03 A Holy People Series

Open your Bible to the Book of Leviticus and find chapter 11. I want us to read a few selected verses together that will lay the foundation for our focus today. Follow along with me, beginning in chapter 11, verse 43:

Leviticus 11:43-44a – “Do not render yourselves detestable through any of the swarming things that swarm; and you shall not make yourselves unclean with them so that you become unclean. For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy …

Now turn to chapter 13 and look at verses 45 and 46:

Leviticus 13:45-46 – “As for the leper who has the infection, his clothes shall be torn, and the hair of his head shall be uncovered, and he shall cover his mustache and cry, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ He shall remain unclean all the days during which he has the infection; he is unclean. He shall live alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.”

And finally, look at chapter 15, verse 31:

Leviticus 15:31 – “Thus you shall keep the sons of Israel separated from their uncleanness, so that they will not die in their uncleanness by their defiling My tabernacle that is among them.”

[Prayer]

If you’re a parent or a grandparent, you know there’s something about kids, dirt, mud, and mud puddles that just seems inevitable. You turn your back for one second, and somehow they’re coated from head to toe! My kids loved playing in the mud, digging in the dirt, and splashing in the perfect mud puddle [Show photo]. And obviously, from this picture, Jotham still does. And they didn’t just get a little dirty—they got downright filthy! Mud smeared on their faces, dripping from their hair, caked on their clothes—dirt in every nook and cranny.

At that moment, they didn’t care one bit how they looked or smelled. They were having the time of their lives. But you take one look at them and think, “There’s no way I’m letting you anywhere near the house like that!” They’re practically untouchable until they’ve been thoroughly hosed down and cleaned up.

We’ve all seen that play out in other ways too, haven’t we? Maybe it wasn’t mud, but some social stigma—like the infamous “cheese touch” from Diary of a Wimpy Kid [show video]. “It’s worse than nuclear cooties”!!

[Here's a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73DxZPhVOYc ]

We might laugh at that clip, but the truth is, we often do something similar maybe even without even realizing it. Maybe it’s not as silly as a piece of moldy cheese, but we still mark people as “untouchable”—sometimes because of their past mistakes, sometimes because they just don’t fit our idea of what’s acceptable.

We distance ourselves from people who don’t measure up to our standards, whether it’s because of lifestyle choices, social standing, or something else entirely. It’s easy to look at someone whose life choices have left them in a mess and think, “They brought this on themselves.” Or to see someone whose past mistakes are still visible to everyone around them and quietly decide, “That’s not someone I want to get too close to.”

But now imagine that same sense of being untouchable magnified to a whole new level—where it’s not just dirt or a social label, but a spiritual reality that declares you unclean.

In the book of Leviticus, God instituted a whole system that distinguished between clean and unclean, pure and impure. These laws were more than just rules for healthy living; they were about how to live in relationship with a holy God. Being declared unclean meant being cut off from worship, community, and ultimately, from the presence of God Himself.

But as we’ll see today, these laws weren’t just about outward cleanliness. They pointed to a deeper truth about the human heart and our need for inward purity. Because no matter how hard we try to clean ourselves up on the outside, we still can’t deal with the deeper problem on the inside. And that brings us to the core truth for today: Only Jesus can make us truly clean, freeing us to live in holiness.

So, where does that leave us? If outward purity can’t address the deeper issue, then what’s the real problem? That’s exactly what the law in Leviticus sets out to show us. It exposes the problem of impurity—not just on the surface, but at the core of who we are.

I. The Problem of Impurity (Leviticus 11-15)

Leviticus chapters 11 through 15 meticulously address ceremonial impurity—everything from unclean animals to skin diseases and bodily discharges. And honestly, if you read through these chapters, it feels overwhelming—like an exhaustive and exhausting list of everything that could make someone unclean and then what to do about it. On the surface, it seems excessive and even very strange at some points. Why would God be so meticulous about something as seemingly minor as touching a dead animal or dealing with a skin infection?