A.B. Simpson emphasizes the transformative process of becoming a fruitful garden in Christ, contrasting it with the wilderness of our natural state. He explains that true growth requires the removal of self and natural inclinations, allowing God to cultivate a new life within us. The sermon highlights the necessity of dying to self in order to experience real life, urging believers to rely on God to accomplish this work. Simpson illustrates this concept through the cycles of nature, showing that new life emerges from death, just as spring follows winter. Ultimately, he calls for a complete surrender to God's creative power, making Jesus the center of our existence.

The figure here is of a beautiful, fruitful enclosure, not a wilderness. Garden soil is cultivated soil, very different from the roadside or wilderness. The idea of a garden is culture. The ground has to be prepared, to be broken up by ploughing, to be mellowed by harrowing. All the stones have to be removed and the roots of all natural growth dug up. The good things we are seeking are not natural growths and will not prosper in our natural soil. We all feel we should try to improve the old nature, but that is not God's way. His method is to get self out of the way entirely, and let Him create anew out of nothing, so that all shall be of Him; and Jesus will be the acknowledged Alpha and Omega. The thing we want to learn here is to die. There can be no real life till self dies. And we dare not try to die ourselves, but ask God to slay us; He will make a thorough work of it. This the secret nature hideth, Summer dies and lives again, Spring from winter's grave ariseth, Harvest grows from buried grain.