Speaker(s): Mat Gehret
Sermon 12913
Date: 2025-04-27
Time: Sunday 11:00 am

 

P. Mat Gehret –

Good morning. That was a great song, Hannah. Jansen sisters. The band. I had everything set up to just start
and read everything to you and then I got one last thought from that song. Now, I don’t know
where I’m at. Okay. There we go.

How are we doing? He’s alive. Yeah. Amen. So are we. It’s crazy. What are we doing here? Let’s
talk about Jesus. The name of this message is “Change Your Mind.” Change your mind. Okay.
I’m going to read 2 Peter 3:9 and we’ll pray and then the main text will be Romans 10:1-4. So,
let’s pray. (Prayer).

The very last word of 2 Peter 3:9 is the word “repentance” and that is a now, so we’ll get to the
point where it’s a verb. But the noun is a change of mind. Repentance means to have a change
of mind. We are going to talk about Peter today, because he’s the one who wrote those words.
We’re going to talk about the nation of Israel today, because they’re the focus of Romans 10.
Really Romans 9 through 11 but Romans 10 where we’ll be and we’re going to talk about us as
we talk about those people. All right.

So, let’s read Romans 10 and we’ll just do four verses and we’ll see how that goes. We’ll see if
we have a change of mind by the end of service. Romans 10:1-4, so the first point I want to bring
to your attention is here in Romans 10:2. And this could be any of us. This is certainly Peter. This is
certainly Israel. But we have a zeal of God. We have a zeal of God.

Can you guys think in your mind a few different times that Peter may have had like a lot of
enthusiasm about what he was doing in his life, specifically when he was following Christ?
Specifically, whenever there was a lot going on and Peter felt like it was time for him to step up
to the plate. He had a zeal for God. That’s what this word means. Zeal. It’s an enthusiasm to
embrace God and pursue his ways, and Israel had the same thing. They had a deep enthusiasm
to pursue after God. They had a desire to be following his ways and doing what he has
commanded them. They have a whole list of laws and commandments, moral ones.

Do you guys know the moral ones, the ones that are posted on walls everywhere or used to be
posted on walls everywhere? The Ten Commandments. They have ceremonial laws. They have
dietary laws. They have a whole lot of different laws in front of them. I think the total is like 613
or something like that. They have 613 laws that help them to invigorate this desire to follow
after him, but what about Peter? What about Peter? This is very interesting.

Let’s turn to John 13. This is right after Jesus has washed his disciples feet and he gives them
some news about what’s about to happen to him and he gives them a new commandment, John 13:34, to love one another as he has loved them. And then there comes Peter’s zeal in vs.
36. John 13:36-37. Is that zealous? Is that enthusiastic? Is that meaning well? Sure.
Vs. 38. Yes, Peter does have a zeal for Christ. He wants to be with him wherever he goes. We all
desire that in our lives if we’re believers. We want Christ really to be with us wherever we go.
But it says about the Israelites and in a way it says about Peter, Romans 10:2, “They had a zeal
of God but it’s not according to knowledge.” It’s not according to – the Greek word is
“EPINOSIS.” It’s lacking a precise and correct knowledge of what God desires us to operate
under.

This is the same for Israel. Israel has the law but they don’t have a correct and precise
knowledge of what God is trying to teach them with the law. What’s he trying to show them
through the law? They have a desire to follow it. They have this mandate even. They have these
blessings and these curses that if they obey, they receive blessing. If they disobey, they receive
curses.

But all of that is meant to show them something greater, a precise and correct understanding of
what God’s plan is. And Jesus tries to reveal it here to Peter. No, you can’t, you can’t go with
me now, Peter. You can’t go right now. You will later but not right now. You think you want to
follow me in this but you won’t. So, what’s our natural reaction when someone tells us? Oh, no,
no. You can’t do that. No, that’s not going to happen. I’m going to do it!

Okay. Turn to John 18. Thank you. There we go. I didn’t even have to beg for that one. You guys
are on it. All right. John 18:10, here’s Peter saying, No, I’m going to do it. No, it’s going to
happen. No, Jesus. I’m going to follow you wherever you go. This is in the Garden of – I can
never say that word – Gethsemane. Thank you. There we go. You guys say it. I’m not going to
say it. It’s in the Garden. Okay.

John 18:10, they’re in the Garden. The guard has come to take him. Judas has already betrayed
him with a kiss. And here comes Peter. Vs. 10. No, Lord. I’m going to prove to you I’m going to
follow you wherever you go. Vs. 10. There’s that zealousness without knowledge. Vs. 11. This is
about my plan, Peter. This is about Christ’s work. This is about what I need to go and do. Vs. 11.
I have a path that I need to walk down, Peter, that you can’t walk down. Because you can’t do
what I’m about to do. Nor can any other human being in the world, but Christ can do it.
So, I don’t know how Peter’s feeling at this point. We’d really have to like just guess but Christ
heals the man whose ear got cut off. And that man’s life is probably changed forever. Malchus.
And then, Peter follows afar off after he flees the garden. He follows a far off.

So, go ahead and turn with me to Luke 22 and here’s where, here’s where it really comes down
to whether or not we have zeal according to knowledge. We can have zeal. We can have this
good intention. We can have this strong desire in our heart, but it says in the Proverbs, it says,
“there is a way that seems right unto a man but the end thereof is death.” And that can very
often be the case for us.

So, here’s Peter. He’s following a far off. He doesn’t know what’s going to happen, but he starts
to see that his zeal was without knowledge. And you look at verse 57. Here comes the first
denial. Well, look at vs. 56-61. Now, here’s just this next part. It’s a lot. Vs. 61. And then what
does Peter remember? Peter remembered the Word of the Lord. How he had said unto him
before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.

Change your mind. It’s not about your plan. It’s not about what you have, willing to give. What
equipment you come ready to use and walk in on your own strength. Change your mind. It’s
about God’s Word and his plan. Change your mind. It’s about what Jesus says and what he has
to do and what he will do, because that’s the only way that this plan of our lives ever ends up
working anyway. Change your mind. Okay.

Romans 10:3, second thing. Many of us have. Peter definitely has. Israel certainly has. Self-
righteousness. Oh, all right. Self-righteousness. I could say it maybe this way. We have a desire
to establish our own righteousness. This is innate in all of us. We have a desire to establish our
own righteousness.

How many of us know how to work for a paycheck? How many of us know how to study to get
passing grades in school? Trying to make everyone raise your hand! Okay. How many of us, how
many of us know how to earn our way each and every day like make decisions that hopefully
benefit us, benefit our families, benefit just people around us on a daily basis. We all, we all
want that, but we all rely too much on ourselves for that. We all, we all think it’s just about
what decisions we make. What we can do.

How, what we can achieve and there’s two reasons for it. It says in the text we’re ignorant of
God’s righteousness. We’re ignorant. We don’t know that’s what it means. We do not know
God’s righteousness and we can’t possibly submit to something that we don’t know exists,
because we don’t know about it. We just make our own way. That’s just – what’s the word?
M.O. Modus operandi. That’s just our way of living. That’s just our way of going through life.

Let’s go back to Luke 5. You know Peter was an unlearned man. That means he didn’t go to
rabbi school as a kid. He didn’t get raised and trained in the temple like other Jewish boys might
have. He just went straight to work. He was from a fishing family and so what happens
whenever you are part of a fishing family? You go work for your dad in the boat and you
become a fisherman later in life. So, Peter was a fisherman.

So, do you think Peter had like this way about his life that he understood? Do you think he had
like this mode of operating and living that he could just follow day in, day out and he would in
his, in one sense of the word, he would be able to make it right. He knows fishing. He knows
what he’s doing.

Look at this story in Luke 5:1-4. Now, imagine Peter’s confusion at Jesus telling him this at this
point. Like, okay. We were done fishing. We just cleaned all of our nets. I don’t want to have to
go and do all that again. This is, this is what he says at the beginning. Vs. 5. Because it’s
probably better to fish at night, too. How many of you fisherman do we have here? Is it better
to fish at night or during the day? Night? Early morning? Right. Yeah. That’s when – yeah. Okay.
The light doesn’t, the light scare the fish. Something like that maybe. I have no idea what I’m
talking about. I’m just going to leave it to you guys. Okay. Yeah.

They see the boat too. Okay. What do they call that? A land monster in Luca. You guys, anyone
know Luca? Okay. Land monster. Boats. All right. Never mind! Simon in his expertise, in his
knowing, living his life this way, we’ve toiled all night. We haven’t caught a thing. In his mind,
he’s probably thinking, why would I do that? Okay. I’m just going to entertain this teacher,
because he’s a man of God or says or says so and okay I’m just going to let down the net.

Peter changed his mind right there. That was important. Peter changed his mind right – that’s
like extremely important. He said, vs. 5. At your Word I will let down the net. Vs. 6-7. I love this
response. This is what happens when we change our mind. Vs. 8. Saw it. Did I say “sall” it? All
right. Just be glad I’m the one up here you guys. Okay. All right. Here we go. I’m here for your
entertainment!

I love this response, vs. 8. It wasn’t about what he knew. It wasn’t about what he was
comfortable with. It wasn’t about his expertise. It wasn’t about all the things that he
understood that there was to know about fishing. There was a man of God who said, hey! Push
out a little further. I got to speak to these people. So, he does it and then he says, Hey! By the
way, while you’re at it, can you drop the net on the other side. I’m going to give you a catch
that you’ve never experienced before in your life. And all that came from Christ’s words, not
our own. Not us trying to go and establish our own righteousness.

Israel is the same way. They have the law and what do they do? They go about trying to follow
it line upon line. And they think that if they keep it, they will establish their own righteousness.
They’re the same exact way, but does that not work? It can’t work. It cannot work. Why can it
not work?

This is very interesting. Turn to Romans. No, first turn to Galatians 3. Though the law is perfect,
there’s another way to describe the law in Galatians 3:10 and this is what it says for those like think
of Israel right now. For those who try to follow the works of the law, Galatians 3:10. How many laws
are there? Did I say 613?

Do you think it’s possible to perform all 613 every day in every single way no matter what
situation arises that you would be able to follow the law to a T? Absolutely not! Impossible!
Never going to happen. That’s us trying to establish our own righteousness. That’s us trying to
say well, you know, I’m doing okay compared to those people over there and that’s just so
beyond, outside of the mind of God. He wants to just speak a word to you and show you
something very particular about what’s happening in your life.

It also says this about the law, Romans 3:19-20. Here’s the purpose of the law right here. It’s not
for us to follow and obey and just be focused on being blessed or being cursed. The purpose of
the law is that every mouth may be stopped. Like Peter, after the fish, after the catch takes
place, he gets on his knees and say, whoa! Depart from me. I’m a sinner. Like who are you and
what have you done in my life? What are you about to do in my life? Vs. 19-20.

Isn’t it interesting that the first thing Peter says is, depart from me. I’m a sinner. ‘Cause he realizes
it right there this man is holy. This man is different. This man has something going on in his life
from God and I don’t know what it is, but all I know is that I am not worthy of it and the
knowledge of sin is brought to the forefront. So, change your mind. It’s not about any of us
trying to live up to God’s measure. None of us can. It’s actually a curse to try to do so. It’s about
whether or not we’re willing to receive God’s measure when he gives it. Are we willing to
receive God’s measure when he gives it? Romans 10:4, Christ is the end of the law for
righteousness to everyone that believes.

Turn back to Galatians 3, please. Click on over on your phones. Type it in. My thumbs never type in
the right thing. I’m always like having to retype and retype until it gets it right. So, that’s why I
like a Bible. Galatians 3:11-12, now this is what it says, Romans 10:4. Christ is the end of the law of
righteousness to them that believe. This is what it says in Galatians 3:13. Do you guys know what we
just celebrated? Yeah, but before the resurrection? Good Friday. Why do we celebrate Good

Friday? Because Galatians 3:13 right there. That’s why we celebrate Good Friday, because those who
try to follow the law are a curse and the only one who could possible take the curse upon
himself and pay and dismantle that curse and just completely take it out of the way. This is
what it says about the ceremonial law in Colossians 2:14 and Ephesians 2:15 if you want to read about it.
This is also what it says about the moral law that Christ took upon himself the curse on this
cross, so like think about like, you know, the Ten Commandments. And they’re brought up
against the cross and if they try, if they try to pass, if they try to get through onto the other
side, it’s nothing. It’s just dust. It’s gone. Christ came to fulfill the law. Christ came to take the
curse upon himself.

Peter, you can’t go where I’m about to go. You can’t pay for what I’m about to pay for. Peter,
you can’t possibly walk up that hill, carry the cross on your back. One day, one day Peter you
will and Peter’s life is crazy. And actually, Peter does but Christ has to put a payment in first.
Christ has to do something that no one else can do, so that any one of us whether it’s Peter,
whether it’s Israel or whether it’s us, whoever we are, whatever ethnicity, wherever we’re
from, that all nations and tongues and tribes could call on the name of Jesus Christ and believe.
It’s about Christ.

Go to Galatians 3:24-26, It brought us to the cross right here. It brought us there that we might be
justified by faith. The woman caught in adultery, John 8, according to the law, what happens to
her? She gets stoned. Where did the law bring her? Who was she put right in front of? Jesus
Christ. How about the woman at the well. What did the law say about her? She wasn’t living
with her husband. She was going to the water well in shame, but who did it put her in front of?
That’s what the law does. It puts us in front of Jesus Christ and then Jesus Christ says to the
woman at the well, If you drink of this water, you will never thirst again. And Jesus says to the
woman caught in adultery, I do not condemn you.

I do not condemn you. God and sin no more. That only happens in front of Christ. That doesn’t happen whenever we are working on our own selves. That doesn’t happen when we’re trying to follow our own little steps to righteousness.
That doesn’t happen.

Sometimes, we have steps up here. I was going to start walking. We don’t have steps. Okay.
Never mind. That doesn’t happen when you start working, working, working and leveling up,
leveling up, leveling up only to find that when you get to the very top, there’s no possible way
for you to actually reach the top. It doesn’t work that way. It never will. It can only work this
way that Jesus Christ would get on that – what does it say? That we might be justified by faith.

After that faith has come, we are no longer under a school master. That we would all be the
children of God by faith in Jesus Christ.
Does this happen in Peter’s life? Check this out. Luke 22, almost done. You guys are doing great.
Luke 22:31-32, now just before this, the last place we left Peter was him seeing Jesus looking at
him after he denied him. I can’t imagine that situation I can’t imagine what Peter might be
feeling. Not like we can all try, right?

But what do we know happens in John 21? He goes fishing. The disciples go with him, and then
who comes to the shore to speak to him? And what does he say? The same thing he said in
Luke 5. Hey, why don’t you throw your net on the other side? Peter at that moment, it actually
says John the disciple, whom Jesus loved. It actually says John recognizes it first, but the
moment that Peter realizes it, he throws on his fisher coat and he jumps in the water.

He knows it’s Jesus. He knows that Jesus has not given up on him. He knows that Jesus is not in
the, not in the tomb. He’s not in the grave. The stone was rolled away. He already saw that. He
didn’t know what was going on, but he knew Jesus was not there and then he shows up for him.
And he says the same amount of times that Peter denied Christ. Jesus says to him, Do you love
me? Like that’s big. And then he says, Follow me.

Okay. Last piece. Acts 2. This is where the verb, “change your mind.” This is where METANOAO
comes into play. Change your mind. Instead of believing in his own works or lack thereof, Peter
believed the words of Christ where he says, When you are converted, you will strengthen the
brethren. That’s what he believed about himself. When you are converted, you will strengthen
the brethren.

In Acts 2, Pentecost happens. The Holy Spirit comes in like a might rushing wind. Cloves of fire.
All these different languages being spoken and Peter believes. He believes what God has been
saying to him. Three long years. Where’d they go? They’re gone. Three long years. That was
about Mary Magdalene probably but three long years Peter followed, too. Peter heard Christ’s
words. Peter thought about them, took them in and was he zealous? Sometimes. Yeah. He was
zealous. Was Israel zealous? Yeah, they were extremely zealous. This is actually Peter’s point in
his sermon in Acts 2.

Let’s read Acts 2:36. Yeah, Israel was pretty zealous with Jesus. We all can be pretty zealous
about what we believe, about what we think should be the right way. How we think people
should be able to make themselves righteous. We call can be really zealous about that. We all
can be without the knowledge of what Christ did. He took a curse upon himself so that we

would not be cursed. He took the penalty of death, Romans 6:23. What does it say? “The wages
of sin is death” – to give us a gift – “but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus.”
So, here it comes. Here comes Peter. This is, this is what he wrote at the beginning, 2 Pet. 3:9.
God is not willing that any should perish, but that all would come to this change of mind and
here he says it again. But it’s the action, vs. 37-38.

Now, when they heard this, when you hear the Gospel, when you hear what Christ has done for
you, when you recognize that you’re a sinner, when you realize that the penalty of your sin is
death and that no one could possibly ever pay that for you except for Jesus Christ; and you
realize that he did pay that for you.

It says in Romans 10:9-10, when you believe that he was buried and God rose him again from the
grave, when you change your mind about it, this is, this is the Israelites changing their minds.
They were pricked in their hear and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and
brethren, what shall we do?” Peter said to them, change your mind. Repent. Be baptized every
one of you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins that you should receive
the gift of the Holy Spirit. Change your mind.

Jesus says, John 14, I go to prepare a place for you. If it were not so, would I have even said it?
And then he ends that little snippet, vs. 6. I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. No one
gets to the Father except through me. Change your mind. There is no other way. Amen. There is
no other method. There is no other road that you can walk on.

Peter, you can’t follow Jesus up the road to Calvary. You can’t do it. You can’t be righteous
enough. You can’t be holy enough. You can’t be so good that it outweighs anything bad you’ve
ever done, because it says anyone who lives by the law is cursed to fulfill the entire law and it’s
impossible. Change your mind. Christ is the way. He’s the truth. He’s the life. And when he says
things to you, listen. Please listen.

One thing that Paul says that he says in Romans 11. Maybe it’s verse 29 is that the gifts and the
calling of God are without him ever changing his mind. He has something for you and all it takes
is a change of mine. All it takes is belief. That’s what a change of mind is. It’s belief. It’s faith.
Let’s pray. (Prayer).

 

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