Going The Distance: Roman Series #10

In 2 Corinthians 11:26, as Paul recounts different details of his ministry, you will often find the summary phrase, “in journeys.” In that short phrase Paul encompasses all that he did in his effort to see that the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ was extended to the ends of the Roman Empire. Paul had a great desire. Paul had a great burden. His burden was that the cross of Jesus Christ be planted in the heart of the Roman Empire. So over the land and through the sea Paul made journeys for the single purpose of getting the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to the whole known world at that particular time.

When you study the journeys of Paul, you will discover that he had a definite strategy in mind. He went to all of the major cities of the Roman Empire. For example, he went to Athens, Ephesus, and ultimately he went to Rome. As you read Paul’s journeys you will find that he had very little to say about the wonders of the world of his time. For instance, he went to Athens and yet he makes no mention of the Parthenon. He went to Ephesus and there is only a passing mention of the Temple of Diana. He goes to the city of Rome and yet there is no mention made of the Colosseum.

When Paul made his missionary journeys, he was not going for the purpose of seeing the sights but for saving of souls. There was a reason why Paul did what he did. The question may arise in your mind—why are we going to spend any time reading about the journeys of a man that took place several thousand years ago? Why are we going to dig back into the musty past? Why are we going to pull out these dusty records of the journeys of Paul and study them in 2026?

The reason is that everything recorded for us in the Bible has a purpose and a plan and a meaning for our own life. The principles of God revealed to us in the Bible and the things that God taught these Bible characters are applicable to our life in the modern world.

Often the Bible talks about our life as a journey. Not only the Bible, but also in secular literature. One of the greatest books ever written was written by a Baptist preacher named John Bunyan. Bunyan was placed in prison for preaching the Gospel of the Lord Jesus. During the time he was in prison he wrote the immortal The Pilgrim’s Progress. He understood that life for the believer is like taking a journey.

The Bible does say that we are pilgrims. There is a difference between a pilgrim and a vagrant or a fugitive. A fugitive is someone who is running from home. A vagrant is someone who has no home. But a pilgrim is someone who is on the way home. We are pilgrims! We are pilgrims and strangers down here. We are on a journey; we are making our way to our heavenly home. As we make our journey in this life, we can have the strength to go the distance.

I. We Need A Plan For Our Lives

There is an amazing statement in Romans 15:23: “Now having no more place in these parts.” Does that mean Paul had won everybody to Jesus in those places? Does that mean that the work of the Lord was completed in those places where Paul was and it was all over? Absolutely not. There were still people to be saved. There was still work to be done, but Paul said, “I have no more place in these parts.”

Paul was a master builder. Paul calls himself an architect. He was a spiritual architect. Paul was the foundation layer. He is saying, “I’ve done what God assigned me to do. I have finished my assignment; I’m moving on. I’m going somewhere else.”

Paul was a man who didn’t move haphazardly through life. He had a definite strategy of penetration. He had a definite plan, a definite reason for everything he did. I think one of the problems people have today is they really don’t have a plan for their lives. Most people don’t know who they are. They don’t know why they are here. They don’t know where they are going. However, when you come to know Jesus as your Savior, you can know who you are. You can know where you came from, and you can know where you are going.

We ought to make plans for Jesus. We ought to plan our lives. There ought to be a strategy. If we are not careful, we can be like the airline pilot who said to the passengers, “Folks, we are lost. But I have good news for you. We’re making excellent time!”

People can go faster than they have ever been able to go before, but they really don’t know where they are going. I believe we ought to make big plans for Jesus. The Lord Jesus Himself “set His face to go to Jerusalem.” He had a plan for His life. He was moving on schedule. He was taking that journey that the Father had given to Him.

You ought to make plans for your life. You ought to decide who you want to be when you are 20. You ought to decide where you want to be when you are 20; and you ought to decide what you want to be when you are 20. Then you ought to make some plans for 30, some plans for 40, 50 and 60 and 70.

Paul says in Romans 15:22 that sometimes those plans get hindered along the way. Sometimes those plans don’t get to be completed just as exactly as he had made them. We read, “For which cause I have been much hindered from coming to you.” Paul recognized the fact that the best-laid plans of men sometimes go astray. That’s the way it is with our lives, isn’t it? We make plans along the way and then sometimes those plans don’t come to pass.

Don’t allow the fact that your plans sometimes don’t get completed to hinder you. Recognize that there will be some hindrances along the way. When you read the words of Paul you will find sometimes circumstances hindered him. There were doors that closed. He wanted to go in one direction and he couldn’t go. He would try to go in another direction. That was his plan and that didn’t come to pass. Do you find that true? Do you find sometimes that circumstances hinder your plans?

He even said one time that people hindered his plans. He talked about the fact that people kept him from doing what he wanted to do. That’s also true in your life and my life. Sometimes we are hindered because of people. Then, one time Paul made the statement, “Satan hindered me.” Try that one on for size to your boss in the morning when you run late. Say, “I’m sorry I’m late today, but the devil hindered me.” Take a good look at the look he or she will give you when you say that to him or her.

The fact of the matter is, the devil is a hindrance. The devil does want to keep you from being everything God has saved you to be. We arrange our plans completely and sometimes those plans are hindered.

But Paul constantly pursued the plans. He says in verse 24, “When I take my journey in Spain, I trust to see you.” He just kept on pushing. Paul recognized there is a difference between our immediate plans and God’s ultimate plan. If you are saved, God has an ultimate plan for your life. That plan is that one day you be like His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. So we make our immediate plans with the ultimate plan in mind.

The ultimate plan is that wherever we go in our journey of life, we be a witness for the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus started us on the journey when He gave the Great Commission and said, “Go ye in to all the world and make disciples.” We are on a journey to heaven. We are on a journey to be like the Lord Jesus Christ, and as we go in this journey our ultimate purpose—the ultimate plan for our lives—is that we be a witness for Jesus. We must keep in mind that God has a plan. You get strength for your journey when you recognize that God has a plan for your life.

II. We Need A Purpose For Our Lives

In Romans 12:25 we read, “I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints.” On his way to Rome, his ultimate destination, Paul says, “I’m going to make a little trip back to Jerusalem and I’m going to minister to the saints.” He’s on his journey, but he is going to take a little trip over to Jerusalem. Paul had a great appreciation for the saints at Jerusalem.

Many of the saints at Jerusalem lost their jobs when they gave themselves to Christ. Others were severely persecuted when they surrendered to Christ, so many of them were poor. A famine came in that area and many of the believers in Jerusalem were poverty stricken. So Paul proposed among the Gentile churches where he had won souls to gather up an offering and to send it back to the city of Jerusalem to the believers there. That is an exact reversal of what you normally expect. Normally you expect the mother church to send the support out to the foreign field. Here the foreign field is sending support back to the mother church.

Paul had a great appreciation for these believers in Jerusalem. Paul recognized that it was through their witness and their faithfulness that he himself had come to know Jesus as his personal Savior. Do you have an appreciation for those who had a part in your coming to the Lord? Have you thanked the person who led you to Jesus Christ? It would be a great encouragement to them. Paul had a great love for the saints in Jerusalem because they had a part in leading him to Jesus. What Paul wants to do is to display his affection for the Jerusalem church.

Paul is also delivering an offering. We read in verse 26, “a certain contribution for poor saints.” Paul understood another way we have of expressing our gratitude is by our giving. We express our gratitude for our spiritual heritage by having a part in the giving. I have found out that people who have gratitude in their heart for Jesus and have gratitude in their heart for their church never complain when you talk about giving to the support of the church.

First, Paul went to Jerusalem to express affection. Second, he went to deliver a collection. Third, he went to define an obligation. We read in verse 27, “their debtors (Gentile believers) they are.” He is saying these Gentiles literally owe their spiritual life to these believers in Jerusalem. That’s why he says in verse 27, “For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal (material) things.”

The Bible says that when you come to Christ, you immediately are made a debtor. We are made a debtor to God and His Son, the Lord Jesus. We are made a debtor to the church where our spiritual life has begun. How special is the house of God where you met Jesus and where your soul is blessed? Paul says if you have a spiritual blessing, then you in turn have a responsibility to minister in material things. We are in a journey. We need strength for that journey.

III. We Need Power In Our Lives

In Romans 15:29 we read, “I am sure that, when I come unto you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ.” We have been promised to have God’s power for our journey of life. Power for the journey of the Christian Walk.

There is power in a magnificent obsession. Verse 28, “When therefore I have performed this, and have sealed to them this fruit.” He is saying, “When I have carried this contribution, when I’ve gone over to Jerusalem and done the job, then I will come by you into Spain.” That’s the second time Paul has mentioned Spain.

Why was Spain so interesting to Paul? Why was he so anxious to go to Spain? When Jesus gave the Great Commission, He said go to the ends of the earth, go to the uttermost parts of the earth. In Paul’s day the end of the earth was Spain. In Paul’s day, when they got to the Rock of Gibraltar, they didn’t know there was anywhere else to go.

Paul is saying, “I have an obsession.” Paul says, “I want to go to Spain.” Why was Spain so crucial to Paul? Not only was it the end of the world, as he knew it at that time, but also because Spain at that time was experiencing an intellectual revival. Spain was experiencing a literal outburst of intellectual activity. It was in Spain that a man named Quintillion lived, the greatest teacher of rhetoric in his day. It was from Spain that a man named Seneca was from, the stoic philosopher who was the prime minister of Emperor Nero. That was the intellectual fountain of the day.

Here’s what Paul wanted to do. Paul wanted to take the purifying waters of the Gospel of Jesus and infiltrate the fountain of the intellectual life of the Roman Empire. Paul understood that if you can plant the Gospel in the intellectual center in a place, you will affect the rest of the place (if you hit the intellectual center). That’s why the campuses of our colleges and our schools are so very important. That’s why it is so important that our college students be faithful witnesses for Jesus on their campus. That’s why it’s so important that our high school students be faithful witnesses for Jesus in their high school. That’s why our middle school young people ought to be faithful witnesses for Jesus in their middle school. At the intellectual centers is where the messages are disseminated into the rest of the community.

Christians have, too many times, withdrawn themselves from the marketplace of ideas. There are some people in this country who believe Christians don’t even have a right to speak up in America. This is our land too. This is our country too. We have a perfect right to express our convictions in America. The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ does not have to take second place to any idea current in this land. In fact, I believe that the Gospel of Jesus and the Word of God can hold their own, and yes, conquer in the marketplace of ideas, because they are superior to any idea that ever gripped the heart of man.

The greatest thought to ever grip a human mind is the thought of God. The second greatest thought to ever grip the human mind is the thought of heaven. The third greatest thought to ever grip the human mind is that the God who wants to take us to heaven has made it possible through the death of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. What an idea!

Paul says, “I want to go to Spain.” Do you have a magnificent obsession? Have you ever seen anybody get obsessed with something? Ever seen a mountain climber obsessed with the mountain? That’s all he can think about. That’s all he can do is make plans to climb that mountain. He eats it and sleeps it and drinks it and plans it.

Have you ever seen a football player get obsessed with the end zone? He just makes up his mind he’s going to the end zone. He’ll run over you, run around you, outrun you, trick you. He will do whatever is necessary because he is obsessed with that end zone.

Paul had a magnificent obsession. He was obsessed with getting the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the Roman Empire.

I want to challenge you to become obsessed with taking this Gospel to your neighborhood or city. Let’s get on fire about getting this message of Jesus into the homes of this world. All the devils of hell can’t stop us if we get on fire about this business of telling this world about Jesus. It can be done. The power of a magnificent obsession.

Also, there is the power of a magnificent possession. We read in verse 29, “I’m sure that, when I come to you, I’ll come in the fullness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ.” Paul is saying, “I know that I journey in the power of a magnificent possession. I have the fullness of the good news of Christ, and I’m sure that there is going to be a blessing.”

I’m sure God is going to work. This is one of the greatest reasons I thank the Lord for being able to preach the Gospel. Every time I stand to preach the Gospel I do it in the assurance that the fullness of the Gospel of Christ is going to bring power in the service. I expect lives to be changed. Every time you go out and witness you can go in the fullness of the Gospel of Christ, knowing that there is power in the Gospel of Jesus.

Paul said in Romans 1:16, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes,” you and I who know the story. We have the glorious privilege of seeing that power displayed every time the Gospel of Christ is delivered. The fullness of the Gospel of Christ. A magnificent possession.

Next, verses 30 and following Paul shows us the power of a magnificent intercession. We read in verse 30, “I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me.” Isn’t that something? Here is the great man, Paul, the greatest theologian of all time, greatest missionary in the history of the Christian faith. Yet Paul says to those believers in Rome, “I’m urging you; I’m pleading, I’m begging you. Pray for me. Strive together in your prayers for me.” He does it many times in his writings.

One of the grandest things anyone can do for you is to intercede for you before God in heaven. Praying for someone else is one of the most wonderful things a person can do. You wonder sometimes how you escaped that temptation? It may have been someone was praying for you. You wonder how you made it through that difficult time in your life? It may be that there was someone who was praying for you.

Paul prays for three things in these closing verses of the book of Romans. He says in verse 31, “Pray that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judea.” There were some who wanted to take the life of Paul. He is saying to pray that God will take care of him.

Then Paul says to pray “that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted by the saints.” In other words, he says, “Pray that when I get to Jerusalem with the offering that their hearts will be open and they will be receptive to it.”

Next, Paul says in verse 32, “Pray that I may come unto you with joy by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed.” He is saying, “Pray that when I get to you, with you I will be refreshed. ” He needs encouragement. He is praying that he will be taken care of—rewarded. He is praying that his gift that he brings will be accepted—reception. He is praying that he will be encouraged by then when he gets to them—renewed.

The question comes—was his prayer answered? As you study the book of Acts, all three of these significant prayer requests are answered by the Lord. “Pray that I will be delivered.” There were some unbelieving Jews who covenanted together that they wouldn’t eat or drink until they had killed the apostle Paul. They entered into a blood covenant that they would kill this man, Paul. Yet, when Paul was to be killed, God saw to it that 470 bodyguards were around him. God took care of him. He answered his prayer. When Paul got to Jerusalem with the offering that he had brought for the poor saints, the Bible says in the book of Acts, “they received him gladly.” God answered that prayer.

In the last chapter of Acts when the apostle Paul gets to Italy and the believers of Rome come down to meet him, the Bible says that when he saw them, he thanked God and he took courage. He was refreshed; he was encouraged by them. God answered that prayer.

We are on a journey. We need strength to go the distance. The good news is we can claim the power of God in answered prayer for our journey.

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