Behold, I Lay in Zion a Chief Cornerstone

In this part of the sermon: This section focuses on God's sovereign activity in laying Christ as the cornerstone in Zion, drawing from Isaiah 28:16. Martin emphasizes that this stone is the 'corner…

God's 'Behold' is likened to a coach telling his team, 'Hey guys, listen up!' to emphasize the importance of what is about to be said.

In the midst of a chapter filled with God's indicting of His people in their sins, pronouncing, judgment upon them, in some of the most scathing, denunciatory passages in the prophecy of Isaiah, God says in the midst of all of this, in my determination to punish sin and to judge my people, pay attention. I'm about to tell you something wonderful. As a modern day coach would say to the troops in the locker room, Hey guys, listen up! I want your ears.

15:40 - 16:15 Read in full sermon

Driving home: none shall ever be confounded who on him their hope have built.

An imagined scenario of a stone choosing to be placed on an impressive-looking cornerstone, only to find it was made of paper mache and crumbled, illustrating the shame of misplaced trust and contrasting it with trust in Christ.

Rocks can't talk. But can you imagine what you would feel if you were a stone and you could choose where you were going to place yourself in several temples that were beginning to be erected. And you saw one temple that had what appeared to be is the most massive, the most impressive chief head cornerstone. And you say, man, I want to be identified with that.

28:58 - 29:21 Read in full sermon

The point: Abstain from fleshly lusts, understanding that your identity in Christ and the honor conferred upon you provide a superior motivation for obedience.

The persecuted believers are described as a 'minority community,' a term familiar in contexts like Pakistan, to highlight their despised status in the world's eyes, contrasting it with the honor God confers upon them.

The honor that is Christ's is conferred upon the people of Christ. Now think what that meant. To these despised, persecuted believers the minority community, to use a term that's very familiar to those of you who know what's going on in Pakistan and in other communities where Islam dominates as the official religion. They were the minority community.

34:09 - 34:35 Read in full sermon

The point: Recognize that your unbelief does no harm to Christ but results in your own destruction.

Man's unbelief harming Christ is compared to a yelping dog harming the moon, illustrating that human rejection does not diminish Christ's appointed place or power, but only harms the unbeliever.

you do no more harm to Christ than the moon is harmed by the yelping of a dog I've never yet seen the moon twitch when there's a wolf or a pack of wolves on the hill howling at a full moon the moon doesn't twitch and it doesn't get nervous and it doesn't move from its appointed place and in your heart you may be howling against Christ you do not know no harm to him my friend but you destroy yourself to such as are not believing a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense but thirdly man's unbelief is manifested by his resolute disobedience to the word how can you tell whether you're in this sec...

49:31 - 50:59 Read in full sermon