From Wasteland to Beauty, the Restoration is Coming

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When you hear the word “wasteland,” what picture comes to your mind?

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Sermon Intro

Today I want to invite you to think about a single word that’s been heavy on my heart all week: wasteland.

I’ve seen it in my Bible readings, I’ve heard it in the music I’ve been listening to, and honestly, I’ve felt it when looking at the world around us. A wasteland is a place of brokenness, barrenness, and despair — and maybe you’ve felt that too.

But the good news is this: the wasteland isn’t the end of the story. God specializes in turning wastelands into gardens, deserts into streams, and even the most hopeless places into something beautiful.

Today, we’re going to talk about what it means to live in the wasteland — and the hope we have that God will bring restoration.

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Opening Prayer

Opening Song

Kids Time

Oliver, Charlotte, and Elliot.

Hey kids!

Has someone done anything to you that you wanted to get them back for it?

You may have heard the saying, “an eye for an eye.”

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you… we lead with good, not payback.

Do not be overcome with evil but overcome evil with good.

Sermon

From Wasteland to Beauty – God’s Power to Restore

Why are we shocked by the dark of this age? Hearts made for beauty are poisoned with rage.

Have you felt rage this week?

Introduction: Naming the Wasteland

This past week, I’ve had the word wasteland heavy on my heart. Maybe it started while listening to the latest album from one of my favorite bands, Wolves at the Gate. Their latest record, called “Wasteland,” is a concept album. Its narrative follows a character in a dystopian wasteland, who is searching for something (or Someone) no matter the cost. The wasteland is both physical and metaphorical — a place of brokenness, sin, despair, and the recurring pull toward self-destruction. But it’s not a hopeless album: there is the hope of redemption, forgiveness, grace, and an ultimate way out.

One lyric from the song Parasite speaks of “A poisoned seed that twists the heart against our God.” That line struck me because it names what sin really does — it corrupts, it consumes, it leaves us barren like a desert. Another song, Law of the Wasteland, talks about how living by vengeance or human law only deepens the ruin. It’s filled with lyrics like, “kill or be killed, eye for an eye, we play judge, jury, and executioner.” And then in Memento Mori, (Latin for “remember you must die”), we are invited into reflection, humility, and dependence on God’s mercy. One lyric says: “You could never go too far away from the hands that hold our sorrows.” Suggesting even in our worst, God holds us. Even in the wasteland, there’s hope of rescue.

And then, in our Bible readings this week from the Bible in a Year reading plan, I couldn’t miss it — the same imagery was all over the pages. Psalm 107 says, “He turns rivers into a desert, springs of water into thirsty ground.” Isaiah 35 promises that one day “the desert and parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.”

The word for wilderness in the NLT is wasteland.

So I want us to pause today and ask: What does God want to say to us when we find ourselves in the wasteland? Whether that’s in our personal battles with sin, in the brokenness of the world around us, or even in the reminder of our own mortality — how does the gospel meet us there, and how does God turn wasteland into beauty?

Maybe that’s why this has hit me so hard this week. Because when we look at the world around us, it feels like we’re either living in a wasteland already, or heading toward one. The tragic headlines this week — the murder of Charlie Kirk and the “out of nowhere” killing of Iryna Zarutska remind us of how fragile, broken, and violent our world is. The United States averages over 2 gun related homicides per hour, making it scary out there.

And if we’re honest, it’s not just out there. We feel it in here, too — the anger, the bitterness, the temptation to despair, the temptation to vengeance. That’s the pull of the wasteland.

But the good news is that God doesn’t leave us there. The same God who says in Psalm 107 that He turns rivers into deserts also promises in Isaiah 35 to make the desert bloom again. The wasteland is real, but it’s not final.

Psalm 107:33-34

33 He changes rivers into deserts,     and springs of water into dry, thirsty land. 34 He turns the fruitful land into salty wastelands,     because of the wickedness of those who live there

Salty land - unfruitful

Why is there a wasteland?

Because of sin.

For Israel, it was the result of their sin that God would bring hardship on them.

The purpose of hardship is always to get attention and repentance. Godly guilt.

For us today, the evil we see in the world is sin at work in the world.

Works of the flesh - immorality, sorcery, hostility, jealousy, anger, selfish ambition, division

Works of Satan - a murderer, a liar, a deceiver

The Wasteland is both external (world) and internal (our hearts). But God is still at work.

Point 1: The Parasite of Sin – Wasteland Within

Psalm 106:35–39 tells us why God judged Israel saying, “But they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs…, They defiled themselves by what they did; by their deeds they prostituted themselves.”

They worshipped other gods, took on the cultures of those nations, forsaking the Lord’s commands. In other words, they lived in sin against God who had rescued them over and over again.

We are just as at risk as they were. We battle the poison within every day.

The song “Parasite” speaks of this “poisoned seed that twists the heart against our God.”

Listen to the devil speak, filling my veins with what I seek. All I hear are voices speaking of the promises of sin. Why do I crave misery?”

A parasite feeds off of its host.

Our flesh acts like a parasite, and Satan with his demons feed off our weaknesses, seeking to lead us to ruin — to our own wasteland.”

Truth: Sin feeds off us, leaving emptiness. Like a parasite, it consumes until there is nothing left.

A salty wasteland has no fruitfulness.

All that has flowed from my hands is an evil that grows and expands Every flower & every fruit  has been poisoned by this bitter root

“Wandering”

Application: Recognize the “parasites” in our own lives (anger, bitterness, lust, pride) before they consume us fully.

Point 2: The Law of the Wasteland – When We Try to Rule Ourselves

In the light of the horrific events in this past week, many of us are filled with anger and the desire for vengeance.”

The “Law of the Wasteland” says,

Watch out – kill or be killed, another victim of the thoughtless, Another victim for the lawless, Eye for an eye – tooth for tooth, We play judge – jury – executioner.

We desire justice prevail, as we should. But when justice becomes vengeance and hatred, we become the judge and jury in our own minds.

But God is the Judge.

Isaiah 24:1 Look! The Lord is about to destroy the earth and make it a vast wasteland.

Isaiah 24:5-6

5 The earth suffers for the sins of its people,     for they have twisted God’s instructions, violated his laws,     and broken his everlasting covenant. 6 Therefore, a curse consumes the earth.     Its people must pay the price for their sin.

How we might forget, we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Therefore, none of us is innocent.

If we act in vengeance or man-made justice, we only deepen the ruin.

God says, He will avenge.

The world is broken, and we can’t legislate or avenge our way out of brokenness, for only Christ’s justice brings restoration.

We think on or act in ways of vengeance, we act in pride. But Scripture calls us to humble ourselves.

Point 3: Memento Mori – Remember You Must Die

Remembering that we are sinners too in need of God’s grace, and that one day we will stand before Him when we die, should cultivate within us humility. We are not better than, or worth more, any other life, no matter how sinful they may be.

Psalm 90:12 “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”

Wolves at the Gate sing it this way in Memento Mori: “We are all just vapors, dust into dust, phantoms vanishing like smoke at night.”

That line captures the truth of Scripture: life is brief, fragile, fleeting.

And if life is that short, then it’s a reminder for us to forgive, to love, and yes, even to speak up for and against the evils we see. But we don’t do it from a place of judgment and condemnation. We do it with the hope of transformation — the work of the Holy Spirit, if not in others, then certainly in us.

But when we let anger consume us, we slip into self-will, self-righteousness, and pride. That’s when the parasites of sin start to take root, poisoning our hearts and making us forget the truth of God — that one day He will set all things right.

So while we hurt for the victims of violence, and we feel sorrow for their families, we also remember this: even death doesn’t have the last word, as Isaiah reminds us:

Point 4: From Wasteland to Beauty – God’s Promise of Restoration

Isaiah 35:1–2, 5–6

1 Even the wilderness and desert will be glad in those days.     The wasteland will rejoice and blossom with spring crocuses. 2 Yes, there will be an abundance of flowers     and singing and joy!

5 And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind     and unplug the ears of the deaf. 6 The lame will leap like a deer,     and those who cannot speak will sing for joy! Springs will gush forth in the wilderness,     and streams will water the wasteland.

I pray we hear that truth. In the end God wins.

What may appear as a wasteland will once again be a river of life flowing from the throne of God.

The final word is not despair, but renewal in Christ.

Conclusion

This week has been hard for many of us. Even if it isn’t the horrific acts we’ve witnessed, or if it is something “Smaller” like a friend or family member who has done you wrong, or a repetitive sin you’ve fallen into.

Don’t allow the parasite of sin to corrupt your heart. We may feel we are living in the wasteland, but life is short, and God’s promise is that restoration is coming, the wasteland will one day bloom again.

Revelation 21:5 — “He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’”

Invitation

Wandering - Wandering souls who have felt all the hell of their own sin that is within Don’t you lose heart for the hands of the Physician will take you in - take you in.

Will you keep wandering in the wasteland, or will you let Christ turn your desert into a place of life?

Maybe because of all that has happened recently, you’re full of anger and bitterness. Maybe you’ve lost hope, or on the fringe of it because all you see is death, and the seeming victory of evil.

Maybe, you look at your life, your limitations, illness, age, or other issue, and think your life is a wasteland.

If so, let me encourage you!

Where we see wasteland, God sees the potential for streams of living water. Wastelands can indeed bloom again!

John 7:37–38 “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”

God specializes in turning wastelands into gardens.

God invites you to come out of the wasteland.

Closing Song

My Hope is Built

Spend time with the Lord during this last song, My Hope is Built, and remember our hope is built on Christ and His Righteousness, knowing one day, all things will be made new.

Benediction

The wasteland is real, but God's restoration is greater. His beauty is stronger than your brokenness. His streams run deeper than your desert. Go now, carrying rivers of living water to a thirsty world, for you serve the God who specializes in turning wasteland to beauty. Amen.

Download this week's Personal Study Guide: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Z1Xs3s2WG8K6uX-7tdB7goraQnebhpRy-ypseIoZc0Y/edit?usp=sharing