Sermons & Devotionals by Roger Hertzler

Roughly one million divorces are filed in the United States every year. Since a majority of U.S. citizens profess some form of Christianity, it follows that most of these divorces are filed by those who would say that they worship the God of the Bible. Ironically, it is this same God who declares in... Read More

Imagine this scenario. Two women, both of whom are living alone, start attending your church and eventually become converted. After their conversion, the question comes up regarding their marital status. When you find out that both of them have been married before, and that both their former husband... Read More

If someone were to ask you what you believe is the most important subject found in Scripture, what would you tell him? If there is one thing above all others that you as a pastor ought to be teaching to your listeners, what would it be? The existence of God? The story of Creation? Salvation by faith... Read More

One writer recently observed, “When we step back and look at the practice of divorce and remarriage in the Church today, it is hard to imagine that Jesus ever gave any prohibition against divorce and remarriage at all.” The consequences of the drastic increase in the rate of divorce among Christians... Read More

There has been a lot of focus lately by Christians in America on the subject of revival. We read stories about local, national, and even worldwide revivals that took place in history. We write books and preach sermons about how to bring revival. And last but not least, we are gathering together more... Read More

At various times in Scripture we read of groups of people who found themselves in the terrifying position of being under the fierce wrath of an almighty God. In most of these cases the people hardened their hearts and were judged accordingly, as in the case of Sodom, the pre-flood world, and the Jew... Read More

Years had passed since Jerome received the letter about Fabiola. She had responded beautifully to his first letter, repenting thoroughly from her sin, breaking off her adulterous marriage, and living in celibacy from that day forward. Her life had become a life of beautiful devotion to God, a life o... Read More

The Olympic wrestler gazed thoughtfully at the gold medal hanging on the wall above his desk. The sight of that medal brought back a lot of memories, some of them pleasant and some of them painful. He had just returned from his victory tour around his native country. He was the first person from his... Read More

(Letter 55, to Amandus, about 394 A.D.) 3. I find joined to your letter of inquiries a short paper containing the following words: “ask him, (that is me,) whether a woman who has left her husband on the ground that he is an adulterer and sodomite and has found herself compelled to take another may i... Read More

(Letter 77, to Oceanus, about 399 A.D.) The eulogy of Fabiola whose restless life had come to an end in 399 a.d. Jerome tells the story of her sin and of her penitence (for which see Letter LV.), of the hospital established by her at Portus, of her visit to Bethlehem, and of her earnestness in the s... Read More

About the year 394 AD, a church leader named Jerome received a letter from a fellow pastor asking for counsel. A woman named Fabiola had committed her life to Christ, he wrote, and desired to enter into communion with them as a congregation. The question he had was in regard to the marital status of... Read More

As you consider the astonishing answer that Jerome gave about this woman named Fabiola, perhaps the only question that comes to your mind is, “What in the world was he thinking? What could possibly have been his motivation for giving such an outlandish answer as the one that he gave?” It’s a good qu... Read More

One of the fundamental truths that can be gleaned from the words of Jesus is the simple fact that God’s will for His followers was going to be different, in some areas, from what it had been under the Mosaic Law. Numerous times in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said, “It hath been said . . . but I sa... Read More

If we were to examine Jerome’s verdict in light of the things Paul wrote in his epistles, how would it stand up? The following passages are no doubt some of the ones that Jerome took into consideration when he made his decision about Fabiola. And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, ... Read More

When Jerome gave his counsel that Fabiola needed to separate herself from her second marriage in order to be right with God, was he trying to introduce some radical new teaching? Was he trampling underfoot that which had been taught by church leaders prior to him? Or was his counsel in harmony with ... Read More

In Matthew 19:9 Jesus said, “Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery.” What is the significance of this phrase “except it be for fornication”? Based largely on his interpretation of this phrase, a 16th century theologian named Era... Read More

Following are a number of other objections that have been raised in an effort to prove that to take a position like Jerome took would be extreme, unreasonable, or unscriptural. Didn’t Paul write that when a believer is deserted by an unbelieving spouse, he or she is “not under bondage”? How can you ... Read More

At this point we could bring up an interesting question. Since Fabiola was not permitted to remain with her second husband, what about returning to her former one? Suppose he would have become converted and then desired to be reunited with Fabiola. Could they have done so? Here is Jerome’s answer to... Read More

T he teaching you are about to read is radical. At least it will seem radical to you if you have never heard this teaching before. It seemed extremely radical to me the first time I heard it. However, being radical was not new to me. Growing up in a conservative Anabaptist church, I had always been ... Read More

In 1928, Daniel Kauffman authored a book entitled Doctrines of the Bible. In this volume, he identified and expounded on roughly 62 different Bible “doctrines” such as the Trinity, the Atonement, Baptism, Nonconformity, Nonresistance, and the Second Coming of Christ. Some might question the purpose ... Read More