This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Sermon on the Mount” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, August 28, 1988.
This morning, our scripture reading is found in Matthew chapter twenty six. And we were reading from verse thirty to verse forty six. Hear the word of God. And when they had sung in him, They went out into the Mount of Olives. Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night, for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.
But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee. Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended. Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, that this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet I will not deny thee, yet will I not deny thee.
Likewise also said all the disciples. Then cometh Jesus with them into a place called Gethsemane. And saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.
Carry ye here and watch with me. And he went a little further and fell on his face and prayed, saying, O my father, if it be possible Let this cup pass from me nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, couldst thou not watch with me one hour? Watch, and pray, that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my father, if this cup may not pass away from me except I drink it, thy will be done. And he came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. And he left them and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest.
Behold, the hour is at hand and the son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us be going! Behold, he is at hand that doth betray me. It was a lovely place the loveliest of places around Jerusalem To the east, about a half a mile, three quarters of a mile, down from the city gates, opposite the temple, down into the valley of Kidron, across the brook, up the other side as you began to ascend the Mount of Olives. December. The guard. The loveliest spot. Around Jerusalem.
It was a garden. Well kept. The gracious hand of man and God every. and orchard, the figs, the olives, the pomegranates, growing there, the wonderful scent, the peace, the wonderful tranquility of that garden. Here was a testimony to the indomitable spirit of the race fighting back against the curse keeping the thorns and the thistles down and out altogether the weeds conquered Creation as it was meant to have been. So wonderful. So wonderful a spot. Even a little bit of Eden surviving in this cursed world. Gethsemane, a garden. But that was not all that Gethsemane was.
The name itself means oil press. And what comes to mind are the large rock-like basins into which the olives were placed. And then they were rolled over with huge stones, boulders, and crushed in order to yield the oil for use in the land. Even that oil press viewed as a blessing, as an implement, a tool for man’s indomitable spirit, useful in his conquest, that he might triumph in the world. But now this night, this special night, there comes into this paradise, there intrudes into this Eden, a brutal, brutal reminder and a twisting of that name, Gethsemane, so that it will never, never again merely be understood as a pleasant garden site outside the city walls of Jerusalem. An oil press to be sure, as there enters then these representatives of the race, and they come into this oil press to be pressed themselves. and yield a precious ointment, an affirmation of service to God, unconsidered even for God. There is then the oil press of God himself.
For into the garden there does come this reminder, a brutal reminder, of God’s perpetual wrath against sin, and his perpetual hostility to a race gone astray. A testimony, to be sure, of the consequences of what had happened in a garden so many centuries and millennia ago. An incalculable tragedy. Despite gardens, well manicured lawns, beautiful structures, wonderful operations business, governments, palaces. And there is that oil press for the spirit of the race. For will that spirit be constrained by the will of God? in the face of all that which is revealed by that God to be true and right and whole.
Well, there are those representatives of the race that come into the garden that night into the oil press But there’s only one that understands. There is only one that realizes what is taking place. The others see only the garden. The others see only that which is pleasant there. The others see only that which is a testimony to the strength, the ingenuity, the power and the cleverness of man in overcoming the curse or keeping it at bay. They will there rest.
But the one comes to pray and to be crushed. This one is grieved and heavy-hearted. And he does not leave his grief and distress unexpressed. For he tells those who are with him that he is feeling in distress that is unlike anything that he has experienced in his life before. that they’re there to sleep. He retires from them to pray, to wrestle with himself in this oil press, to experience the weight of that rock, that stone that rolls upon him, and they sleep.
They don’t understand that he perceives. He perceives all. And such is his perception that he realizes that he is not there for his own sake, but for the sake of those who seem so oblivious and so unconcerned. those who seem to lack comprehension and understanding.
For their sake, He is there. He is bound to them. Therefore, He goes with them into the oil press. They don’t know what awaits. He does. He leads the way. He is there for them. And while they sleep, completely oblivious to what is going on around them. He intercedes, he prays, and in his intercession and in his prayer, he acts as their representative, so that in him, as the will of God is perfected and accomplished, it might be as well in them.
For indeed, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak, as he says. So weak the flesh, so willing the spirit, that in that willing spirit, one of them will say, I’ll never deny you. No, before the cock crows three times, you will deny me. And as if in answer to that threefold denial, or a weakness that is pervasive in all of those that are gathered in that garden that night, Jesus goes three times to pray, to intercede, as if giving the answer, the solution, to that denial, even before it takes place.
They might not understand, but He does. They don’t comprehend, but He comprehends. He understands the oil press perfectly. For their sake, He is there. And now, in that oil press, He is tried, if not crushed, for their sakes. He had brought them with Him, not only because He is leader for them, not only because He is bound to them, but He would look to them for comfort. Watch with me, He pleads. Keep watch while I pray.
Be here as a source of comfort for me, for I am here as a source of comfort for you. But they prove in that circumstance to be without any strength, either of comprehension or of power. They are not comforters at all. This one then comes as that one through whom comfort alone is achieved. Triumph that is evident in him is one that now extends comfort to all those who must wait and pray while they do.
Watch and pray that ye may not enter into temptation. Words like that have significance far beyond the events of that evening so many years ago. For words like that are as much relevant in our circumstance as they were in the circumstance in which Jesus originally spoke.
But how, how might I watch and pray if someone like Peter, John and James has slept away? What do you expect of me? What do you want from me? I have enough trouble keeping awake during morning worship and that’s only one hour. The power to stay awake is found in the one who stayed awake. The power to keep watch and pray is found in the one who kept watch and prayed. It is his very power which is operative in you.
As he makes plain to you the significance of the winepress into which you have been brought. the Gethsemane into which you have been born. For after all, this is not Christ’s Gethsemane, it is your Gethsemane. Gethsemane then that lovely garden, Gethsemane also that oil press. But now, Gethsemane transformed.
Yes, the oil press still, but in the oil press, the one who has been pressed and crushed for us that we, through all of the crushing experiences that come upon us, may in fact endure in Him. And that for the sake of the gospel. Well, how sufficient then this Savior that is ours. A sufficiency that’s found simply as we look at the cross, or a sufficiency that’s also found as we do battle with the will of God. As we do battle in the matters that pertain to prayer and keeping alert and on the watch. Yes, a sufficiency there as well, a full sufficiency in our Savior, that it may be apparent to you that your life can only be unto the glory of God if it is in Him.
That, then, is what is coming to expression through you, in you. This Christ, who is absolutely sufficient, perfectly adequate. There are the delights of life, the gardens that seem well kept, testimony to the spirit of the race, fighting back the effects of the curse. But those strides into the midst of it, that brutal reminder. That brutal reminder of the truth of the situation. We are not to be deceived.
Then the oil press, which is life. your life is to be found in Christ who was crushed for you that you in the experience that you face may in fact triumph as he did. Oh Lord, we pray for a reminder, a reminder that this account of Christ in Gethsemane would give us concerning the truth of the circumstances of life itself. And Lord, may we also understand that our power to persevere is not found within ourselves, for we have failed and have failed miserably, just as the disciples did before us. But there is one who is sufficient, who for our sakes enters the oil press, that we, in our disseminating, may in fact endure. And endure for the sake of the gospel. We pray, Lord, that our life may be understood as being found in him and in him alone. We pray it through his name. Amen.
The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.