 We talk about Paul an awful lot. Paul, who is the apostle to the Gentiles, has given us a lot to say, a lot of doctrine. He commands us to have sound teaching and to be devoted to him, to have faith in him. We talk about Paul's life, but one thing we don't talk a lot about is Paul's death, meaning his death bed. What is it Paul says? And matter of fact, for some people who don't realize we actually have his last words, not necessarily the last words that he breathed out, we have no idea what was the final thing that came out of his mouth, but we at least do have his final letter, which is the letter 2 Timothy. So we can kind of see what he says. And interestingly enough, for some people is what his emphasis is. And so before we go there, let's think about a few things about Paul. Here's a man who was persecuting the church. He was zealous for the cause of Judaism, but he comes in contact with who he never expected to be in contact with. That is Jesus whom he was persecuting. And what does Jesus say to him? Or not necessarily to him, but what do we know that he says to him by way of his conversation, God, that is God's conversation with Ananias. In Acts 9.16, the Lord is speaking to Ananias and says, I will show him how much he will suffer for my name's sake. Now it's likely that also God showed Paul what he's gonna suffer for his sake. And so Paul, as you read his letters, you understand that Paul pretty much knows what his fate is gonna be. As a matter of fact, Paul makes a statement that to live is Christ to die is gay, meaning that to live to serve the Lord, that's for the benefit of Christ. And as a matter of fact, he even says that he would rather go and be with the Lord, but to be here to serve him, that's good also. And to die, he says, is gain. And so he'd much rather die, but he knows why he's here. And so he is going to fight and push on for the benefit of those who are yet to place their faith in Christ. Paul, who goes on to suffer many things, as a matter of fact, he even says that he's gonna boast about those things that he suffers, has gone through a lot in prison a few times as a matter of fact, he even talks about how at some point in time that he and his cohorts were also at a point in their life where they were just, as he says, disparate of life, he says in 2 Corinthians 1-8, he says, for we do not want you to be unaware brethren of our affliction, which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively. Many of us can certainly attest to that. We can sympathize with that. A lot of us have been excessively burdened, as he says, he says beyond our strength so that we disparate even of life itself. In other words, dying was actually preferable to them at that time, because of what they were going through. There are times where you can be so overburdened and overcome with what's happening in life that you can, too, disparate of life. But this is Paul, and so Paul is letting us know that he is, in many cases, just like us as a matter of fact, when they thought that he was someone special, what did he say? As they thought that he and Barnabas were some sort of gods, he said, we are just mere men just like you. And how much of a mere man was he? Well, so much so that he struggled with sin himself. In verse 14 of chapter seven of Romans, he says, for we know that the law is spiritual, but I am a flesh sold into bonds of sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand, for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing that I hate. But if I do the very thing that I do not want to do, I agree with the law, confessing that the law is good. Now, notice his point, his issue is that he's having struggles just like us with sins. As a matter of fact, down in verse 18, he says, for I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh, for the willingness present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. Now, notice this. Either Paul is either exaggerating, he's lying, or he's being honest. I believe that he's being honest. He's a mere man, he does struggle, but the Lord has endowed him, obviously spiritually, to suffer and to go through things and to even equip him. And so you would think that on Paul's deathbed, that as Paul is getting ready to die, he wants to share that with us. That's one of the last things he wants to share, or maybe to push and persevere with our faith. And he does kind of hit it that, but Paul goes into a greater point, and this is the main point with all that as the introduction, as the background. I want you to see what Paul's focus is. So in second Timothy chapter four, starting verse one, he says, I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead by his appearing. Notice what he says, preach the word. When, how often he says in season and out of season. I'm not sure when the season is, but clearly he means all the time. Be ready to preach the word all the time. And notice what he says, he says to reprove. There are gonna be those that you're gonna have to prove something to prove the word, be ready to open the word and show them. There will also be those who even when you show them will not listen to sound teaching. So what does Paul say after that? Rebuke them. Even though as unpleasant as it might seem, there are times where you have to rebuke a brother or some false teacher or heretic or some unbeliever. There are times where we have to, even as unpleasant as some folks might think it is, you have to rebuke them. Notice also what he says. He says, exhort with great patience and instruction, meaning there are times where you're gonna have to keep laboring and keep doing and keep doing. One warning, one rebuke, one reproval is not enough. He says to do so, exhort with all long suffering or with great patience. And notice what he says, and instruction. Why does he say so? Because as we already see now, the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled. They will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires. Now, before we continue, notice the theme of what Paul is saying. Paul is at his deathbed. We know so because he's gonna say so in a little bit, but this is what Paul is speaking of. He's not speaking about how wonderful our salvation is. Obviously, we know that. And he's not speaking about how tough it can be out there, guys keep pushing through. Obviously, we know that as a matter of fact, he stated as such. But notice his main point, and this again is at his deathbed. He says that there will be unsound teachers and there will be those who want to have their ears tickled and they'll go to these unsound teachers to tell them alive, to make them obviously stop thinking about the truth because it feels good to them. Verse four, he says, and they will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to miss. That's what we're seeing today. Verse five, he says, but you be sober, obviously be cognizant, be alert, be aware of all things. He says, endure hardship, which is gonna come. He knows that better than anyone else. He says, do the work of an evangelist. That means giving the gospel as you live. However it's gonna show up in different people's lives. We don't know it's gonna vary from person to person, but do the work of an evangelist fulfill your ministry. Notice what he says here in verse six, for I am already being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure has come. Paul has recognized that he has served his purpose. He has gotten to the end. He is getting ready to die. Notice what he says. He says, I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. Now the course that he's speaking of, remember the Lord says that you are gonna suffer these things for him, but he's gonna reward him, but he is gonna suffer. Paul has suffered and his end is near. He says, notice this though. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. And this part right here, I have kept the faith. Notice what it is. This is tain, pistain, teterreca, which is I have completed. I have kept the faith, kept the tenets of the faith. I have not kept believing, kept having faith. I have kept the faith, which is what? The doctrine, the teachings, what we know from the Lord. In other words, as far as we're concerned, the word. I have not deviated from the doctrine because he just talked about keeping sound doctrine. So we notice what he's speaking of. Paul has not departed that. The problem is today we see more and more people who have departed from sound doctrine who have departed from the teaching. They have decided to come up with all sorts of new myths. As Paul calls, they will have ways of kind of tickling their own ears or going to other people. That is certainly a problem day. And think about that. This is what Paul decides to warn us on his deathbed. Of all the things that you can think about warn about doing on your deathbed, would it be, maybe it would be, but for most folks who would not be to warn their loved ones of the dangers of the world or as a Christian to warn them to make sure you keep and hold to sound doctrine. Do you think that's important? Do you think that's important to Paul? Do you think it's important to God for us to have that in the canon, to be God-breathed? This is what the Holy Spirit is causing to be breathed out of Paul on his deathbed to make sure you, I, we all stay focused on his word. He said, I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. He says, in the future there is later for me a crown of righteousness. Wish the Lord, the righteous judge will award me on that day and not only me but also to all who have loved his appearing. So follow suit with Paul and we too, you, I, or you, me, everyone else can have the exact same thing. He says, now, obviously this is where his humanity comes and he says, make every effort to come to me because there are those who are no longer with me. They were with me before, but they are no longer with me. Now notice what he asked for. Verse 13, he says, when you come, bring the cloak, which I left at Troas with Carpuz and the books, especially the parchment. Paul seems to want some reading before he dies. Now we don't know if the books ever made it to him, but presumably these are possibly scriptures and so forth. I don't think that he's looking for a mystery novel. I don't think he's necessarily looking for some comedy or comic strip. I think this is probably some scriptures, but that being the case, notice what he says, verse 14. He says, Alexander, the coppersmith did me much harm. The Lord will pay him according to his deeds. Be on guard against him yourself for he vigorously opposed our teaching. Interesting that on his deathbed, one of the last things that he says is to watch out for this person, Alexander. And for us, the last thing or for us to do to watch out for someone like an Alexander, someone who was preaching a false gospel, a false teaching, someone who opposed us. And notice, this needs to be understood, that people that opposed the gospel won't come out and say that, hey, I opposed the gospel. They're gonna say that I do agree with you. I just believe this or I believe that they will, as he says, not endure sound doctrine. And you'll have the different Alexanders of the world who will come and do whatever they can to distort the scriptures, whether intentionally or unintentionally. It doesn't matter, but distortion is still the end result. And so he says, be on guard because they are opposing the message, which message? The entirety of there's no part of the Bible. There's no part of the teaching that is secondary or tertiary, that is insignificant. No, if it's written means that it was given to us by the Holy Spirit. And if that was the case, then that means that the Lord intends for us to keep all of it. As Paul says, I have kept the faith, kept the teachings, kept the belief. That's the goal he says. Now he does go on to end with some final greetings and so forth, but notice again what his point is to make sure that the keeping of the word, the soundness of it, is of paramount importance. If that's the case with Paul, on his deathbed, some of his final words, at least the final words that we have recorded for him, then what do you think we should think about that? How should we treat that? The reason why it's important to make sure that we hold a sound doctrine, that we teach the word, that we, as Paul says, don't exceed from what the text says and that we also point out, again, for some folks, it's not a pleasant thing, but for some folks, we need to call out and make sure that we warn of the Alexanders of the world, warn against the bad teachings and direct them to sound doctrine. Like Paul's wish is on his deathbed, which is not his wish, but it's the wish of the Spirit through him. And so guys, we should take a lesson from Paul. The times are getting worse and worse and worse. How strong do you think this warning might have been if Paul were alive today, facing his deathbed? I think he probably would have used some even more choice words, some more stringent, tougher words because what he's speaking of then is clearly happening now and it's at a sped up rate. And so for us, we need to do the same thing. There are people that we can think of, there are some that we haven't even met yet that fit the definition of the description of this, Alexander. And so guys, make sure that you hold to sound doctrine, teach it, preach it, keep it, love it, make sure that no one leaves you astray from that. And Paul says the same crown of righteousness that he has that's lived for him, the same thing you can have too. Amen.