Nehemiah 3:8

And they fortified Jerusalem unto the broad wall

The broad wall

I. The separation of the people of God from the world is like that broad wall surrounding Jerusalem. An actual separation is made by grace, is carried on in the work of sanctification, and will be completed in that day when the saints shall be caught up together with the Lord in the air.

1. Christians should maintain a broad wall of separation between themselves and the world. The distinction ought not to be one of dress or of speech, the separation ought to be moral and spiritual.

(1) A Christian ought to be more scrupulous than other men in his dealings. He must never swerve from the path of integrity. He should be one whose word is his bond, and who having once pledged his word, sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not.

(2) The Christian should be distinguished by his pleasures. We are not quite ourselves, perhaps, in our daily toil, where our pursuits are rather dictated by necessity than by choice, but our pleasures and pastimes give evidence of what our heart is and where it is.

(3) Such separation should be carried into everything which affects the Christian. When a stranger comes into our house it should be so ordered that he can clearly perceive that we have a respect unto Him that is invisible, and that we desire to live and move in the light of God’s countenance.

(4) This broad wall should be most conspicuous in the spirit of our mind. There should be about a Christian always the air of one who has his shoes on his feet, his loins girded, and his staff in his hand--away, away to a better land.

2. Reasons why this wall should be very broad.

(1) If you are sincere in your profession, there is a very broad distinction between you and unconverted people.

(2) Remember that our Lord Jesus Christ had a broad wall between Him and the ungodly.

(3) A broad wall of separation is abundantly good for yourselves. When a Christian gives way to the world’s custom he never feels profited thereby. Ask a fish to spend an hour on dry land, and I think did he comply the fish would find that it was not much to its benefit, for it would be out of its element. And it is so with Christians in communion with sinners.

(4) To keep up the broad wall of separation is to do most good to the world. A Christian loses his strength the moment he departs from his integrity. Although the world may openly denounce the rigid Puritan, it secretly admires him. You young man in the shop--you young woman in the workroom--if you keep yourselves to yourselves in Christ’s name, chaste and pure for Jesus, not laughing at jests which should make you blush; not mixing up with pastimes that are suspicious; but being tenderly jealous of your conscience at all times, then your company in the midst of others shall be as though an angel shook his wings, and they will say, “Refrain from this or that just now, for So-and-so is there.” They will fear you in a certain sense; they will admire you in secret; and who can tell but they, at last, may come to imitate you?

II. The broad wall round jerusalem indicated safety. The Christian is surrounded by the broad wall--

1. Of God’s power.

2. Of God’s love.

3. Of God’s law and justice.

4. Of God’s immutability.

5. Of the work of the Holy Spirit.

6. Almost every doctrine of grace affords us a broad wall, a mighty bulwark, a grand munition of defence.

III. This broad wall suggests enjoyment. These walls were used as promenades, and were utilised--

1. For rest from toil.

2. For communion.

3. For prospects and outlooks. (C. H. Spurgeon.)