109SermonsbyJCRyle (continued)
He calls His people a garden, because they are useful, and bear fruit and flowers. Where is the real use of the children of this world? Of what value are they, while they continue unconverted? They are unprofitable tenants and worthless cumberers of the ground. They bring no glory to the Lord that bought them—they fulfill not their part in creation—they stand alone in the world of created beings, not doing the work for which their Maker meant them. The heavens declare the glory of God—the trees, the corn, the grass, the flowers, the streams, the birds speak forth His praise—but the man of the world does nothing to show that he cares for God, or serves God, or loves God, or feels grateful for Christ's redeeming death.
The Lord's people are not so. They bring Him some revenue of glory. They bear some little fruit, and are not altogether barren and unprofitable servants. Compared to the world, they are a garden.
2. The Lord's garden has a distinctive peculiarity about it. It is a garden ENCLOSED.
There is an enclosure around believers; or else they never would be saved. This is the secret of their safety. It is not their faithfulness, their strength, or their love, it is the wall around them which prevents their being lost. They are a "garden enclosed."
They are enclosed by God the Father's everlasting election. Long before they were born—long before the foundations of the world, God knew them, chose them, and appointed them to obtain salvation by Jesus Christ. The children of this world do not like to hear this doctrine proclaimed. It humbles man, and leaves him no room to boast. But whether it is abused or not—the doctrine of election is true. It is the corner-stone of the believer's foundation, that he was chosen in Christ before the world began. Who can rightly estimate the strength of this enclosure?
They are enclosed by the special love of God the Son. The Lord Jesus is the Savior of all men—but He is specially the Savior of those who believe. He has power over all flesh—but He gives eternal life to those who are specially given to Him, in a way that He does to none others. He shed His blood on the cross for all—but He only washes those who have part in Him. He invites all—but He quickens whom He will, and brings them to glory. He prays for them—He prays not for the world. He intercedes for them—that they may be kept from evil, that they may be sanctified by the truth, that their faith fail not. Who can fully describe the blessedness of this enclosure?
They are enclosed by the effectual working of God the Holy Spirit. The Spirit calls them out from the world, and separates them as effectually as if a wall were built between them and it. He puts in them new hearts, new minds, new tastes, new desires, new sorrows, new joys, new wishes, new pleasures, new longings. He gives them new eyes, new ears, new affections, new opinions. He makes them new creatures; they are born again, and with a new birth they begin a new existence. Mighty indeed is the transforming power of the Holy Spirit! The believer and the world are completely put asunder, and everlastingly separated. You may place a believer and an unbeliever together, marry them, join them under one roof, but you cannot unite them any more into one piece. The one is part of the "garden enclosed," and the other is not. Effectual calling is a barrier that cannot be broken.
Who can tell the comfort of this threefold wall of enclosure! Believers are enclosed by election, enclosed by washing and intercession, enclosed by calling and regeneration. Great is the consolation of these threefold bands of love around us, the love of God the Father, the love of God the Son, the love of God the Holy Spirit! A threefold cord is not easily broken.
Does any reader suppose for a moment that all this was not needed? I believe that nothing short of this threefold enclosure could save the Lord's garden from utter ruin. Without election, intercession, and