“Coram Deo,” living before the face of God, describes the essence of the Christian life: to live all of one’s life in the presence of God, under his authority, and to his glory. Job reminds us that God’s eyes are on every person’s ways, and Psalm 139 shows there is nowhere we can go, from the heights of heaven to the depths of the sea, where his presence and knowledge do not reach.
Because the righteous are conscious of God’s presence, their delight is in his law, meditating on it continually, while the ungodly are like chaff blown away. The sermon then presses the Westminster Larger Catechism’s answer that man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever, contrasting a life focused on God’s kingdom and joy with one focused on self and worldly desire, and asks each hearer what their own life’s ultimate goal really is.