Fighting Against God (Acts 9:1–9)

Fighting is a weird thing. I don’t know why we do it. We get hurt, we get upset, we get frustrated, and we get fed up. We fight. We can find ourselves fighting against a lot of things. We fight against our friends. We fight against our wife or husband. We fight against our bosses and coworkers. We can become people who like to fight.

I grew up in the Bronx, New York. It was a poor neighborhood, most people lived under the poverty line. We affectionately called it “the hood.”

Growing up in Bronx schools, kids liked to get in fights. I don’t know if that is what happens in San Diego, but in the Bronx, it happened quite a bit. There was always the instigator in the class, “Ooh, I wouldn’t let him say that to me.” There were the kids that just wanted to watch a fight, for entertainment. Fights would happen in the school yard, or sometimes in the school. I didn’t get into too many fights. The ones I did get into, it didn’t turn out to well for me. Fighting wasn’t one of my gifts.

But fighting can become a part of your persona, a part of who you are. We carry a lot of what we did as a child into our adulthood. Is it possible that a lot of the things we fight against can ultimately show a heart and a person who is fighting against God?

Today, we’ll be hearing about a man named Saul, and a fight that he tried to take on with God. Open your Bibles to Acts 9.

Acts 9:1–9 CSB

1 Now Saul was still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. He went to the high priest 2 and requested letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women who belonged to the Way, he might bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he traveled and was nearing Damascus, a light from heaven suddenly flashed around him. 4 Falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul said. “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “But get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” 7 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the sound but seeing no one. 8 Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing. So they took him by the hand and led him into Damascus. 9 He was unable to see for three days and did not eat or drink.

There are number of things that we learn here from Saul’s trip to Damascus.

We can find ourselves fighting against God.

We are reintroduced in Romans 9 to a young man named Saul. He first showed up in Acts at the stoning of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. In Acts 7:58, we read:

Acts 7:58 CSB

58 They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. And the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.

Saul was a young, up and coming Pharisee who at this point had quite a bit of influence. He was taught by one of the most respected teachers of the Pharisees, Gamaliel (Acts 22:3), and had access to the high priest. Saul agreed with putting the first Christian martyr Stephen to death (Acts 8:1), which then caused a severe persecution to break out among the Christians. Saul was zealous and passionate about destroying the church. It says in Acts 8:3,

Acts 8:3 CSB

3 Saul, however, was ravaging the church. He would enter house after house, drag off men and women, and put them in prison.

Acts 9:1–9 is really a continuation from Acts 8:3. It says that “Saul was still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord.” If you can say anything about Saul, he was a passionate man, but he was passionate about the wrong things. He was a zealous man, but he was zealous about the wrong things.

You see, Saul should have listened to his teacher Gamaliel. In Acts 5:38–39, some Pharisees were gathered around trying to figure out what to do with the disciples of the Lord. It was Gamaliel, Saul’s rabbi, who said this:

Acts 5:38–39 CSB

38 So in the present case, I tell you, stay away from these men and leave them alone. For if this plan or this work is of human origin, it will fail; 39 but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You may even be found fighting against God.” They were persuaded by him.

This was Saul’s teacher, and he didn’t get the memo. He took the opposite route. He was “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord.” He gets the blessing of the high priest, and with the backing of the upper people in Jerusalem and with a group of men behind him, he heads off to Damascus.

Here was this man, and it’s amazing to think that he believed he was fighting for God. He believed he was ridding Judaism and the world of this upstart sect. He believed the wrong things. And because he believed the wrong things, he ended up finding himself in a fight against God.

I am someone that suffered from depression for many years. I can say now that, praise God, the Lord has delivered me, through His salvation in my life and through the doctors, therapists, and other people God has put in my life. I was sitting in my therapists office one day, and I was not walking with the Lord at this time. In fact, I was quite far from wanting to know or hear about God. I was sitting in my therapists office, and was telling her all about me depression and how things we going, and for some reason I was talking about how I used to go to church as a child, and was a Christian then. (Side note: I believe I was saved as a child, walked away from God but He didn’t walk away from me, and in 2006 He brought me back to Him.) My therapist said, “Maybe you should go back to Jesus.” I thought to myself, “This is what I am paying this lady for? So that she can tell me about Jesus? I don’t want anything to do with Jesus. She’s got some nerve.”

Like Saul, I didn’t see myself as fighting against God. I was dealing with depression, was struggling with anger, and was struggling with strife in my marriage. I didn’t think I was fighting against God. But, the things that I believed were not in line with God’s word. I believed that God owed me something. What if I listened to Romans 12:3

Romans 12:3 CSB

3 For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one.

I believed that my wife owed me something, that she should be living a particular way. What if instead, I listened to Ephesians 5:25

Ephesians 5:25 CSB

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her

See, I believed the wrong things. And in believing the wrong things, like Saul I found myself in a fight against God.

You and I are not going to win a fight against God.

Saul, he was walking with his boys, and was almost at Damascus. The way Acts 9 plays out, you have Saul on one side. He is coming, “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord,” he has the backing of the high priest, and he has his boys coming with him.

I am a kid from the Bronx, New York, so I’m not sure about San Diego, but this reminds me of gangs in New York. It was a scary thing to see a whole gang coming. Saul, he has his boys and he is prepping for the fight. He saying, “Let’s go boys, we got this, let’s get these followers of the Way, lets get these people and bring them back to Jerusalem.” He is almost there, he is nearing Damascus, he can taste this vengeance that he is about to pour out on this church.

You have Saul on one side, and he is looking strong. But then someone stronger comes on the scene, someone Saul didn’t expect. It says,

Acts 9:3 CSB

3 As he traveled and was nearing Damascus, a light from heaven suddenly flashed around him.

Jesus comes on the scene. And this is a Jesus in His glory. When Jesus comes, His weapons of war is His glory. There is no one who can stand before our God. “A light from heaven.”

The Gospels tell us about a mountain that Jesus went up to, along with Peter, James and John. Listen to what happens to Jesus, in Matthew 17:2

Matthew 17:2 CSB

2 He was transfigured in front of them, and his face shone like the sun; his clothes became as white as the light.

Matthew 17:5–6 CSB

5 While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased. Listen to him!” 6 When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown and were terrified.

Our God is powerful. He is mighty. Jesus is full of glory. There is no one stronger than our God. You are not going to win a fight against God. The Bible puts it this way.

Proverbs 9:10 CSB

10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

See, the beginning of wisdom, the beginning of understanding is knowing that you are not going to win a fight against God.

We like to root for the underdog. When I was younger, I owned a Nintendo. It was the 8-bit Nintendo, and one of my favorite games on Nintendo was Mike Tyson’s Punch Out. You played as this guy named Little Mac, and you know, I like to see the little guy win. Little Mac was this little guy who was you, and you would go up against all of these boxers. You would fight all of the boxers until you got to Mike Tyson. He was basically unbeatable, at least for me. I would be smashing buttons, trying to fight this unbeatable guy.

As silly as an example as that is, I feel like a lot of us live our lives that way. We treat God as if He is someone who won’t mind if we live a certain way. He won’t mind about our secret sin, the secret thing that no one knows about. See, others may not know, but God knows. And you can’t win a fight against God.

We can find ourselves fighting against God by the way we live, and you can’t win a fight against God. But there is another side to this. There is someone who fights in our place.

Instead of fighting against God, God fights for us.

When we look at Acts 9:1-9, we like to look at Saul, because we know how the story ends with him. Saul becomes the Apostle Paul, and goes on to write a big chunk of the NT. But the hero in this story in Acts 9:1–9 is not Saul/Paul. The hero of this story is Jesus. He is the hero of this story.

Jesus meets Paul on this road to Damascus. Paul is almost there, and he falls to the ground by the glory of Christ. Jesus says to him,

Acts 9:4–6 CSB

4 Falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul said. “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “But get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

Jesus asks Saul, “Why are you persecuting me?” Saul is confused. He doesn’t know what hit him, and he asks a great question. He asks, “Who are you, Lord?” Jesus responds, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.”

I could picture Saul like, “Persecuting you? No, I was going after your followers...” See, Saul is almost at Damascus. There are Christians there, there are people who follow Jesus, and Jesus stops Saul and says, “That’s enough! No further.” Jesus fights for His people.

See, if you don’t understand this, you will never understand the cross. Jesus says, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.” See, Saul thought he was going after Joseph, or David, or some other follower of Jesus. But going after God’s people is going after Jesus. See, if you want to understand the cross, you have got to understand that when God sees a believer in Christ, He doesn’t just see a believer. He sees Jesus. Jesus identifies with His people.

This is what the cross is all about. I can say on all of the authority of the Bible, that when you put your faith in Jesus, salvation in Jesus is because He has taken on your sins and mine on the cross. All of those times that we lied, that we cheated, Jesus took that on for us on the cross. All of those times we hurt people, all of those times we did wrong, all of those times we blasphemed God and cursed at Him, Jesus took that on the cross. Jesus stands in our place. Jesus fights for His people, and He has won the victory on the cross.

You say, “Jason, I believe in Jesus, but it doesn’t feel like He is fighting for me. Why am I going through this problem?” I don’t know what you’re going through, but I do know that there is someone who loves you, who fights for you. Jesus is fighting for you every day, molding you and shaping you into the person He wants you to be. He is there to fight your battles, will help you conquer your struggles, and has won the victory for you on the cross.

I work at a place called the San Diego Rescue Mission. I get to counsel men and women going through a tough time in their life. This one gentleman sticks out in my mind that I was counseling years ago. We had a lot of meeting together, and I would talk with him about Jesus, about the Gospel, about living life in Christ. During his time there, he did not become a Christian. He ended up relapsing, using drugs in the building, and getting discharged. From all looks of it, it was an unsuccessful discharge. But about a year and a half later, I got an email from him. He sent me a photo of him and his new family. He now had a wife and kids. He thanked me for the advice that I had given him. He was sober now, was going to church, and had given his life to Christ. He had stopped fighting God, and gave his life to Christ.

We have a Who’s Your One? campaign going on. Some of you are currently praying for your one. Don’t stop praying. God can change the heart of a man that no one thinks would become a Christian. He did that with Saul, who became Paul. He did that with so many people. He did that with me. Jesus fights for His people, and has won the battle on the cross.

Let us not forget that Jesus has all the power, all the honor, and all the glory. You will not win a fight against God. Instead, Jesus fights for you. He has won the victory for you on the cross. I want to end with these verses in Revelation 5, starting in verse 11.

Revelation 5:11–13 CSB

11 Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels around the throne, and also of the living creatures and of the elders. Their number was countless thousands, plus thousands of thousands. 12 They said with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing! 13 I heard every creature in heaven, on earth, under the earth, on the sea, and everything in them say, Blessing and honor and glory and power be to the one seated on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!

Jesus is all powerful, has all the glory, and reigns forever and ever! He connects with His people, fights for His people, and wins every battle. He has won the ultimate victory for His people on the cross. You won’t win a fight against God. Instead, give your heart to the Lord Jesus. Christian, know that you can rebel and fight against God, but God’s grace is there to bring you back to Him. Jesus fights for His people, and always wins the battle.

Prayer and altar call

Song: Battle Belongs to You