We are going to go back to Romans 15, but the passage I want to begin with this morning as we prepare again to understand what Paul is saying in Romans 15 is 2 Corinthians 12. 2 Corinthians 12. And I want to pick up the reading at verse 24. And here we get a better understanding of what the apostle Paul suffered as an apostle bringing the gospel to the Gentile world. 2 Corinthians 11, verse 24. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews, the 40 lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I was adrift at sea. On frequent journeys in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, Danger from my own people. Danger from Gentiles. Danger in the city. Danger in the wilderness. Danger at sea. Danger from false brothers. In toil and hardship. Through many a sleepless night. In hunger and thirst. Often without food. In cold and exposure. And apart from other things, There is a daily pressure on me of my, and again, the ESV translates it anxiety. It could be translated care. I prefer that personally. All my care or anxiety for all the churches. Let's again go to the Lord. Father in heaven, we again cry to you, we trust as children who are very much aware of our weaknesses, our infirmities. We know the outward man decays, but we also, Lord, have struggles with the inward man, with our hearts and our minds. And even when it comes to hearing your word, we are not ignorant of the devil's devices. He comes like the birds of the air to snatch away the seed that is sown. And so we plead, Lord, again, that you would help us, help us to have our minds clear of all unnecessary thoughts or even anxieties. Help us, O Lord, to have our eyes opened today by your Spirit Give us again understanding. Give us, Lord, insight. Give us discernment. We desperately need your Holy Spirit to help us. So we plead, Lord, that you would come and be our helper even today. And we ask this in your Son's name. Amen. As most of you know, we are now coming to The back end of Romans, this has been a long exposition of the book, maybe what, three or four years. And when we come to the last two chapters, Romans 15 and 16, you might think of an airplane coming in for a landing. Romans 15 and 16 serve as a runway, but it's quite a long runway. There's a couple of red flashing lights on this runway, two short benedictions. You almost think Paul's going to stop the plane, but he keeps on going. Verse 13 and again verse 33, those are what we call benedictions. But as Paul continues to taxi this runway, Like a pilot who gives a post-landing address, he talks about connecting flights. The Apostle Paul has several personal trips planned, which will necessitate traveling thousands of miles. And when we come to verse 22, through verse 33, we get a clear understanding of where he plans to go and why. Three distinct geographical locations are mentioned. Notice, two big cities are put on his GPS, Rome, Jerusalem, and a broader region referred to as Spain. And here's how we want to shape the sermon this morning around those three locations or planned destinations. Rome, Jerusalem, and Spain. Here's how we are going to go. Number one, the desire to visit Rome. Number two, the need to visit Jerusalem. And number three, the burden to visit Spain. That's how we're going to proceed. Number one, the desire to visit Rome. When preaching through a book like Romans by way of what we call verse-by-verse exposition, it can literally take years. And so it's always good to remind people, and you might not like being reminded, but there is a way of learning, and by way of the three R's, repeat, repeat, repeat. And the book of Romans, I've said this a number of times, in terms of what is it about, primarily it's about the gospel. Romans 1.16 gives us the grand thematic statement, I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation to the Jew first and to the Gentile. And we should always keep this in mind, the gospel is currently relevant and universally relevant. No matter what your age, No matter how old, how young, no matter what your vocation, no matter whether you're single, married, we all have this in common, we are born sinners. Romans 3, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There's no one good, no not one. We all desperately need a righteousness that we don't have. Heaven will never be yours if you don't have that righteousness. And it's not found in you. It's not found in anybody else you know on planet Earth. It's only found in Jesus Christ. and Jesus alone. Jesus lived a perfect life. He never sinned. He fulfilled all righteousness. He died on a cross, a blood atonement to wash us from all our sin. And we never achieve that righteousness or we never achieve it by anything we do. It's received by faith and faith alone. And that gift of perfect righteousness is offered to every sinner on planet Earth. And to receive it, you simply have to believe. That explains what the Book of Romans is about. and also explains why he frequently mentions Jews and Gentiles. That comprises the whole human race. and you come to chapter 15, he mentions Gentiles 20 times, I believe, in this chapter, oh, 10 times, sorry, in this one chapter. Why does he talk so much about the Gentiles? Because he is the apostle to the Gentiles. And he tells us that three times. He tells us that in 1 Timothy 2, Galatians 2, and if you look back at Romans 11, verse 13, I'll give a quote here from that text. Romans 11, 13, look what he says. Now I am speaking to you Gentiles, inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry. And as Paul brings his missionary activity under the spotlight here in Romans 15, he's still on the mission field. He's about to step off. And to understand something of his strategy, look at verse 20 of chapter 15. It's very significant. I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation. Paul is what you would call a pioneer missionary, a frontier missionary. He's gonna go where no one has gone before. And as he talks about bringing the gospel to the world of the Gentiles, it's obvious that Christ Jesus is at the heart of that gospel. He mentions Christ Jesus seven times in chapter 15 alone. Verse 16, verse 17, verse 18, verse 19, verse 20, verse 29, verse 30. Listen. If you're not preaching Christ, you're not preaching the gospel. Whatever you're preaching, you're not preaching the gospel. Paul could say to the Colossians, him we preach. He could say to the Corinthians, we preach him crucified. Now when we come to the Book of Romans, and lock into the calendar as to when it was written. Most believe, most believe, commentators, scholars, that it was written 57, 58 AD. And that would mean Paul's been on the mission field for 10 to 15 years. He's gone on three missionary journeys, and he wants to go on a fourth. He gives us the scope of his missionary enterprise. Verse 19, look at it again. From Jerusalem all around to Illyricum, which would be places in Yugoslavia, Albania, Montenegro. That's where he's been, that's where he's gone, and now he wants to take that gospel further west, which would be to Spain. And when he comes to the back end of this letter, he lets the church in Rome know that he's got his bags packed, and he soon is going out the door. I remember growing up in Canada, and we didn't have a TV for most of those years growing up. But when we did have a TV, we often would watch two shows. My dad would supervise us. We would watch Bonanza. And we would watch Walt Disney 3, I guess, and the Tommy Hunter Show. Anybody know Tommy Hunter? Tommy Hunter, he would always end the show this way. I am a traveling man. And there's lots of people who love to travel. I think my dad loved to travel. We went across Canada four times. That's all the way from British Columbia to the Maritime. People love to travel. They love to visit the big cities, the Swiss Alps, the Hawaii, Barbados, whatever, take a cruise to Alaska. Well, Paul was what you could call a traveling man, but he's not traveling like a tourist. He's traveling across that known world to preach the gospel to poor, lost sinners. It's estimated he traveled 10,000 miles. And I should tell you, he's not a young guy when he writes Romans. He's at the back end of his life. He's probably around the age of 60, which in those days probably would have been for us around the age of 80, but 60, so he's old age from that perspective. His body has been racked with all kinds of abuse, physical abuse, beatings, scourgings, stoning. He's been thrown in jail cells. He has a thorn in the flesh that gives him a lot of pain. You're looking at the guy. Some have even described him physically, whether they actually saw him, wrinkled face. He was hunched over. They say he had bowed legs. If he had shown you his back, it was like a spider web of scars. If he went to a local doctor and got an overall estimation of his physical health, I think they would have been shaking their heads, wondering how this guy is still walking, and he wants to go on a mission field again. What keeps him going? Not dollars and cents. Nothing that seems to be valued in American society today, the safety and security and comfort and ease. Something else is driving him. Something else is driving this traveling man. And I would say there are three big loves, three great loves in his life. He loves his savior, he loves lost sinners, and he loves the church. And that's why he wants to go to Rome. That's his first, in terms of his first destination, in terms of what's on his heart and his mind, he wants to go to Rome. If you go back to chapter one, you can see that, and it comes, it's emphasized by way of repetition. Look back at chapter one of Romans, Romans 1, verse 11, I long to see you. Romans 1, verse 13, I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, is that I've often intended to come to you. And when you come to chapter 15, it's almost like a replay. Verse 22, chapter 15, I so often have been hindered from coming to you. Verse 23, I've longed for many years to come to you. And then we turn to chapter 16, he picks up that word beloved, uses it four times to reference certain individuals in that church. No question, the man had an extraordinary love for the church. And the church was also extraordinary. Romans 1 tells us that their faith had gone throughout the world. He comes back in chapter 15 and gives commendation in terms of their high level of gift and grace. Romans 15 verse 14, they were full of knowledge, full of goodness, able or competent to counsel. But that kind of raises the question, if that's all true, Paul, if you love them like that, why haven't you visited them? And Paul is quick to answer that question. Verse 22, I've been hindered. That word hindrance is only used three times, all three times by Paul. I think the most relevant text in terms of better understanding what he is saying and what he's not saying here in Romans 15, his First Thessalonians 2. And remember that was a baby church that had been birthed under his gospel preaching and it went through a very intense time of persecution. And Paul leaves the town of Thessalonica, no doubt to protect the church and also to keep on his own schedule of going through those Gentile cities, but when he writes to that church in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, he tells them, I've sent Timothy back to check up on you guys, to see how you're doing, and I'll tell you why I haven't come. I've been hindered by the devil. That word hindrance means putting up roadblocks or cutting trenches in the road so one can't drive through or even walk along that particular road. The devil has hindered me. This might be helpful. I don't use too many football analogies, often hockey analogies, but the devil can function like one of those huge NFL linebackers, that's what they are, right, who blocks the running backs from meeting or coming across the goal line. He plays stop, blocks us. He tries to block us, he tries to prevent us, especially gospel servants, missionaries, from bringing the gospel to the world. But now when Paul tells the Roman Christians, I've been hindered from coming, I don't think he has the devil in mind. So what has hindered Paul from coming to Rome? In short, it's this, his missionary priorities. His kingdom labor. Look what he says in verse 13. He's telling them now, I'm no longer hindered because I finished the task. I have fulfilled my ministry. He says it again in verse 23, but now since I no longer have any room for work in these regions, I've completed the task. Matthew Henry says, the whole of that country being more or less leavened with the savor of the gospel, churches had been planted in those considerable towns and pastors had settled in on that work which Paul had begun, there was little more for him to do. And so you think he's gonna make a beeline to Rome, right? No, there's something else he must take care of. That's our second concern. the desire to visit Rome, but secondly, the need to visit Jerusalem. That's the second thing on his GPS, the need to visit Jerusalem. Remember, Paul has the care of all the churches. He's become aware of a great need in the church in Jerusalem. And notice that that word, the city Jerusalem, is profiled here in verse 25, verse 26. Verse 31 of Romans 15. Again, Paul is giving simple, clear communication as to where he's been, where he's going, and why he's got nothing to hide, open, transparent as a pane of glass. Look what he says in verse 25. At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem. And he tells them why. To bring aid to the saints. You see that word aid? That's the ESV translation. It's the word for deacon. It means to serve. It means to minister. It means to help. And he gives more explanation as to what the need was and how they were going to help. Look at verse 26, a contribution to the poor. Or verse 27, a service of material blessing. Most believe that Jerusalem was in the midst of a famine. There seems to be evidence of that even from Acts chapter 7. but the Apostle Paul has been able, as he's gone through the Gentile regions, planting churches, he's been able to secure help from the Gentile churches. Verse 26. For Macedonia and Archaea have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. And when the Apostle Paul gets the contribution from these Gentile churches, he has a thousand-mile trek in the opposite direction in terms of where Rome was. He's gonna go to Jerusalem and round about in terms of up and down from Jerusalem, that would have been a 2,000-mile detour. And these were not days when you had luxury cruises. or planes or trains or cruise control cars. This required a lot of shoe leather walking. Horse and donkey riding. At some point in time, he has to get on a ship and cross the Adrenic C, and there's always been for Paul, whenever he's done any travel, he knows, he knows there's a risk factor. Go back to that little snapshot I gave you in 2 Corinthians 11. You might have known the word he picks up more than any other word is the word danger. 2 Corinthians 11, again, three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, and night and day I was adrift at sea on frequent journeys. Danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brethren. Let me ask you, you want to sign up? Any volunteers? I don't see any raised hands. What added to his uncertainty and his vulnerability is that he's a hated man. This is number one enemy for the Jews in Jerusalem. And Jerusalem's never been a good place, has it, for prophets. They killed them. They killed Jesus. He's going to Jerusalem. It would have not have surprised him if he got there and they had a lynching mob. And that's why he explained his prayer. He was well aware of the danger. Verse 31, that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea. Now you might wonder why? Why even go, Paul, in light of all of the dangers and the risks? Why not send a deacon or two, people that they wouldn't even recognize? Why are you going? I think there's something here besides a benevolent need. I think there was a unity concern. Remember, if there was any issue in the church at Rome, it was this. divide between the Jews and the Gentiles and they had some issues over those Christian liberty issues and there were the weak on one side and the strong on the other side on these matters of what you could eat and what you could drink and days that you could recognize as religious days and the Jews were in all likelihood the weak and the Gentiles were in all likelihood the strong when it came to those Christian liberty issues, but there was a potential strife in the church, and when it comes to this matter of contribution to the church in Jerusalem, Paul could anticipate some potential divide. On the one hand, he doesn't want to offend the Jews. The Jews might have thought that, Paul, you've put pressure upon these Gentile churches to give, and they really don't care about us, that that's not coming from their hearts. And Paul reassures them, no, no, these Jews who are contributing really do care for you, they really do love you. Verse 27, for they were pleased to do this. So that would be, that would solve that problem. but you also, in all likelihood, had another problem, the Gentiles. Again, they've contributed. They're gonna give whatever they're gonna give, probably lots of money, and they're gonna give to these Jews, and that might put them in a kind of, well, you're gonna have to owe us sometime, you Jewish brethren. We helped you. And so Paul puts the Gentiles on notice. Be careful, guys. He doesn't want the Gentiles to be thinking that these Jews are indebted to them because of the contribution, and that might be what they were thinking. You owe us because we took care of you back then. And Paul gives a corrective. Look at verse 27. No, you owe them. You Gentiles owe them. He puts the Gentiles under a sense of obligation to the Jews. How can he do that? Well, if you understand redemptive history, easy question to answer. These same Gentiles are enjoying great spiritual blessings because of the Jews. The Gospel came to the Jew first. Paul said that back in chapter 1, and again he says it twice in chapter 2, to the Jew first, to the Jew first, to the Jew first, and one only has to go back and make a survey of Old Testament history God blessed the Jews. He gave them the law. He gave them covenants. He gave them the temple. He gave them the sacrificial system. Abraham, Jacob, Isaac, all the patriarchs were Jews. Ezekiel, Isaiah, Obadiah, Amos, all those Old Testament prophets were Jews. The Messiah was a Jew. The apostles were Jews. You owe them big time. You might remember in Romans 11, He described the Jewish nation under that beautiful image of an olive tree. And when the Jewish people began to reject their Messiah, God judged them by their unbelief. And while he preserved a Jewish remnant, he also engrafted into that olive tree a Gentile sprout. Jews or Gentiles have been engrafted into that olive tree. but the root system of the olive tree is Jewish. So when you Gentiles open your pocketbook and give money, don't ever think they're indebted to you. You're indebted to them. the desire to visit Rome, the need to visit Jerusalem, thirdly, the burden to visit Spain. I said earlier, the Apostle Paul has three destinations, right? Three places he is determined to visit. Rome, Jerusalem, and Spain. That would be the last one on his travel itinerary. Verse 24, he tells them, I hope to see you as I go to Spain. And he's determined to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. Spain was a Gentile region, far, far west of where he was right now. However, there's a big question, at least among the commentators and all the scholars, did Paul ever get to Spain? The Bible doesn't answer the question. He got to Jerusalem. He got to Rome, he got to Rome not the way probably he thought he'd get to Rome, but when he gets to Jerusalem, things don't go the way you would like them to go. There's an uprising, a mob, and Paul gets arrested, he gets taken captive, and eventually he gets transported back down to Rome under a contingent of Roman soldiers. And then he gets to Rome, and then he will be put in prison for a couple of years. So he gets to Rome, he gets to Jerusalem, but did he ever get to Spain? Some think he did. Most think he didn't. Some think he did. That when he had When he got out of prison the first time, he had two imprisonments in Rome. He got out of prison the first time, he went to Spain. There's actually a church father, Clement of Rome, some years, 30 years after Paul's death, he wrote to the Corinthians and he said this of the apostle, he reached the limits of the West. Spain was in the West. I tend to think he made it. But even if he didn't make it, the gospel did come to Spain 200 years later. And if you just Google this, I Googled it the other day, how many churches are there in Spain today? You know what popped up? The big number of churches in Spain today are 4,500 plus churches, and they are evangelical churches. The gospel got to Spain. Going back to Rome, the gospel was spread even further when Paul got to Rome, wasn't it? Not too long we went through the book of Philippians in our men's Bible study and that became clear because Paul writes Philippians from a jail cell, it's a prison epistle, and he makes reference in Philippians 4 verse 22 to Caesar's household. He writes them and says, greet one another and greet those of Caesar's household. You see, you can't stop the gospel. It's like trying to stop God from creating the world or ruling the world. And the gospel has always gone, following the strategy of the apostle Paul, has always gone first to the big cities of the world. He brought the gospel to the big city of Ephesus, Corinth, Colossa, Philippi, today the big cities of Shanghai, Islamabad, Tehran. Berlin, go across Canada, every major city in Canada, every major city in the United States, the gospel has made inroads. I heard a testimony by Pastor Conrad Mbewe just the other day, and he said, we've planted 40 churches across Africa. You can't stop Jesus. You can't stop him. You can't stop him from building his church. The gates of hell, the gates of Hades, I know there's a little different interpretation on that, but it shall not prevail. We've considered the places, Paul's itinerary, Rome, Jerusalem, and Spain, and let me just say three things very briefly by way of application. No one will ever follow the footsteps of the Apostle Paul. Let's just get that straight. He was one of a kind. He was a missionary, pioneer missionary, uniquely called, uniquely gifted, but that doesn't mean that there's not something that we can emulate, that we can look to in terms of our own practical everyday living. And let me mention three things that I think we can legitimately glean from his evangelistic missionary endeavors. Number one, be faithful. Be faithful. Don't be ashamed of the gospel. It's the gospel of God. It's the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul could even say, he says it only in Romans, my gospel, it's my gospel. What do you mean, Paul? My gospel, it's the gospel that saved me. It's the gospel I love. It's the gospel I preach. It's the gospel I share. Just like Paul, we can say, my gospel, that's the gospel that saved me. That's the gospel I love. That's the gospel I will preach. And Paul took it to the Gentile cities across that Mediterranean world. He even took it into the prison in Rome. He took it everywhere. And so can you, right? You can take it to the workplace. You can take it to the soccer fields, the football stadiums, even the hockey arenas. You might find a few who listen to it there. You can take it on the airplane. You can take it to the hair saloon. You can take it to the supermarket. You can take it anywhere, everywhere to anyone. The Gospels for the Jew, the Gospels for the Gentile, that includes everybody. Be faithful with the Gospel. That's the first application in terms of for us living in the here and now. Second, be prayerful, be prayerful before Paul gets on his horse and rides to Jerusalem. It could have been a donkey, but we don't exactly know. But he does ask the church to pray for him. The missionary success, and he had success, extraordinary success, planting 14 plus churches. He had success galore. How do you explain it? Not in terms of his gift and his wisdom, but his dependence upon the will of God, the grace of God, the wisdom of God, the sufficiency of Christ. I can do all things through Christ. And there's no one in the Bible, no one in the Bible, who teaches us more about prayer than the apostle. And when Jesus talked about missionaries, remember what he said. The field is white under harvest, but the laborers are few. Not too many volunteers. So pray, pray. I was struck during this previous election, and I try to avoid politics from this pulpit, but I was struck by how many people were praying. I can't remember that, at least it didn't come to my ears, maybe because I'm an American now, I don't know. They're telling me they're praying, praying, praying, that's great, that's wonderful. Because we all know how influential politicians can be, but do you think that a preacher or a missionary could be more influential than a politician? Who would you rather have, a Spurgeon or a Donald Trump? A George Whitefield? or that fellow up in Canada called Trudeau. Don't you think Spurgeon had more of a profound impact upon Britain than any UK prime minister? Don't you think George Whitefield had more influence upon this country than any president of the United States? Yes, politicians can change policies. They can impact the food price, the standard of living. They can preserve our 403s. They can keep a country from going to senseless wars. They can keep people from coming across the border in terms of immigration, but they can't change hearts. Don't trust your politicians. Don't trust your government. Trust Jesus. And Paul had a greater influence than any Roman Caesar ever did. He changed the world by preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. So let's pray that God would raise up Preachers, missionaries, be faithful, be prayerful. The last thing I would say, be thankful. We just came through Thanksgiving, be thankful. We should be thankful in everything, but have you ever, ever thought of being thankful to God for the Apostle Paul? Ever thank God for Paul? I've been reading a book by John Piper. It's called 30 Reasons Why I Loved the Apostle Paul. It's a great little book. Recommend it. 30 reasons, 30 reasons why you can thank God for the Apostle Paul. He really was, no exaggeration, the greatest Christian, the greatest preacher, the greatest missionary, the greatest church planter this world has ever known. And who would ever, ever, ever have thought that God would take a man like Saul of Tarsus Entrenched in legalism, a racist. That's what he was. He hated the Gentiles. He despised the Gentiles, and Pharisaical Jews didn't have a high regard for women either. And that's why when Paul writes Romans, it's interesting that the back end of Romans, Romans 6, he mentions 10 women. 10 women. who he knew, who he loved, and who had helped him. A church persecutor, a Christ-hater, becomes the chosen instrument to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. You're thankful for that man, aren't you? We're Gentiles. And thank God also for this, his willingness. Here's where we need to hear this, brethren, because I think we've been conformed to the world in a lot of different ways. He was willing to suffer for Christ. He could sacrifice all things. All things. Everything that I thought was so big, so important when I was a Jew, Pharisee, in terms of my pedigree and my education and my, everything I thought was so big is nothing to me now. I suffered loss, suffered friends, suffered family, suffered physical health, comfort. And there's a lesson for us, if we are determined to share the gospel, like Paul shared the gospel, if we're determined to preach the gospel, which is very offensive to most people, personal evangelism will cost you. And so we need to pray for ourselves, as we heard in the Sunday school hours. We need boldness and courage. To talk to people at work. I could lose my job. Yeah, you could. To talk to my friends. The first guy who rejected me when I became a Christian was my hockey buddy. Family, your children, your dad, your mom, are you willing to pick up a cross? John Bunyan, this is the last, got locked into a prison for 12 years. He had four children. One was blind, her name was Mary. He could have got out of that prison. All she had to do was sign a document that said, I will not preach. I'll keep my mouth shut. And they would have opened the jail doors and said, you're free to go. He said, no. I must preach the gospel. And it wasn't a waste, was it? He wrote Pilgrim Progress, the second best-selling book in the world. God was determined to get the gospel out by way of Pilgrim's Progress. That's how God works. We have to trust him. We have to serve him. and be willing to suffer for him. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we come again, acknowledging our own fears and anxieties, even when it comes to sharing your gospel. Give us what we don't always find in ourselves. Give us holy boldness and courage. Also give us a greater love for lost sinners. But we pray, Lord, that you would help us to tell this lost world of who your son is and why he came into this world. And oh, Lord, continue to show mercy and grace. Even give us more opportunities to bring this gospel even in our own neighborhood and communities. And we ask this in your son's name. Amen.