Spurgeon's new year sermons have a lovely tone to them. Some are more consolatory, others more exhortatory, but all tend to lift up the eyes and fix them on God in Christ, calling the saints to think and speak and act in the light of their covenant mercies in the year that lies before them. This sermon is no different. Spurgeon is well aware that the Adversary will by all means sow the seeds of dissension and division and among the people of God, and so here he reminds us of the unity of the Spirit that we should pursue, that this unity needs to be preserved, guarded, invested in, and that the Spirit's unity must be kept -in the bond of peace.- All this leads to some practical counsels and encouragements to God's people-counsels and encouragements which are as significant and valuable today as they were when the preacher first delivered them on the first day of 1865 in London.

God's people need to remember who they are and where they belong. At the climax of his letter, the writer to the Hebrews contrasts the revelation and reality of Sinai and Zion, emphasising the blessings of the New Covenant to which believers belong. This does not in any way dilute or diminish the believer's responsibility, but rather heightens and intensifies it, and makes the folly of Esau -with regard to his birthright- or Israel at Sinai -idolatrous and immoral- all the more fearful. The preacher therefore concludes with a stirring exhortation concerning the unshakeable kingdom to which God's people belong, the manner of service, the kind of worship, which we render if we know the glory and majesty of the God whom we serve.

David's love bears the stamp of authenticity- the hallmark of obedience. So it is with every child of God, following in the footsteps of the Lord Christ. So the believer can say, even accused and afflicted, -I keep your precepts and your testimonies, for all my ways are before you- -Ps 119-168-. Here we see the believer's sincere declaration about the bias of his soul and the course of his life- the underlying conviction, that God looks upon him in a relationship which involves affection, communion, and observation- and, the profitable application, as we consider the instruction, direction, comfort, courage, hope and warning that come from such thoughts as these.

Those whom God justifies, them he also glorifies. Paul's declaration of these certainties of salvation hangs upon the God who finishes what he begins. This God declares sinners to be righteous in his sight on the basis of Christ's righteousness counted to those who trust in Jesus Christ. God declares that those same justified sinners also receive glorification. The connection is sure, the comfort is sweet.

Spurgeon seems to have been blessed with an insatiable appetite for the glory of God, an ever-increasing desire for the power of the gospel to be made known. In this sermon he is seeking to stir up the members of the church to seek after God, reminding them that the necessary prerequisite to two walking together is that they be agreed. That being so, if we want to walk with God-to have God walk with us and to bless us-then we need to be agreed with him. Spurgeon therefore outlines what not only what it means to walk with God, but also the horror of a human religious operation in which there is nothing of the Spirit's power. That being so, what are the things in which we ought to be agreed with him- Spurgeon offers some searching answers. Finally, what are those things which displease our Lord, and drive a wedge between him and us- How can we expect God to walk with us when we are offending him- Spurgeon leaves each one of us with penetrating questions to answer. Are we ready to pray, -Lord, make me fit to be the means of glorifying you--