Acts 9:1-9 Series

Kicking Against the Goads

Acts Series

Chuck Sligh

July 26, 2015

NOTE: A PowerPoint presentation is available for this sermon by request at chuckcsligh@gmail.com. Please mention the title of the sermon and the Bible text to help me find the sermon in my archives.

TEXT: Turn to Acts 9:1-9

INTRODUCTION

Illus. – Steven Kettlett tells about a lady who went to the spend some time with her uncle who owned a sheep ranch in the Rocky Mountains in America. One day she walked into a barn and saw a young lamb with its leg in a splint.

“Awww, what happened?” she wanted to know.

“Oh,” said the old shepherd, “he had a bad habit of running off, so I broke his leg.”

That sounds awful, but hold your judgment until the end of the sermon.

Have you ever wanted to break someone’s leg? Well, our text tells us of a man whom many Christians might have been tempted to pray that someone would break his leg—maybe even both of them! His name was Saul, a man who was a menace to the early church. He was the young man, you’ll recall, who watched over the coats of the men who stoned Stephen in Acts 7. In Acts 8:3, we read, “As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.”

Then, as we open chapter 9, we’re met with these words, “And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, 2 And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.” (Acts 9:1-2)

Saul was a man with a mission—to destroy Christianity and every one of its followers. That was his intent when he got arrest warrants and began his trip to Damascus. Little did he know, however, that his entire life was about to make a dramatic U-turn!

Look at what happened in verses 3-9, “And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: 4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? 5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. 6 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. 7 And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. 8 And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus. 9 And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink.”

We don’t know how far out of Jerusalem Saul and his entourage had traveled, but we do know that all of a sudden brilliant, blinding light flashed all around Saul. Falling to the ground, a voice said, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?”

The voice was the voice of Jesus, but notice something very peculiar that Jesus said. In verse 5 He said, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks [which most versions translate as ‘goads’].”

Well, you must be asking, what in the world is a “goad”? Today, we call them “prods” and we use electricity. But before the modern electric cattle and sheep prod, they used a “goad” for the same purpose—which was a long, sharp, pointed stick used to guide livestock.

So, what was wrong with Saul’s life that Jesus would say he was “kicking against the goads”? Let’s consider that for the remainder of your message:

I. FIRST, SAUL HAD A RELIGION—BUT HE DIDN’T HAVE A RELATIONSHIP.

Saul was a Jew. In fact, he was a teacher of Judaism. Years after his conversion, in the letter of Philippians, he described his religious credentials this way: “Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; 6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.” (Philippians 3:5-6)

As far as his religion was concerned, Saul had dotted all the right “i’s” and crossed all the right “t’s”. The problem was that Saul’s religion was an inherited religion, not a personal relationship—one he had learned from His Pharisee father; and from sitting at the seat of the great Gamaliel, the most influential Jewish teacher of his day. Saul knew all of the laws and ordinances of Judaism; He was an expert. But there was one problem: Saul knew Judaism, but he didn’t know GOD.