Great Chapters of the Bible

Excerpts from the sermon by Lester Roloff

Dear Heavenly Father, we know that man’s preaching means nothing unless anointed by Your Holy Spirit. We ask that every heart tonight will be charged with Your Truth. Quicken our minds to know You. Quicken our bodies to serve You. And quicken our souls to bless You. In the name of Jesus we pray, Amen!

Tonight I will be speaking on what I believe are two of the greatest chapters of the Bible—Romans 12 and Hebrews 12. We will begin in Romans—the great doctrinal book that begins by giving us a great picture of humanity. And here in chapter 12, we will plunge into the practical application for what the first 11 chapters teach.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. –Romans 12:1

When Paul says, “brethren,” he means brothers and sisters in Christ. He is writing to professing Christian brothers, and a Christian is the sweetest brother you’ll ever have. We also have the word “therefore.” This points us back to the first 11 chapters of salvation by grace and victory in Jesus.

If you are saved tonight, then you have received the “mercies of God.” Now it’s time to become a sacrifice that is alive unto God. Not a dead sacrifice, but a life that is “holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

My friends, there must be some discipline for these physical bodies after we get saved. We have no right to dissipate our minds or our bodies—wasting our time by living like the rest of the world—after we get saved. There is no excuse for a born-again believer to have more in common with an unbeliever than with his Christian brothers and sisters.

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. –II Corinthians 5:17

My body is worth nothing dead, and it isn’t worth anything alive unless Christ lives in it. I am nothing but a hindrance—a miserable piece of human clay—apart from the quickening and spiritual presence of Jesus Christ. There are days when Heaven feels very near. But as long as I’m in this old, broken-down body, there will still be soldiering to be done.

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. –Romans 12:2

Do you ever feel absent-minded? I would have to say that I remember to forget better than I ever have before. I find myself asking the Lord to not just renew my physical body, but to also renew my mind. I think that’s the cure for complaining about getting older all the time—to just talk to the Lord about it and then get back to work. Take Noah and his boat, or Moses and his staff, or Caleb and his mountain —we read about people all throughout the Bible who found strength as they grew older. God is able to renew us!

Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing; To shew that the Lord is upright: He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. –Psalm 92:13-15

Brother, if you really want to come up for God, you’ve got to be planted—in His presence and with His people. And if you want to renew your mind, you’ve got to sharpen it with Scripture. As long as I’ve got two eyes that can see the Word of God, I’m going to read and memorize until my dying day. Turn with me now to the great Book of Hebrews—same chapter.

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. –Hebrews 12:1

The word “wherefore” reminds us that we are to live by faith, just like the saints in chapter 11 did. There is no other way to please God (Hebrews 11:6). The difficulty with living by faith is that the flesh never gets adjusted to it. When I headed off to Bible college with my little, old Jersey cow— and one of us just as dumb as the other—my flesh said it would never work. I mean, how stupid can an ignorant country boy be, hauling his milk cow off to Bible school? That was the first step of faith, which felt more like a plunge of faith, so many years ago.

First off, we are told to “lay aside every weight.” I don’t believe the Church has ever been so heavily weighted down as it is now. I’ve never seen such silly racers on a racetrack—they’ve got everything in the world hanging on them. Some people have a camper hanging on them—a weekend camper. That is their recreation, and they can’t hardly wait until Saturday noon to head for the lake. They’ve got that camper loaded with pork and beans and everything else. “Oh, Brother Roloff,” they explain, “We’ve just got to be together as a family. We just have to get out on Saturday night and camp out, and Sunday morning we just come back, you know.” Listen, anything that will stand between you and Jesus Christ and worshipping Him with His people is a weight. Fact is, most of our weights lead us right into sin.

What are the weights on your life? Would you be honest enough right now to just ask yourself what is weighing you down and standing in your way? What do you get by with that you used to have a conviction against? We need Christians who will stand up and say, “I’ll not let these weights hang on me. I’ve got a race to run and win!” Dear friends, when we get used to our besetting sins, we start complaining about the racetrack.

We are to “run with patience the race that is set before us”—not behind us, but before us. One of the weights on many church members is looking back and talking about the good old days. The old, dead denominations are still talking about “our heritage.” Listen friends, our heritage is out ahead of us. I believe my greatest days are just ahead. I’ve got a lot more out in front of me than I have to look back at. Sure I’ve got things to praise God about—when I got saved and called to preach, God’s provisions and blessings, and the sweet fellowship along the trail. But I’m also busy running and looking ahead!

Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith; Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. –Hebrews 12:2

Would you be willing to lay aside your weights if God would tell you what they are? Have you ever prayed, asking God to show them to you? What is hanging on your life and hindering you? Maybe you are weighed down by profanity, or stinginess, or a critical attitude—nobody ever pleases you anymore. Maybe you are weighed down by fretting. I started to preach tonight on that chapter, “Fret not thyself because of evildoers” (Psalm 37). I believe we do fret ourselves when we should be filled with the spirit of gentleness like we ought to be. Christian, it’s time to lay aside your weights!

Now for a word to the preachers here tonight: I believe that the greatest victory you and I will ever win is to get unattached to the things of this world—clothes, cars, and the rest of it. I want the power of God on my ministry, and I want to be a soul winner. I want to be a solid, sound, loving, compassionate, and gentle preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I believe that those of us who get to preach should be the happiest people on earth. Our joy comes from the living Word of God. Trinkets and gadgets tend just to trouble us and hinder us and hold us back.

Some of the experiences that you are having right now—they’re not going to amount to much one of these days. Oh, the fleeting things that fill our time! Are you going to leave here tonight, choosing to let your weights stay in your life? Jealousy and envy, laziness and murmuring, larger paychecks and new carpets—it won’t be long until none of it matters. Are you willing to “lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us”? All of us have that one sin to address—“the sin” that bothers and besets us more than anything else.

Blood-bought Christians don’t quit—they simply aren’t the quitting kind. That is what Romans teaches us, and that is what Hebrews warns us about! This has got to be the worst time to quit the race. I mean, just before the real quitting time—when God brings the quit around. And yet many people are discouraged and weary, sitting at home with no burden for souls.

What is the sin that has come between you and God? I don’t care who’s doing it. I don’t care how many people are guilty of it. When there’s sin in your life, it saps your spiritual strength. It takes away your joy and victory. You can play fast and loose with your sin and flirt with the devil, but you always lose out with God when you do. It’s time to make up your mind and learn to run.

If you are going to run, you must run with God’s people. If you run close enough with them, they won’t trip you. You need them, and they need you. And there is no joy in one of our brethren falling out of the race—we’re to have a sweet spirit (Hebrews 10:24-25). David said as an old man at the end of the trail, “Thy gentleness hath made me great” (II Samuel 22:36; Psalm 18:35).

We must take a good look at Jesus. Jesus was the happiest Man to ever walk this earth because He walked in the perfect will of God. The older I get, the more I know that my happiness doesn’t depend on anything but my relationship with the Lord— not my relationship with other preachers, or with my friends, or even with my family. God alone holds my joy!

The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe. –Proverbs 29:25

Nobody on earth can make me unhappy except the one who can make me unholy. That’s all that ever bothers me anymore. Some folks will never be satisfied until you are living as far from the Lord as they are. And some folks aren’t worth living very close to (I Corinthians 15:33). I’ve learned to count it no loss when my fellowship with the Lord costs me fellowship in this world.

While cows were starving and people were dying, Elijah was still drinking water from the brook—he had found a hiding place. I don’t have to worry about provisions if I’m in touch with the Provider. I don’t have to fret over the gifts if I’m right with the Giver. And I don’t have to compare the blessings if I’m living for the Blesser. I just have to keep these old eyes focused on the great Finisher, Who endured the cross and despised the shame so that I could become a runner!