Reading from verse thirteen. On three of the thirteen chief went down and came to David in the harvest signs unto the cave of Abelam. And the chief of the Philistines quits in the valley of Rechaim. And David was then in and hold. And the garrison of the Philistines were then, was then in Bethlehem. And David longed and said, O, that one will give me drink of the water at the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate. And the three mighty men break through the host of the Philistine, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it and brought it to David. Nevertheless he would not break thereof, but poured it out unto the Lord. And he said, Be it fast for me, O Lord, that I should do this. Is not this the blood of the man that went in jeopardy off their lives? Therefore he would not think it. These things did these three mighty men. The second scripture in the first book of Kings chapter ten. First Kings ten on verse six. And she, that is the queen of Sheba, says to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy ex and of thy wisdom. Howbeit I believe not the words until I came, and my eyes have seen it, and behold, the half was not told me. Thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I have. Happy are thy men. Happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and that he is thy wisdom. The final scripture, again, back in the book of Proverbs. The twenty-fifth chapter of the book of Proverbs. And verse one. These are the Proverbs of Solomon. which the man of Hezekiah, king of Judah, Coffinah. It is the glory of God to conceal our faith. But the honor of kings is to search out a matter. Now God will bless to us this reading from his wonderful work. In these verses that we have read this evening, you will find that David's men were mighty men. Solomon's men were happy men. And Hezekiah's men were wise men. David's men were mighty men. Solomon's men were happy men. And Hezekiah's men were wise men. Now David's men were not always mighty men. In First Samuel chapter twenty-two, we find that they were the products of the schedule of Emmanuel's land. They were not always night and night. But in First Samuel twenty-two, and in these verses in Second Samuel twenty-three, we find first of all what they read. Secondly, we find what they did, and thirdly, what they became. We are told what they were. They were the promise that the schedule of a man was land. He was a man, and the scripture says that they were distressed, that they were in debt, and they were discontented. Now this is characteristic of the natural man. The moment he is born into this world, he is born into this world in sin. The Bible says, and we all must come back to the Bible. The Bible says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. I sat down with a lady in Ontario a few months ago. She had gone to a specific church for many, many years, and I said to her, upon what are you dependent upon for eternity? She said, my good works. She was seventy years of age, then about, give or take a year. how good works. I said, well, would you accept what God says about you? She said, certainly if it's in God's word. And I took it to Romans chapter three. There is none righteous. No, not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after God. She says, what can I do? I said that only one thing you can do is confess your sins. And he is able and willing to forgive us of our sins. And so these things are characteristic of men in every age in their sins. Distress, in debt to God and discontented. We discovered that men are distressed mentally and physically and spiritually in the world today. This was true in the days of Paul the Apostle. He wrote to the Ephesians and he said that the Gentiles, the sinners, those still out of Christ, that their understanding was darkened. And the function of the devil today is to blind the mind of them that obey not the gospel, lest the light of the glorious gospel should shine unto them. God of the faith half-blinded the minds of them. And so his function today is to back in the mind of men and women to keep them in their sins and to keep them out of touch with God. There's a man in the Bible he's called Legion and he was distressed mentally. He was in a place called the Jews and there he was bound with chains and fetters When he was constantly breaking these chains of attackers, he was under the boundaries of Satan and he was out of his mind until he came in contact with the Lord Jesus Christ. And there are the tremendous chains. We find him sitting in the presence of the Lord, closed and in his right mind. And those who accept the Lord Jesus Christ are the people who are right. in their mind. But to reject the law of Jesus Christ is a very foolish thing to do. So men are distressed today mentally. We just require to look at what Amici drug addiction on the increase. The devil is using the channel of the mind to keep men and women away from the gospel of the grace of God. And he's a master tactician, is the devil. and he's very, very busy in this area today, particularly amongst our young folks. They were distressed, and we also find that men are distressed physically today. Different parts of the universe, such as you'll see written in Bayafra, the Ahabivist station in Pakistan as a result of that, Lord Tidal Ray. Oh, that physical distress has been there. And men are distressed today spiritually. They are looking for direction and they are going sometimes in the wrong direction to find an alleviation to their problems. This is a very distressing day. It was in the days of David. And we read also concerning these men, what they were, that they were in debt. They were in debt to a God of mercy. Now beloved friend, there's only one way whereby we can inherit God's salvation and that is if we come God's way. You and I will always be in debt to the grace and to the Lord of God. Paul says to him not wicked is that a war not reckoned of grace but of death. But to him not wicked not. but believe it in him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. As I told this dear lady in Ontario, I said, you cannot work for salvation. You can go to church or church meetings or church gatherings and work for a thousand years, but you will never, never obtain God's salvation. To him not work it. is that a world not reckoned of death, of grace, but of death. In other words, if we keep working, we will always find that we are in God's death. But to him that worketh not, but believers, in him that justifies you ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Distress in death, and they were discontented. The world had no hope. They were social outcasts. And they had no hope. Their future was hopeless. Discontentment. Did you ever see such a day on the day in which we live for discontentment? Those that live in the getters, they don't want just to improve the position, but they want a great house. And those that are poor, they want to be rich. And the man that has a sherry, he wants to have a Cadillac. And the man who has a Cadillac, he wants to have two. And discontentment pervades the entire environment in which we live. Those that are overweight, well, they want to be a little thin. And those who have thin, they would like to put on a few pounds. Those that are hungry, they want to be good-looking. And those that are good-looking, well, they're thankful they are. For all of the discontentment, in the colleges, in the campus, in the high school. Discontent. Little gil of nine years of age sent to me and connected in New York recently. She said, Uncle Neil, you're not with it. I said, dear, what do you mean I'm not with it? Well, she said, you're still wearing white shirts. You're supposed to wear colored shirts today. So happened I had a colored shirt in my case, and I put it on just to please her. The next day she came to me, she said, no, you're with it. You belong to the young hook generation. Nine years of age. Well, she was telling me that she, on the number of her fellow students, went to the principal of the office school to see if they could get Monday, Blue Monday off. You see, this is what's prevailing the hearts of men. Discontent. That's what it was on David's day, and that's what it is in our day. It intensified, we are sad to say, in our day. The stress and in debt and discontented were these men. But there was a solution to their problem. We have seen what they were, but we have told here in chapter twenty-three what they did. It says that they went down to David. If there was any man who could change the position, It was David, that military tactician, that young man who said to Saul the king, God who delivered me from the port of Baal, and from the mouth of the lion, will deliver me from the hand of this uncircumcised Philistine. And that stifling youth went down into the valley of Elah, and he slew the lion. And he became a great, mighty warrior. for God. So if anyone could change the life of these men, it was David. What did David mean to these men? Well, first of all, we discover that he was the royal man. Secondly, he was the rejected man. And thirdly, he was the man of renown. That's why they were so thrilled to be able to go down and to identify themselves with David. Now my friend, there's only one person who can change your miserable life and mind in our city. To take it away from distress and death and discontentment, it's the man Christ Jesus. No one else. Our religious affiliation, our ethics, our rules and regulations will never change the heart. It takes the man, the royal man, our Lord Jesus Christ. He is so attractive to these men that they were willing to go down and join themselves to him. Now the Lord Jesus is a royal man. Father says, Jacob, in the fourth and ninth book of Genesis, the scepter shall not depart from Judah, but the Lord will come between his feet till Shiloh come, and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. There was born in the city of David a savior who was the royal man. The Gentile Magi, these mystics from the east, they came and they said, there is he that is born king of the Jews. He's the royal man. But all the tragedy at the end of his journey, they said, Away with him. We will not have this man to reign over us. But let us never forget that one day God will present him to one day with us as the king of his choice. God in his season will present him the blessed and the only potent thing, the king of kings and Lord of lords. He's the royal man. And just like David, he is a rejected man. Our Lord is now rejected. And by this world of his own, by the many still neglected, but by the few enthroned. Soon he will come in glory. The hour is going now. The cloud and day is coming, by and by. The royal man, the rejected man, but David is also the renowned man. No one had a reputation like David. Why, you remember on that memorable occasion, which caused the infuriation of Saul, the son of Kish. The women's thanks Saul has slayed his thousands, but David has tens of thousands. He was a man with a great reputation for being a man who could rest with God. Our Lord Jesus is a royal man. It's hard to say today he's a rejected man, but oh we thank God he is the renowned man. He's the only man who ever had a reputation that pleased God. That day when he came out of obscurity, when he identified himself with a faithful remnant in the waters of baptism, in Jordan, God's heart pulsated with a newfound joy. He opened those heavens. This is my beloved son. In whom I find all my delight. The only man who ever had a reputation that praised God. When did he challenge his enemies? Which of you convinced me of sin? And so there is a person who can change your mind. And that is our Lord, Jesus Christ. Oh, you might have this appointment in the garden. And after all, there is this appointment. But when you look inside your own heart of hearts, what do we see? If we look into the searchlight of truth and allow it to search out your own heart, we are anything like what we should be. But he is a person that will never fail you. As his friends may fail our liba. One day through the next they grieve us, but this friend will never leave us. Oh, how he loves. And so I recommend this man to you this evening, if you have never fallen in love with the Lord Jesus Christ. So what did we do? knowing that in that clearly in Adam there was a man that could appeal to them in the name it says that they went down to David in verse thirty here we have the humiliation they went down and we have that identification they identified themselves with David and we have the submersion It says that he became a captain over them. Beloved saints of God and of God that are in this evening, here is the key to success. Humiliation, identification with the royal men and submission to him. That is the secret of success. Are we prepared to become humble? The poet says, The bird that soars in highest wings build upon the ground his golden nest. And he who doth more sweetly sing, sings in the dusk when all things rest. In rock and night and gale we see what honour hath humility. We've got to come down in our own estimation to be of any value. I've known some great men in my time, in my sojourn throughout the world. Great men. And I always found there's two of them. They were humble men. Oh, that we might get down in humility and get off our pedestal. Paul was a man who learned vital lessons. He said to the Philippians, A few Philippians can boast, so can I. I was circumcised at age then, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, as taxing the law of Pharisees, taxing deal, persecuting the church. And Paul says, as taxing the righteousness, which was in the law he was blaming. Oh, Paul came down. He just brought things which came to me. I counted but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and to count them but refuse humility. We think of our Savior, our great exemplar, He thought it not something to be grasped at to be an equality with God, but he emptied himself. And he took upon himself the form of a bondservant and was made in the likeness of men. Being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Oh, he came from the highest pinnacle of glory. But he went right down into the dooming of death. And he fought and conquered the Goliath of hair. Humility. And he just loved to identify himself with him. And it's our privilege and privilege to identify himself with Christ. For he ever looked upon us in our league, I never know. And to bring us into the family of God. and wind us with himself ahead of the church is a mystery that we shall never know but we appreciate it we appropriate it by faith and then they became submissive he became a captain over them God expects you now to be submitted to Christ We have been discussing this week the very essence of submission in Romans twelve. It's again your way of repetition. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the message of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Be not conformed to this word, but be it transformed by the renewal of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good. unacceptable, unperfect will of God. Yes, the Lord Jesus can change our land. I might have mentioned that this week already, I'm not too sure, but nevertheless it's worthy of deposition. It's my privilege to be in Peterhead in Scotland just a few weeks ago. And I look back upon a visit previously when a man was just released from prison. He spent thirty years in a penitentiary, in feet ahead penitentiary. He was a regular jailbird, and he committed every crime in the book. And he was liberated. He got on a bus with a friend of mine, and the friend of mine sat down beside him, and they began to exchange greetings. The jailbird said to my friend, I see your dad passed away, I'm sorry to see that he's gone. My friend said, yes, he said we were sorry to lose dad, but he was ready to go. The jailbird said, I wish I could say that. My friend said, if you say that with reality, you can have the issue. If you'll just follow God's procedure, you can be sure that when you die, you'll go to heaven. He says, show me the procedure. He had just engaged himself in a little job. He was a night watchman on one of the housing projects. My friend took him into his little cabin, his little hut, and he pointed him to Christ. And the man that feared running down his street, he said, I've got to tell my wife, about this transaction. So my friend took him along to his wife. He never saw such poverty in all his life. Just a week previously, she tried to commit suicide by drinking liassol. He was such a braggar and a banker. But when he stood on the threshold at the door, she saw that something had happened. He was now a child of God. And she likewise got down on her knees, in that poor, poor home. And she also accepted the Lord Jesus. He said to the brethren, would it be possible for me to give my testimony in the open ear next Lord's day? The brethren agreed. So he went down to the police station and he meets the sergeant and the officer across his desk. And he said to the sergeant, Sergeant, he said, I found Christ of my personal Savior. The sergeant said, Yes, he said, I heard you had joined the brethren. Oh, he said, I didn't join the brethren. He said, I joined the grace. Well, to the sergeant, somewhat running out of words, he said, that was the best thing you could have done for me. And Ephraiser was his name. He said, Sergeant, it's the best thing you could do. He was on good terms with the police officers. They knew him well. The dear man went out and he gave his testimony in the open air, hundreds less men. How God had changed his life. Someone asked me if I could repeat again the master's hand exactly when I would be sitting here. It was battered and scarred. And the option he had thought it scarcely was this one. To waste his time in the old violin. But he held it up with a smile. What am I bidding good folks, he cried. Who start the bidding for me? One dollar and whole naked tune. On the tune and going, but no. From the room far back a gray-haired man Came forward and picked up the ball And writing the dust on the old violin And tightening the loosened string He played a melody pure and sweet As sweet as the angel said The music ceased And the auctioneer in a voice that was quiet and low Said, now it's one of my bid for the old violin And he held it up with the ball One thousand dollars and who made it to? Two thousand dollars and go make it free. Three thousand one, three thousand twice, three thousand and going and gone said these. The people cheered. Some cried we just don't understand. But came the reply the touch of the master's hand. Many a man was light out of tune, battered and scarred by sin, his auctioned cheek by a thoughtless crowd. much like the old violin, a mess of potting, a glass of wine, a game that he travels on, going once, going twice, going and almost gone. But the master comes, and the thoughtless crowd just don't quite understand the warmth of a soul and the change that is wrought by the touch of the master's hand. Tell a Christian, For if you in this gathering this evening unsaved, there's a man who can change your life, our Lord Jesus Christ. Now we have what these men became. We have seen what they were, what they did. Now we have here what they became. They became mighty men. and it was only a David that could change the roof grass from the schedule of Emmanuel's land and make their mighty warriors. And it's only the Lord Jesus that we take up such individuals as you and me and make us what we are. As we can see with Paul, it's only by the grace of God that I am what I am, nothing more. Where we find two things about them and time is flying, we find first of all they became mighty in their affection and secondly they became mighty in their devotion. Now God expects you and me to become mighty in affection and mighty in our devotion. Now in this day we discover it was a day of reversal and rejection. It was a day of disappointment and danger. It was a day of activity and apathy. That's the kind of day it was in the days of David and these men who became mighty. It was a day of reversal and rejection. Because David was in the hole when he should have been on the floor. And so today it's a day of reversal and rejection. The prince of the power of the earth is moving around, shutting up and down. And our beloved savior is rejected. He's maligned. He's attacked from every anger. He was a dear disappointment and danger. The Philistines were down in sacred Bethlehem. The enemy was enforced on divine territory. And surely, beloved, we must confess this evening that this is a day of disappointment and danger. We have the enemy infiltrating even into evangelical circles. Making its presence known, he's operating on the divine territory. And it was a day of activity and apathy. We read here in verse A. Thirteenth and second Samuel twenty-three, then it was the harvest day. I tell you there was never a day like the day for activity, but this tremendous spiritual apathy. And these men, to time out in this busy season, to go down and to cheer the heart of David. I wonder, do we take time out from a busy schedule? to cheer the heart of our blessed Lord. It's overwhelming to see so many here this evening. But sad to see in some areas this is not true. To find Christians gathered in such a capacity. As one brother said in Toronto at the conference recently, he said, I'm afraid that the churches that are becoming failed today were seventy Adventists. He said, some people come to church every seven days and it's a great advent. All that we might be more exercised just to take time to come out to cheer the heart of a righteous rejected but soon coming Lord. So much then for these men they were mighty in their affection. But just a few thoughts in connection with them as being mighty in devotion. Here we have the expression of devotion, and we have the exercise of devotion, and we have the estimate of devotion. The expression of devotion was, David, it is all that one would give me drink of the welfare of the world of Bethlehem, which is wild again. David was to limit my being with himself. And as he thought of that day, And that well mother gave, he just longed for a drink of that beautiful water from the well mother gave. Beloved saints of God and Lord, good morning, our Lord Jesus Christ just longed for an expression of your devotion and mind. Why, he would say to us in the language of yoga, Tell my Father of all my glory. And I will encourage my beloved brethren to see to it that on the Lord's day morning you can give an expression of devotion to Christ. As I said the other night, he's not looking for eloquence or rhetoric. He just wants a sinful, faithful servant, expression of your appreciation in mind for his death. at Calvary. And then we have the exercise of devotion. They break through the barriers. I made the journey once from the well by the gate over the mountains of Judea to the cave of Abel and Beth. And I could hardly draw one foot behind the other as I got back to Bethlehem. I did the return the reverse journey. We went into the YM in Bethlehem and I had drunk several cups of tea trying to quench my thirst. But here were men and they swept their way into the city and laid back out. Was that not an exercise of devotion? And sometimes you and I will have to overcome the barriers and the problems of life to break through and to serve more faithfully our Lord Jesus Christ. and then we have the estimate of devotion. David would not drink that water. He poured it out as a drink offering. He says, O Lord, that I should, and he says, Be it fast for me, O Lord, that I should do this, is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives. You see, beloved, David was a man who was able to give the proper estimate of their devotion. And the Lord Jesus is the man who gives the proper estimate of your devotion and man. Revelation chapter eleven, John was told to take a measuring rod and measure the temple and the altar and the worshipper. And as he looks down from heaven on the Lord's glory and he looks into an ark, he is the one who can give the right estimate of devotion. One practical illustration there are many, but you think of that dear woman who stood by the treasury. And the Lord saw him putting in all the money the rich men out of their abundance. But here was this widow. And she put in her two mites, she put in everything she had. And the Lord said that she gave abundantly out of her penury. That is the estimate of devotion. Now very hurriedly, just a few thoughts and connection, was Solomon's men. David's men were mighty men. Solomon's men were happy men. She was happy are these thy men. We certainly should be a happy people. The secret of happiness is not found in the world, in its fame, in its pride, or in its plenty. Genuine happiness can only be found in the forgiveness of our sins. The third or second Psalm says, Happy is the man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered, and to whom the Lord will not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guidance. Happy is the man whose God is the Lord. And if you want to be really happy this evening, then you will find it in the forgiveness of sins and being brought into the family of God. Now these men were happy for four specific features at least in these verses. First of all, they were happy because of their selection. Secondly, their sitting... Firstly, the service. And fourthly, they are standing. And you and I should be a very happy people when we think that we have been chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. This is a divine mystery. And truly, we sometimes express our thoughts in the language of the handwriting. Why did He love me so? sat a wretch down for a lost eternity and yet he saw us ruin in the fall he had loved us notwithstanding all he had saved us from a lost estate his loving kindness oh how great whom he did for no then he did also predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son the selection the four million of God is an amazing thing. Secondly, they're sitting. Here they're sitting in the presence of the greatest monarch the world has ever known. And here you and I have been taken from the Dunhill. And we are sitting amongst princes. We have been brought right into the presence of the king like the publisher from the faraway country of no past year. So dear to God, dearly we cannot be, for in the person of his Son we are as dearly as he. We are seated in the heavenlies in Christ. I am sitting in his presence, the sunshine of his sails, and with a boaring wonder his blessings I regret. It seems as if eternal days are far too short to sound his brains. Oh, the love that sought me. Oh, the blood that bought me. Oh, the grace that brought me to the fold. Wondrous grace that brought me to the fold. And so we sit down and lodge the morning with God's beloved people in a place with a mind in the presence of the King. I would not exchange that position with a billionaire that doesn't know Christ. Just to come away from the world with all its problems and for an hour to commune and to join in the praise, it's absolutely precious. When you're deprived of it, then you appreciate it more and more. For six long months in World War II, I sailed the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean without any Christian fellowship. And I've seen our ship coming into Haifa Harbor. And as long as that nose was in the harbor and alongside the war, I would grab my Bible bag in my teeth and go down the pilot ladder and away to the Mormon meeting. Yes, the salmon is from the eighty-fourth time. His heart longed for the Lord's presence. They were happy because of the selection. They were happy because of the setting. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit is sweet to our taste. And then they were happy because of the particular service. To serve Solomon was a great prisoner. Two things made them conspicuous in the service, as you would observe. It was their attendance and their appearance. They were attending God. And you and I have been brought into a great relationship to serve the King of Kings. And I'm sure if we gave a proper analysis of our life, we don't appreciate the service of the Kings. The way we should. It pays to serve Jesus. It pays every day. It pays every step of the way. The pathway to glory may sometimes be real. You'll be happy each step of the way. Just to serve our Lord Jesus Christ. And then they were happy because of their standing. They were standing in his presence, a place of dignity. And we have become sons of God. is and fellow citizens of the saints in life. I haven't time to develop the last section. My time has gone. But Hezekiah's men were wise men. There were many wise Proverbs that they copied out from this book of Proverbs. I'll leave them with you. In verse one it says, It is the glory of God to conceal a faith. In these days in which we live, men demand an answer to everything. And so they examined the regions of Genesis and they began to ask questions and there are certain questions that just cannot be answered. It's the glory of God to conceal it. And I shall never forget it, our beloved brother T. Yanis Horton at a conference in Pataki, Rhode Island from years ago. He says, when I read in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth, he said, I bow my head, and he says, I say, I thank you more. And so what I mean today, and they're going to compromise with organic evolution, and they're bringing in optimistic evolution. That God created all things, but by the process of evolution. That is a compromisation. The God that reveals is the God who is privileged to conceal. Paul was the custodian of seven distinct mysteries, but here was one that he'll never saw. It will never be completely revealed. Gray is the mystery of godliness. God manifests in the flesh. And so we must appropriate these things on the principle of faith. It's the glory of God to conceal things. Dr. Darwin who was the nephew of Charles Byron of evolution fame, was posing his presidential address to the Royal Society assembled in Cape Town in nineteen twelve. And this is what he said. He said, as yet the riddle of the universe remains unsolved. Why then do men of renown not turn to the old world, which solves the problem in these words? By faith we understand that the world was framed by the word of God. And the things which are seen are not made of things which do appear. This solution has held the field for aging. It holds it today. And when Darwin, that was his uncle, and his discredited theory, I remember no more, it will still be maintained, God's face, world where. We accept it, brethren, and we praise God. It takes your evidence to conceal what he wants to conceal. Let us be mighty men. Let us be happy men. And the Lord help us to be wise men, shall we pray. Father, we thank thee again for thy kindness. We bless thee for thy people here, and the receptivity to the world. We ask our Father that we shall all endeavor to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our absent but soon-coming Lord. Father, do help us to be mighty men in our devotion and also that we may be happy men as we speak to those prayers and help us to be wise men in a foolish world. In his fearless name. Amen. Shall we sing in closing? I definitely appreciate your prayers. A lot of students do help me out this evening with my voice, with your prayers and the medication. We definitely appreciate his help this evening. Now the number is number one to nine. O Hacaday that fixed my choice on be my Savior and my God. That singeth him to his glory with volume one to nine.