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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/david-oliver/some-man/
I'd like to read in Acts chapter 8, please. And I'm assuming that the meeting is to close at noontime. Thank you. Acts chapter 8, verse 28, 27, rather. And he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, and eunuch of great authority under Candacy, queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasure and had come to Jerusalem for to worship.
Verse 30, and Philip ran thither to him and heard him read the prophet Isaiah and said, understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, how can I except some man should guide me? A man? Some man. Verse 34, and the eunuch answered Philip and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this?
Of himself or of some other man? I listened to a man this week on Tuesday night visiting in the assembly in Bryn Mawr, and he pointed out these three men, just pointed them out, and I want to just leave them with you.
A man, first of all, a man who is an expression of grace. He's from a long way away. He has a tremendously responsible position. He is such an unlikely candidate to ever be in heaven. He has been seeking, but somehow misdirected in terms of going to Jerusalem.
Disappointed. What he expected to find, apparently, he did not find. Whatever substitute he may have been willing to accept, he still hadn't found what his heart longed for. He paid a lot of money, I would assume, to bring back a portion of the word of God.
That's all he's got. Just a little bit of the word of God. Not much. Wouldn't be the whole book of Isaiah. It would just be part of the book of Isaiah, probably. Somehow or other, he had purchased the best part of Isaiah.
Is that all right? Somehow or other, he was on his way back. And you know how it is in these GPS's these days on your phone, like there's a blue dot there and the circles just keep going? He was on heaven's GPS.
There he is going down through the desert. I don't know why Philip wasn't sent to see him a little closer to Jerusalem. I don't know whether the man was just at the extremity, because that's the way God works.
But there's a man that grace has singled out. An unlikely candidate at the extremity of his condition with a heart that's empty and he doesn't really know what he's looking for. But God has his eye on him.
And do you think that I'm not talking about you and about me? Which one of us was really a good candidate for salvation? Oh, I know, we say, I'd love to see that person saved. They're almost a Christian now.
They just seem, God saves sinners. And in your case and in my case, God has saved a soul that did not enrich him, that cost him infinitely, and that has absolutely no business being saved, naturally speaking.
Fair enough? God's still saving that kind of person. They may come in a different skin than you come in. They may come from a different culture than you come from. They may come from a totally different background than you come from.
But here's a man and the eye of God is on him. And the grace of God reaches that man. When I would have thought, there's something too hard for the Lord. How is the Lord ever gonna save the Ethiopian eunuch?
A man and the tremendous interest of the grace of God in that man. But the second is some man. And in fact, of the three of these, there's only one of them that has the actual word man in there. The next two are just somebodies.
I don't mean like somebody. Philip was a somebody. He was a somebody. Because God can use somebodies. And they don't have to be special somebodies. They are just somebodies. And you look back at Philip and you read about him as he's introduced.
He is going to be one of these men that's described by a man who was a man of honest report. A man who's got testimony. That's really, it's just one word. Honest report, sometimes good report. It's just a man of report.
That it's a matter of character as far as he's concerned. He's living honorably, honestly in the sight of all men. He's a man that's seeking to do what is right. His character. He knows something of the spirit of God's guidance in his life.
He is full of the Holy Spirit and he's full of wisdom. Somebody. Anybody here today that would be willing just to keep a good testimony. Just to allow the spirit of God in daily life. In the little things.
Where you're reading in the word of God. And what you seek as far as a job. And when you're trying to find direction. Just trusting the Lord and looking to the Lord. Whatever it may be. Just knowing what it is to allow the spirit of God to control your life.
A good testimony. Submission to the spirit of God. And he's got wisdom. Now, if you think you've got it, you haven't. But I'll tell you where you can get it. I think you could just paraphrase this loosely and say he was a man of good report or honest report.
He was a man that was full of the Holy Spirit and he read the book of Proverbs. Or if you don't like that, then he was a man of good report and he was full of the Holy Spirit. And he was a man that was steady in trials.
Because if any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God. James chapter one. Here's a man and whatever the circumstances of life are, he has learned to act wisely. He has learned the fear of God. The beginning of knowledge.
Wisdom is the fear of the Lord. According to Proverbs chapter one. That's the keynote of the whole book. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. He's learned in addition to that. He exemplifies something of consistency.
Character, number one. Consistency, number two. Because he's a man that the believers at Jerusalem select with this in mind. He'll be a good man to take care of distributing the food to the widows. He's just the kind of a man that will carry through a job.
It doesn't matter what kind of a job it is. He'll do it. He that is faithful in that which is least. I just leave that part of the, just with that part of the verse for the moment. It just, he's willing to do whatever has to be done.
Doesn't stand in the sidelines and look for a headline job. Doesn't somehow or other hope that the folks are noticing. Doesn't tell his missionary report of everything he's done. But he just does it. Some man.
He's a man that has some capability in this matter of handling the word of God. Because he's down in Samaria in chapter eight. And this is the kind of man that he's preaching Christ. He's preaching Jesus Christ to them.
Now I'm not talking just at the moment about somebody that has tremendous skill. Because I've listened to some men and I thought they had the gift of gab. Is that, do they talk about that in Illinois?
They do in Ireland. And there's a lot, well I hate to be prejudiced here. But I mean I've heard men that have the gift of gab. They can talk. Ad infinitum talk. And then when you stop and think, well wait a minute, what did they say?
I'm not talking about that. But here's a man, he's got something from the word of God. He's got the person of Christ right in his soul. He has one thing that interests him. He has Christ central. Is that all right?
This is some man. Character, consistency, capability in the sense that he is able to communicate the word of God to others. But there's one last qualification that I want to notice here and that is compliance.
Is that all right? So the spirit of God says down to the desert. And the only thing that matters to him is to do what God has for him to do. He has got his bookings in Samaria. But the spirit of God, the angel says first of all, and then the spirit says, but the angel says to him, Gaza, down in the desert.
And doesn't explain to him why he's sending them there. He's just compliant, obedient to the word of God. So is there anybody here today that would not like to be some man? I mean, even if you're a woman, it's not a male thing.
It's somebody, any old person, sorry, not old, any person who is seeking to keep a good testimony before others, who is willing to be guided by the spirit of God, who doesn't care what kind of work they have to do, just whatever the Lord entrusts to them to do, who loves to be able to just speak to others about the Lord Jesus.
Anybody here that would like to qualify, would like to be a somebody, just some man? You have the traveler, a man. You have the messenger, some man. And he just happens to be where God wants him to be.
And he's not like me, because I miss so many opportunities. He didn't miss an opportunity. It just happened to be a passing chariot. I mean, how are you gonna speak to a man on a passing chariot? So would you like to stop for, runs up alongside.
He says, what are you reading? Do you understand what you're reading? It just didn't fall into his lap, but it was an opportunity and he didn't miss it. So David, when's the last time you pulled up alongside of some chariot and said, you understand what you're reading?
If from this conference, somebody went away with this longing in their heart, it would be a good conference for you. Lord, make me some man, just give me opportunities and help me not to miss them. Just to be somebody that tells some man about Jesus.
Just, I only want to be someone that God can use. The man, the expression of grace, the effectiveness of grace is now Philip begins, he opens at the very same scripture where the eunuch is reading. And he preached unto him, Jesus.
He knew where to go and he knew where to launch from. And he was able just to connect with where the man was. Don't try to get people to fit into your mold of thinking and the way you want to approach them.
Approach them in a relevant way and go from where God has them to where God wants them. But then there's this other scripture. The other man, I really wanted to speak about him most, but I see the clock is not, I didn't use the clock right, rather.
So let me just do what I can with you very quickly. Some other man. He is not some man who is like everybody else. That would be another of the same kind, but that's not the word that's here. There's another man who is another of a different kind.
And I just want to ask you to think very quickly because you'll know it very well. I just want you to go down through Isaiah chapter 53. Start at chapter 52 at the end, verse 12. And just go down to chapter 53.
In that section where the eunuch is reading and tell me, is he some other man? Is he different from every other man? Because I think it's very clear that while they saw no beauty in him, there's no other man that has such beauty as he has.
They made his grave with a wicked because he had done no violence. Neither was any deceit in his life. His works, all that he did, no matter what the circumstances called for, no violence. And as far as weakness in itself is concerned, there was no abuse of strength, no violence.
There was no resort of weakness. Never a word that just covered up what he really was trying to say. No guile in him. There's no other man. Isn't this true this morning? I'm not telling you this afternoon, but isn't it true this morning?
He's unlike every other man. There's no man that has the beauty of this man. There's no man that was ever so misjudged. True? As far as he was taken from prison and from judgment, the idea that he did not have a just judgment in the eyes of Pilate, in the eyes of the high priests, in the eyes of the people, no matter who it was, he was judged to be worthy of death and he was none but the son of God.
He was judged to have spoken blasphemy because he said he is God and he was eternally God. And in the hour of his deepest sorrow, his deepest difficulty, they watched him, and I know we quote this, but understand this was meant as no compliment.
It was the ultimate insult to his person. They did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. They figured as they looked at that cross, God is striking him. God is smiting him. God is exposing him.
God is causing him to be seen, to be the imposter that we know he is. There was never a man so misjudged as the Lord Jesus. There was never a man so abased as the Lord Jesus. As many were astounded at thee, they stood back and they looked with sheer amazement and a sense of shame that it should be so.
As many were astounded at thee, his visage was so marred more than any man's. And I am not too happy, but maybe you like this, but I'm not too happy to say that the Lord Jesus was more disfigured than any human being has ever been disfigured.
I think that that starts at the level of humanity and measures how low he came. I think it's better to realize that he was, there was never a man, a dignified man, an honorable man is the word that's used.
There was never a man who deserved so much who came so low. Do you understand the difference between what every man has suffered or any particular man has suffered and what he suffered is not so great as the distance between what he should have received and what he did receive.
Oh, to think of the Lord Jesus, who deserved that every knee should have bowed before him in worship, but the knees bowed before him in shameful scoffing and rude railing on his person. He should have been crowned and honored.
And they crowned him with thorns and bowed before him and rose up and spat in his face. No one was ever a base like the Lord Jesus. As many were astounded that he was so, his visits was so marred more than any man.
And from that of one who deserves such dignity, he is the son of man. And he deserved the highest honor from men. There was never a man who was so abased as the Lord Jesus was. I do not have to somehow or other come up with some figures, some graphic figures of disfigurement.
I would like to keep in my mind what he should have received, who he was and what he received from the minds of men. It was not, it was visible because it was the people that saw what was happening and they will see him in his glory in a day that is yet to come.
As many as were astounded at the, his visage was so marred more than any man and has formed more than the sons of men. So shall he startle many nations. What they saw then and what they saw there or will see there.
But let me just suggest to you there was no one so exalted as the Lord Jesus. Behold, my servant whom I, no, sorry. Behold, my servant shall deal prudently. He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high.
I think Mr. Vine puts it this way. He shall be raised, he shall be lifted up and he shall be given the highest place. Oh, my beloved brother, my beloved sister, are you not glad today that the lone sufferer from Galilee, the despised Nazarene has the highest place in glory?
There will never be a higher place than that man bears. He will never have a peer. He will never have a rival. He has the very highest place and he has the portion with the great ones and dividing all with the spoil.
There will be no one who will be such a victor in a day that's coming. Everything God has entrusted to his hand, he shall see of the travail of his soul and he shall be satisfied. Everything that God ever intended to be accomplished will be accomplished by one unique man.
He's different from every other man. Wonderful truth that he is fully a man who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and being found in likeness as a man, he humbled himself, sorry, in fashion.
He took to himself the form of a servant being made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man. You know how to put that, don't you? Being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
And in that passage, likewise, no man has ever been brought so low and no man has ever been exalted so high and no man will ever have every knee bow to him, but he is the victor of Calvary. He is some other man, isn't he?
Not like him. Get 10 ,000 together, but he's the chief among 10 ,000. He is fairer than the children of men. Oh, the tremendous grace exemplified in one unique person, some other man.