Clean Your House

If These Walls Could Talk”

“If the walls of your home could talk, what would they say? Would they tell stories of prayer and worship — or arguments, bitterness, and compromise? Would they echo the laughter of a godly home, or the noise of things that don’t belong in a believer’s life?

In Leviticus 14, God told His people that even their houses could become unclean — that sometimes something starts growing in the walls that doesn’t belong there. And when that happens, He didn’t tell them to ignore it. He said, ‘Call the priest. Empty the house. Remove what’s unclean. Clean it until it’s pure again.’

Now, that may sound like ancient ritual, but the truth is timeless — because some of us have things growing in the walls of our hearts, our homes, and our habits. We’ve learned to live with it, to paint over it, to pretend it’s fine. But God says, ‘Clean your house.’

Let’s start today by looking at how He told Israel to clean theirs — the light cleaning — before we move to the heavy cleaning in our own lives.”

Leviticus 14:33–57 ESV

33 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 34 “When you come into the land of Canaan, which I give you for a possession, and I put a case of leprous disease in a house in the land of your possession,

At first glance, it seems odd that God Himself would “put” the disease there. But the Hebrew construction points not to God causing the evil, but allowing it for a purpose. God sometimes permitted physical signs to reveal hidden corruption so that it could be cleansed before it spread.

Just as He allowed afflictions to expose the heart (think of Pharaoh’s hardened heart, Job’s testing, or Paul’s thorn), this mildew was a visible warning of an invisible problem — a mercy, not a punishment.

So now we know God’s purpose, lets look at His plan..

Leviticus 14:33–57 ESV

35 then he who owns the house shall come and tell the priest, ‘There seems to me to be some case of disease in my house.’ 36 Then the priest shall command that they empty the house before the priest goes to examine the disease, lest all that is in the house be declared unclean. And afterward the priest shall go in to see the house. 37 And he shall examine the disease. And if the disease is in the walls of the house with greenish or reddish spots, and if it appears to be deeper than the surface, 38 then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house and shut up the house seven days. 39 And the priest shall come again on the seventh day, and look. If the disease has spread in the walls of the house, 40 then the priest shall command that they take out the stones in which is the disease and throw them into an unclean place outside the city. 41 And he shall have the inside of the house scraped all around, and the plaster that they scrape off they shall pour out in an unclean place outside the city. 42 Then they shall take other stones and put them in the place of those stones, and he shall take other plaster and plaster the house. 43 “If the disease breaks out again in the house, after he has taken out the stones and scraped the house and plastered it, 44 then the priest shall go and look. And if the disease has spread in the house, it is a persistent leprous disease in the house; it is unclean. 45 And he shall break down the house, its stones and timber and all the plaster of the house, and he shall carry them out of the city to an unclean place. 46 Moreover, whoever enters the house while it is shut up shall be unclean until the evening, 47 and whoever sleeps in the house shall wash his clothes, and whoever eats in the house shall wash his clothes. 48 “But if the priest comes and looks, and if the disease has not spread in the house after the house was plastered, then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, for the disease is healed. 49 And for the cleansing of the house he shall take two small birds, with cedarwood and scarlet yarn and hyssop, 50 and shall kill one of the birds in an earthenware vessel over fresh water 51 and shall take the cedarwood and the hyssop and the scarlet yarn, along with the live bird, and dip them in the blood of the bird that was killed and in the fresh water and sprinkle the house seven times. 52 Thus he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird and with the fresh water and with the live bird and with the cedarwood and hyssop and scarlet yarn. 53 And he shall let the live bird go out of the city into the open country. So he shall make atonement for the house, and it shall be clean.” 54 This is the law for any case of leprous disease: for an itch, 55 for leprous disease in a garment or in a house, 56 and for a swelling or an eruption or a spot, 57 to show when it is unclean and when it is clean. This is the law for leprous disease.

So let’s begin where God began — with the literal house. Before we talk about our hearts, our homes, and our habits, we need to see what God was teaching Israel through their physical homes. Because the problem in Leviticus 14 wasn’t out in the streets, it wasn’t in the marketplace — it was inside the house. The mold was spreading within the walls. And just like then, the problem today is still in the house.”

“CLEAN YOUR HOUSE” there is two main points in today’s message

“The Lite Cleaning”- cleaning our homes

2. “The Heavy Cleaning”-cleaning our lives

1. THE LITE CLEANING

A. The problem in this text is where?

In the house.

God told Moses and the people of Israel, that He was going to give them the land of Canaan, the promise land as their possession. And He told them that they would settle there, and that they would no longer live in tents, but that they would live in houses.

God was sending His chosen people into the land of Canaan. The Canaanites were pagan worshippers, their homes were filled with idols.

God’s chosen people are to be different!

Then God talks about their houses developing a problem (mold)

The Israelites knew they had a problem if they saw mold

2. The treatment to restore the house the treatment of the problem consisted of essentially four steps.

Confess his problem

Remove the problem

remove from the house anything that would encourage the growth of this spreading mildew.

What is in your house that needs to be removed?

How about social media, movies and TV shows, what about music that promote sexual sin, shallow relationships, those that mock God, normalize gossip, pursue discontent, lawlessness, violence, glorify lust?

So he had to confess the problem AND he had to remove the contaminated items from the house.

The third thing –Repair and replacement.

If the priest found that the Mildew had spread on the walls after his inspection. He ordered that the contaminated stones be tore down and taken to a spot outside of town. Then, he ordered the walls of the house to be scraped clean and the scrapings were to be taken outside of town. After this was done, new stones were to be put in place and the walls of the house needed to have new clay and plaster put on them.

The final step-- Be purified.

This is the same treatment that is mentioned earlier in chapter 14, for the purifying of a Leper. It is interesting to note here that the Hebrew word translated purify, literally means "to purify from sin".

In the eyes and mind of God, Uncleanness was equivalent to sin, and whoever was unclean was contaminated, and was thereby prevented from attaining fellowship with God. The Purification was accomplished by a ceremony performed by the priests.

It consisted of taking 2 birds. The first bird was killed over a pot of fresh water, allowing the blood to drip into the pot. Then the live bird, along with some cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet yarn was immersed into the blood and water. And "Then the live bird s released in the open fields outside the town. In this way the manmade atonement for the house and it would now be clean.

That was the light

II. NOW LET’S TALK ABOUT THE HEAVY

In the Bible many times the word "house" is used to describe things other than a mere physical house.

The word house is sometimes used to describe a nation; "The House of Israel"(I Sam.7:3) or the "The House of Judah"(Ezk4:6).

The word house is at times also used to describe a family; We read of "the house of Cornelius" (Acts 10:2) and of Noah saving "his house" (Hebrews 11:7)

The church is also at times referred to as a house. In I Timothy 3:14, 15, we read that the church is the household of the living God.

And in Hebrews chapter 10, the Hebrew writer writes that Christ is our Great High Priest, and that He is over the "house of God".

In I Peter chapter 2, the term house is used to describe Christians. "As you come to Him the living stone-rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him-you also, like living stones, are being built into a SPIRITUAL HOUSE to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."

The rule of the "Light and the Heavy", teaches us this extremely important and essential truth.

Hear me, If God in His Word tells us, and He does in Leviticus 14, that He is concerned with the cleanliness and purity of a mere Physical house, made of walls, plaster and clay, (the lighter)

How much more, is God concerned, about, the Heavier situations?

How much more, is God concerned, with cleanliness and purity, In the Nation in the Family in the Church And in the Lives of individual Christians?

Friends there are serious and destructive problems in the house.

The house is unclean, and within the house is a destructive contamination, that is spreading throughout the house.

The walls are becoming moldy, the stones are corroding, and the plaster is falling off the walls. And if left untreated the walls will come crashing down.

And it doesn’t really matter which house we are referring to, our: Nation, Families, Churches or ourselves, because the problem is present in each of them, and God is concerned, and we better be concerned.

Let’s talk about the treatment a. The first thing we need to do is confess our problem to our house doctor,

b. The 2nd thing we need to do is remove some things from our house. There are 2 types of things we need to remove.

1) Things that promote the spread of uncleanliness/sin.

These are the things in our life that sin feeds on. Open the front door to your spiritual house and walk around, and if you see; bitterness, envy, jealousy, un-forgiveness, greed, selfishness, anger, hatred, sexual immorality. If you see any of these there walk over to them and pick them up (be sure to bend your knees because they are heavy) and throw them outside.

2) While you’re in your house walking around there is something else you need to throw outside?

These are things that get in the way and prevent you from seeing and dealing with you sin problem

They are not too hard to find they are about the biggest item in our house, do you see them over there, and that is:

PRIDE AND SELF RIGHTEOUSNESS. AND WRITTEN ON TOP OF THEM IS THE FOLLOWING,

"the problem is not with me, it’s with everyone else, I’m really something special, and my feelings are the only one that counts."

Friends let’s throw those items outside, now they are extremely heavy, and like many of the other items remember bend your knees and you may need some help carrying it out. Jesus is always ready to give you a hand. You can also ask a brother.

c. Third we need after we have removed this items we need to replace them with other things.

Paul has a great suggestion in Gal. Ch. 5, let’s furnish our house with: love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

d. And lastly we need to be purified from our sin. The Apostle John teaches us that if we confess our sins (say the same thing) That God is faithful and just, and will purify us from all sin and unrighteousness, through the blood of Jesus Christ. Closing Statement

“So here’s the question — if Jesus walked through your house today, what would He find? Would He find a home that’s pure, peaceful, and filled with His presence… or would He find things growing in the walls that don’t belong there?

Leviticus 14 reminds us that when God points out the mildew, He’s not trying to embarrass you — He’s trying to save you. He’s showing you what needs to go so He can fill your house with His glory again.

Some of us have rooms we keep locked — places in our hearts, our habits, or our homes that we don’t want God to see. But friend, He already sees it. And the same God who said, ‘This house can be made clean,’ is here to cleanse you through the blood of Jesus Christ.

So before you leave today, make this decision: ‘As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.’ Not just with words, but with a clean heart, a clean home, and a life that brings joy to the Father.

Because Jesus, our Great High Priest, is coming again — and when He does, may He find our houses clean.”

Father, we come before You humbled.

We see the condition of our homes, our families, and our nation — and, Lord, it breaks our hearts because we know it breaks Yours.

You’ve blessed us with so much, and yet we’ve let unclean things grow in the walls.

We’ve entertained what grieves You, we’ve ignored what convicts us, and we’ve tried to cover the mold instead of confessing it.

But today, Lord, we open the doors wide.

We invite You — our Great High Priest — to walk through every room of our hearts.

If there’s bitterness, pride, lust, or anything that defiles, tear it out and cast it away.

Wash us clean in the blood of Jesus.

Purify our homes. Restore our marriages. Heal our children.

Let Your presence be what fills our house again.

And Lord, start something here today — a cleansing that spreads from this church, to our neighborhoods, to this nation.

May we be a people who live holy because You are holy.

As for me and my house, Lord, we will serve You.

In the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and our cleanser, we pray.

Amen.”