PONDERING... Are You Kicking Against The Goads? (Acts 9:1-11)

Are You Kicking Against The Goads? (AM Sermon Notes)

GIST: Our natural state is rebellion, so we need a dynamic and humbling encounter with Jesus which will result in noticeable change.

SCRIPTURE: Acts 9:1-11

This morning we’re coming to Acts chapter 9 and what many people consider the second most important event in the history of the Church, the first being the resurrection of Jesus. Here we’ll see the conversion of Saul. This man who began as a violent persecutor of the church becomes the vessel God uses to spread His gospel further than any other single early evangelist.

I considered looking at the first 19 verses this morning, but realized less was probably more here, so instead we’re going to just break down the actual events of his conversion recorded in verses 1-11.

"1 But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. 4 And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" 5 And he said, "Who are you, Lord?" And he said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6 But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do." 7 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. 8 Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank. 10 Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." And he said, "Here I am, Lord." 11 And the Lord said to him, "Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying,”

Saul’s conversion is miraculous. Yet, so is the conversion of every sinner. If you have come to know Jesus as your savior, you’ve been rescued from ultimate destruction. I think sometimes I take this for granted in my own life. But we should never forget: salvation is a miracle. In the time we have together this morning, I want to break that down a bit. As we walk through Saul’s experience, let’s look at the parallels to all of ours. Yes, this is the same Gospel message we have discussed several times, but I warned you when you called me that it was the only message I’d ever really preach, because it’s the only truth that transforms souls. Here’s our gist: Our natural state is rebellion, so we need a dynamic and humbling encounter with Jesus which will result in noticeable change.

I. OUR NATURAL STATE IS REBELLION (1-2)

Threats And Murder To Stop The “Way”. The passage starts by giving us a picture of how Saul is spending his time. He is controlled by a single desire: destroy the church. If you remember, at the end of chapter 7, we first encountered Saul. He was watching the cloaks of those who stoned Stephen--and Saul approved of his death. Then, as chapter 8 opens, we see that Saul is ravaging the church, tearing both men and women from their homes to face trials like the one Stephen had faced. He is a man full of rage.

As this chapter opens, we see rather than subsiding, this rage has just continued to burn. He has now intentionally taken steps to not only persecute Christians in Jerusalem, but to expand his conquest as he heads to the ancient and influential city of Damascus.

Now, I said I wanted to draw parallels between Saul’s conversion and ours as we moved through the text, but this might seem exceptionally harsh, right? Admittedly, Saul was outwardly and violently opposed to Jesus. Yet, our natural state is no less rebellious. We might not be as extreme in our actions, but in our hearts, aren’t we the same before salvation? We can’t have intellectual integrity and be indifferent to Jesus. He claimed to be our God and the Lord of our lives. The One we need. We can either accept those claims and run to Him as Lord, or reject Him. This rejection might be incredibly conscious for many of us. We don’t want anything to do with Jesus at all. Or, we might just refuse to take Him seriously in order to avoid having to think about His claims. Either way, we’re trying to stop the Way from spreading to our hearts.

By nature, we all want salvation. We just don’t want Jesus to be our savior. We already have that place reserved for ourselves. The trouble is: we can’t save ourselves. That’s why, like Saul, →

II. WE NEED A DYNAMIC AND HUMBLING ENCOUNTER WITH JESUS (3-9)

Let’s break down the elements that lead to his conversion. First, he came face-to-face with→

Light: Revealing The Glory Of Jesus! Luke records Saul’s conversion two other times in this book (chapters 22 and 26). In those accounts, we learn that it was about noon when he had this encounter, and the light he saw was brighter than the sun. This was not just some freak astronomical phenomenon. This was a direct encounter with the glorified Jesus. We might not see this directly stated here, but Saul records it elsewhere, and even verse 17 of this chapter says as much, “17 So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit."” (emphasis added). Like during the transfiguration, Jesus is glowing in His glory! Saul is traveling to Damascus to stop the spread of Jesus’ Gospel and comes face-to-face with the truth of Jesus instead! Then, he hears a→

Voice: Revealing God’s Person and Our Position. Not only does he see Jesus, but he hears Him and is told in no uncertain terms both who it is that is doing the talking and why it is that Saul needs a talking to! The speaker is→

Jesus, the Lord of the World and Lover of His Church. The voice says, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" 5 And he said, "Who are you, Lord?" And he said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” Before Saul even fully realizes what’s going on, he calls Jesus Lord because even in his rebellion he couldn’t miss that this was no mere man. He’ll later learn the true significance of what he’s said. Jesus is Lord, and Lord of all!

He is also the Lord who cares passionately about His people. The statement He makes here is super important. He says, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” In Saul’s mind, Jesus had already been crucified and was gone. However, seeing the risen and ascended Jesus now, he’s told persecution of the Church is persecution of Jesus. As Christians, we need to remember this. First, as encouragement. If people reject the message your life is lived for, it’s not you they’re rejecting, it’s Jesus--and He takes this seriously! Secondly, we should take this as a warning if we’re tempted to engage in petty squabbles about theological nuances. Don’t get me wrong, there are churches which claim to be Christian, but teach heresies. We must stand against this. If the core truths of the Bible are being rejected and salvation is being proclaimed by any other means but Jesus alone, we can’t be indifferent to this. However, if their differences are only surface level, then we cannot fall victim to persecuting those we should be serving alongside.

So, Jesus is talking and tells the listener that he’s→

Saul, the One Intentionally Kicking The Goads. We don’t actually have the record of Him saying this here. However, we do when Saul retells the story in chapter 26.“Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads”(Acts 26:14b). This phrase really stuck with me this week. In fact, it was the inspiration for today’s message title. The goads being referred to here were a kind of cattle prod used to “encourage” oxen when plowing a field. Basically, it was a sharp piece of metal on the end of a stick. If they stopped moving or started going the wrong direction, the farmer would use the goad to redirect them. It was a sharp pinch, but wouldn’t cause any actual harm to the cattle...as long as they moved forward. However, sometimes the oxen would resist to the point of kicking back at the goads. Doing this would cut up their legs and cause far more harm. That’s the picture Jesus uses to describe what Saul is doing. He’s heard the truth. We know that for certain. If not while Jesus was still on earth, then undoubtedly in the testimony of Stephen. Nonetheless, he chose to reject Jesus. All he was doing was hurting himself. Jesus’ gospel was still spreading and would continue to spread despite this persecution. In fact, this persecution was spreading it even faster. Saul, however, was running full speed ahead...toward Hell.

Then, Jesus steps in and gives Saul Personal Directions. “6 But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” We’ll look at this more next week, but for now let’s notice that this is how salvation works for all of us individually. Salvation is not a corporate experience. We’re in desperate need and Jesus comes in and changes everything.  →  

This is A Dynamic and Humbling Encounter. I don’t want to stretch this out too much here, but I do want to make these quick observations.

Dynamic: It will mess you up. By dynamic I mean life-transforming, not necessarily noticeably exciting to everyone else. You might not have a road to Damascus experience that involves being blinded by glorious light and hearing Jesus’ voice audibly. Nonetheless, when you encounter Jesus, it will shake you up. It will completely change your heart. Once you loved yourself and now you love Jesus. This will be→

Humbling: It will reveal your need and bring you to your knees. Your need is Jesus, and you’ll fall before Him. Saul had been arrogant in his pursuit of Christians. Now, he’s been blind for three days and won’t even eat. He’s shook up. Because the impact of this→

Encounter: It will be all because of Jesus! This is Grace!

III. THIS WILL RESULT IN NOTICEABLE CHANGE (10-11)

He Is Praying (11). We’re actually going to look at the next portion of this passage a bit more next Sunday, but I wanted to draw attention really to one phrase here that marks the difference in Saul’s heart. Notice that when Ananias is called to go to Saul, he is given this description:  “look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying,” (emphasis added). This might not seem too startling at first, but it really is. Saul had been an elite Pharisee. He had been “praying” his entire life. However, now it was different because now it was real, not rote. He wasn’t just going through the motions of muttering words because that was what you were supposed to do. This wasn’t a ritual. He was now communicating with the God who saved him!

He is Proclaiming (20). Not to give too much of a spoiler away, but eventually, he’s going to get his sight back and regain his strength. At that point, we’re told: "20 And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "He is the Son of God."" This man was determined to destroy Jesus. Now, he’s proclaiming Him. This is amazing grace! He’s not who he was.

TAKEAWAYS

Let’s start by looking back at that gist: Our natural state is rebellion, so we need a dynamic and humbling encounter with Jesus which will result in noticeable change.

1. We need to remember this. God changes unworthy people. We have to remember both of these. First, all the saving comes from God. We’re the ones who need rescued. And no one is beyond His grace...because He only saves the utterly hopeless. None of us were ever worthy of His salvation. Praise Him and stay humble.

2. We need to be changed by this. Do you feel hopeless now, out of the reach of God’s grace? Let’s just make this clear: you cannot find yourself in a more dire position than Saul found himself in on the road to Damascus. In the same way, the natural state of all of us is equally dire. Are you kicking against the goads? Your resistance is only hurting you. It’s not an effort of brave individualism. It’s a blind rejection of the grace you need.

In the same way, if you have given Him control of your life, don’t try and take it back! Sometimes, as Christians, we continue to kick against His goads. We know He’s calling us, but resist His leading. However, when led, the oxen would be used to help produce the harvest. Don’t let your stubborn resistance rob you of that joy!