to you.

Then if you walk contrary टू me and will not listen टू me, I will continue striking you sevenfold for your sins. And I will let loose the wild beasts against you, which shall rob you of your children and destroy your livestock and make you few in number, so that your roads shall be deserted.