Joy for Those Dwelling in Dust

Audio Recording

Sermon Outline

Speaker: Rev. Scott Strickman
Sermon Series: Come, Let Us Walk in the Light of the Lord

Isaiah 26:9-21 (ESV)
9 My soul yearns for you in the night;
    my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.
For when your judgments are in the earth,
    the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
10 If favor is shown to the wicked,
    he does not learn righteousness;
in the land of uprightness he deals corruptly
    and does not see the majesty of the Lord.
11 O Lord, your hand is lifted up,
    but they do not see it.
Let them see your zeal for your people, and be ashamed.
    Let the fire for your adversaries consume them.
12 O Lord, you will ordain peace for us,
    for you have indeed done for us all our works.
13 O Lord our God,
    other lords besides you have ruled over us,
    but your name alone we bring to remembrance.
14 They are dead, they will not live;
    they are shades, they will not arise;
to that end you have visited them with destruction
    and wiped out all remembrance of them.
15 But you have increased the nation, O Lord,
    you have increased the nation; you are glorified;
    you have enlarged all the borders of the land.

16 O Lord, in distress they sought you;
    they poured out a whispered prayer
    when your discipline was upon them.
17 Like a pregnant woman
    who writhes and cries out in her pangs
    when she is near to giving birth,
so were we because of you, O Lord;
18     we were pregnant, we writhed,
    but we have given birth to wind.
We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth,
    and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen.
19 Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise.
    You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy!
For your dew is a dew of light,
    and the earth will give birth to the dead.

20 Come, my people, enter your chambers,
    and shut your doors behind you;
hide yourselves for a little while
    until the fury has passed by.
21 For behold, the Lord is coming out from his place
    to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity,
and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it,
    and will no more cover its slain.

Sermon Outline
The Easter message is life-giving news for people who are drying out and dying (v19).

1. You Who Dwell in the Dust

• v9  “my soul yearns for you in the night… the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness”

• v16  “in distress they sought you, they poured out a whispered prayer…”

• v17-18  “like a pregnant woman who writhes and cries out in her pangs… we writhed but we have given birth to wind.”

2. Awake and Sing for Joy

• v21  “behold the Lord is coming… the earth will disclose the blood shed in it…”

• v19  “your dead shall live… the earth will give birth to the dead”

• v19  “your dew is a dew of light”