PRESSED | Selvin Cortez

This sermon explores what happened in the Garden of Gethsemane, a place whose name means “oil press.” Just as olives are pressed to produce oil, Jesus was pressed in the garden, and through His suffering, something powerful was produced for us. 

The first pressing produced oil for light, reminding us that Jesus is the Light who enters our darkness. 

The second pressing produced oil for healing, pointing to the wounds of Jesus that bring healing to our lives. 

The third pressing produced oil for cleansing, representing the forgiveness of our sins through the cross. And finally, the resurrection shows us that because Jesus lives, the way to life is open again. What looked like crushing produced light, healing, cleansing, and life for all who believe.

Matthew 26:36

Transcript

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What a what a joyful day. What a joyous day this is. The Bible says this is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. And we've got we've got so many reasons to rejoice and be glad in the name of Jesus. And yes, church, we are in this new series called Jesus Does Not Equal Religion. In fact, I'm gonna say it this way as well. Jesus is greater than religion. He's greater than he doesn't equal religion. We haven't come to a religious establishment. We've come to a place where we can meet with Jesus. We've come to a place where we can exalt his name. We've come to a place where we can have relationship with him. And that is what Christianity is all about. We just left a series called Being a Christian Is. And so being a Christian is being a follower of Jesus. You see, he called his disciples specifically by name. He called them knowing that they would fulfill this great task of sending the gospel, the gospel message of Jesus to every corner of the earth. And tonight, this day, he's calling you as well. And he's calling you by name. And he's done something so majesty, so great, majestic, in order that you may come and have access into his presence. And I want to walk us through those final moments of Jesus' life before the cross, before the resurrection. We're gonna get there, I promise. But I want to walk us through, we're gonna walk together with Jesus and see what happened to him on that fateful night. And in order to understand what happened with him on that fateful night, why? Why did he come? Why was there a man named Jesus? Why did he show up on earth and do the things that he did? And the reason for that why starts in a garden. It starts back in Genesis. Back in Genesis, God made Adam and Eve and He created them to be in relationship with Him. And we talked about this last week. If you haven't heard those messages, I would invite you to log in and listen to those messages that lead up into this one. And so God made Adam and Eve and He puts them in a garden. And in this garden, there are two trees. There are many trees, but there are two very specific trees. And man decides that he doesn't want anything to do with God. And so man takes of the fruit and eats it. And through that, through that fruit, the disobedience to God, sin entered the world, death entered the world, destruction entered the world. In a garden with a fruit, they saw that it was good for the eyes, and they ate of it, and in doing so rejected God completely. And you would think, wow, what hope do we have now? But let me tell you, church, there's a second garden. There's garden number two. If garden number one brought all this destruction and death and sin into the world, garden number two is going to bring life. And so when God, when God commanded in Genesis 2, chapter 16, the Bible says, and the Lord God commanded the man, you are free to eat from the tree in the garden. But you must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it, you will certainly die. They ate from it. And if you were with us a couple of weeks ago, we talked about the moment that they ate, God banished them from the Garden of Eden. And in doing so, God put a flaming sword at the entrance to the garden. And beside the flaming sword, there were two angels that were standing there, guarding the way to the tree of life. And so God didn't want Adam to go back into the garden and take of the tree of life and thereby living immortally because he would be living immortally in sin. And so God didn't want that for him. So he put this barrier, a flaming sword that danced left and right, and two angels on either side waiting to protect the tree of life. And that's the first garden. And in the second garden, we see in Matthew chapter 26, verse 36, Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane. Now Gethsemane is in the Mount of Olives. And this place, the word Gethsemane means oil press. So I'm not sure how many of you are here from Italy. Anybody from Italy? Yes, great. Okay. How many of you use olive oil? Yes, there we go. How many of you like olive oil? Yeah, okay, me too. I I absolutely love that stuff. It has to be the specific one though, the one in the green bottle, the extra virgin one, extra virgin olive oil. That's the stuff. That's what goes on every salad at my house. And so to get that oil, to get that oil, it goes through a process called pressing. And Gethsemane, that's what it means. It means the place of the oil press. Now, back in the day, back in those ancient times, the way that they would do this is they would gather the olives and they would put it into one big machine and they would press it and press it until the oil came out. But then they weren't done. The very first oil, the very first oil was used and it would come out. And then they would do a second pass and get a second oil from it. And then they would do a third pass. So they were really grabbing on to as much oil from this one olive as possible. It would go through three passes, three passes before it was completely, completely worn out. And that's our first point for today. The first oil. Now watch this. The very first oil that comes out of the wine of the wine press, of the olive press is this. Watch this. Exodus chapter 27, verse 20. Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning. Now let me give you a little bit of context for that. In the Old Testament, there was a temple, and in that temple, the presence of God would reside. And that temple had candles. There were no lights available, no electricity. And so in that temple, there was there was uh uh there was a candlestick, and that candlestick represented the presence of God. In fact, that one candlestick had seven candles on it, and it had to be lit with specific oil so that it would last a very long time. And that oil was the very first oil that is coming out of a press. So, so oil, oil, then lamp, then light, then presence. The oil had to be pressed so that it could be used for the light in the temple. The light in the temple represented his presence. The light in the temple represented his presence. And Jesus is now in this moment at Gethsemane, and he starts to pray, and he takes his disciples and they start to pray about what's going to happen. And the disciples fall asleep, and Jesus, feeling the weight of what's about to happen, says this prayer to God, his father. He says, Father, let your will be done, not mine. If it were possible, let this cup pass from me. But not my will be done. Let your will be done. And in that moment, God's answer, the Father's answer to Jesus for the very first time from eternity past to Gethsemane, the very first time, the Father said no. He said, No, I will not let this cup pass from you. And so maybe you've had unanswered prayers. Jesus had an unanswered prayer. Maybe there's something that you've been asking God about, and you just don't get the answer. The answer you're looking for is not there. You've waited and waited and you've prayed and prayed and prayed, and the answer just isn't there. And in fact, as you're waiting for the answer to come, you feel like great darkness is coming around you, and pressure is just surrounding you. But let me tell you the answer to that. Maybe it's God saying no. Now, watch this. Maybe it's God saying no because He knows that in three days resurrection is coming. He knows that there is something greater for you tomorrow than what you're expecting today. And in the middle of darkness, in the middle of the oppression, in the middle of the pain and the hurt that you feel, there is light. There is light that is being used and compressed because Jesus took it first at Gethsemane. He was pressed so that his light would shine through us. The price of that light was the Father's no. And if the Father had answered that prayer, if the Father had answered Jesus' request, then he'd have to say no to us. There would be no cross, there would be no resurrection, there would be no healing. So God the Father said no to the Son so that he could say yes to us. And that is the first press. And let me tell you something. The first press was so difficult, so difficult, that as Jesus is praying, he starts to sweat blood. The blood of the Son of God for the very first time that is recorded in the Bible falls on the earth that He created. The first oil press. Imagine praying that hard. That hard that your capillaries start to burst in your face. And the intensity and the sweat of that prayer together mixed with your blood starts to starts to drip down your face. A pressing. A pressing of Jesus so that you would have light in your darkness. And so is there light in the dark? Yeah, there is. And so Jesus is now in Gethsemane. He gets up, he prays. The press has begun at the Father's know. The machine of the press has started over his life, and he is arrested by the Romans and taken to Pontius Pilate. And in that moment, the second press is about to happen. The second press of the oil is about to be poured out. In that moment, the second oil is happening at the scourging of Jesus. And the second oil is this it's used for wounds. It's used to pour oil on cuts and wounds. So the second oil is for healing and restoration and wounds. That's the second oil. If you remember the story of the Good Samaritan, we all know the story of the Good Samaritan. A man is walking down a path and gets assaulted by some bandits along the way and is left practically for dead. And some religious people walk by and they see him and they scoff at him. Maybe he deserved it. Who knows what he did to deserve that? And instead of helping him, they actually cross the street and go another way. Turns out that that man was Jewish. And his Jewish brothers would not help him get up, would not help him, would not heal him, would not tend to him, would not even give him first aid, nothing. And then a Samaritan man comes, and a Samaritan and a Jewish person, they would clash. But this Samaritan saw this man lying there and picked him up and took him to his home and started to heal him and bandage his wounds. Luke 1034 says this: He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. The second oil press is for healing and restoration and for our wounds. Now Jesus is pressed again at the scourging. Isaiah says it this way: but he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. In the first press, light came out for our moments of darkness. In the second press, healing is coming out. And it's not just physical healing, it's healing for the brokenhearted, it's healing for the shame, the guilt, trauma, anxiety, addiction, fear, sin patterns, family wounds, words that have been spoken over you. It's healing over religion. Maybe the church has hurt you. There's healing available. Some of us don't need a doctor as much as we need a savior. We need a savior for our hearts. Doctors surgeons, they can fix broken bones. They can mend muscles that are torn. But a broken heart requires a savior. And that moment at the scourging of Jesus, thirty-nine lashes, he was struck with. How much more can we get out of a single olive? But there's more. There's another one coming, Church. And Jesus is carrying his cross. And a third oil is about to be poured out. And that oil is at the cross. On the cross. On the cross. He is nailed to it. Blood all over. He's having a hard time breathing. You see, they had to every breath that they needed, they would have to raise themselves up on their feet, but his feet are nailed to it. So every breath is agony and pain. His back completely lashed. The the prophet David. King David says this in Psalm 22. That he could see his bones. You know, we've all seen the movie The Passion. And I I pray for Mel Gibson. He's about to do another one called A Resurrection. Pray for him. Pray for that movie. Pray for the souls that are gonna see that movie. He did such a great job, can I say this? I don't think they could produce a movie with the detail that was that day. David says that he looked down what Jesus did at his own body and could count his bones. And in the final moment, just before, just before he's about to die, he cries out. He cries out the most powerful words in the entire Bible. It is finished. Yes. It is finished. It is finished. What is finished? The debt that we owed was finished. Now we can. It is finished. Sin has over has been has been dealt with. It is finished. The most powerful words in the Bible. Now the reason it's finished is because the third oil is used for soap, it's used for washing, and it's used for purifying. And so you have been now washed and purified. And we have access to God through the cross. Look at what Isaiah 118 says. This is a beautiful, beautiful verse where God is speaking directly to you. He's speaking right into your heart and he says, Come, let us settle this matter. What matter? You don't think that you can come close to God? You don't think you're worthy to come close to God? Do you think you have to get everything right first before entering into his presence? That's religion. Religion says do. Do good, get good. Do bad, get bad. That's religion. Jesus says, I know you can't do it. I can. So the the the good that you can do is from me. And the bad that you do do that you do do. I can clean. I can clean. And that's what Jesus is saying. And God is saying this in Isaiah, come, let us settle this matter. Almost I feel God saying, once and for all. So stop thinking that you can't come to God. You can. Why? The Lord says this though your sins be like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. I'm sorry, church. That speaks to identity. That speaks to who I am now in Christ. I'm not defined by my past. I may struggle. You may struggle with sin. I may struggle with sin, but you are not defined by sin. No more. Let us settle this matter once and for all. You have been washed in the blood of Jesus. He poured out to the last drop. To the last drop. So that you would have access to him. And in that moment, he said, It is finished. No more. No more. It is done. You can come to me. And he breathed his last breath. And to verify that Jesus was truly dead. You see, to the other criminals, they had to make them die faster, they would break their knees. So that they would choke. That they would drown in their own blood. And so to make them die quicker, they would break their knees. And and the centurion, the Roman soldier, was about to break Jesus' knees when they found out they looked at him and said, He's already dead. Verify it. And so they grabbed a spear and and and plunged it into his side. And when they pulled out the spear, blood and water came out. The washing of our sins. Debt, finished payment, finished work, finished sacrifices, finished. Trying to earn salvation, finished. Religion, finished. It is finished. See, church, there are some stains. We can't wash out. There are pains. No matter how many psychologists you go to, they might still be there. I um I went to the doctors a while ago. And when they have you fill out the form, they say, um Is there any intergenerational sickness? Is there anything that that's happened in your family? Could you just fill out what the sicknesses are in your family if you know them? And you gotta fill them out. I don't know of any, so I just leave it blank. And then I was wondering, I'm actually gonna leave it blank on purpose from now on. I don't suggest you do that. Okay, okay. I don't suggest you do this. This is something Selvin is gonna do. On the cross. Jesus cries out, I'm thirsty. And they give him vinegar. Sour wine. And he drinks it. The Bible tells us that that sour wine, there was an expression that the Jews had in the Old Testament. The the fathers ate the grapes, and the children ate the bitter grapes, and the children receive the bitterness of the grape. So, in other words, the fathers would do something wrong and it would be passed down onto their children. That was their expression in the Old Testament. So now Jesus is saying, Okay, I'll take the bitter grapes, I'll take the generational curses, I'll take the sickness, I'll take on me all that has come in your past, and I make all things new. A new life in you, not a not a better life, not an upgrade, not an update, a new life in you is the Spirit of God moving inside of you. A new life, a new life. You are not defined by your past, you are defined by his new life. So Jesus is now on the cross, hanging there. Watch this, and this is this is the greatest part. The greatest part is today, resurrection Sunday. That's the greatest part of this whole story. Because without the resurrection, what are we doing? You see, he's alive, and he's alive for you. The tomb is empty. Now, in order to understand the empty tomb, we've got to go back to Genesis. Let's go back to Genesis just so we can understand what's happening at the tomb. In Genesis 3:24, the Bible says this after God drove out the man and placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim, two angels and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. After man sinned, access to God was removed, the tree of life was blocked, a sword was placed in the middle, two angels guarded the entrance, and man could not go back into the garden to grab the tree of life. You got that picture. Let's fast forward to resurrection Sunday. And on the morning, on the morning of resurrection, two women start running towards the tomb and saw two angels, two angels seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and one at the foot. Two angels again. Did you catch it? Did you catch it? The two angels were seated. Why? Why were they sitting? Because it is finished. They don't have to work anymore. They don't have to guard into the presence of God anymore. You see, the the tomb, the the stone was rolled away, not so Jesus could come out. It was rolled away so we could go in, and there's no more hindrance. There's no angel standing there protecting the presence of God. The stone was rolled away so we could walk into the tomb and see that he is alive and resurrected, and we have access to his presence, we have access to his power to resurrection. We have access. The angels are sitting there, and they ask the most powerful question that no religion can answer. Why do you search among the dead? He that is alive. Why are you looking for the dead when he is risen and he is risen indeed? Because Jesus was pressed. He gave us life. Because he lives, I am accepted. Because he lives, I am healed. Because he lives, I am forgiven. Because he lives, I am not shut out anymore. Because he lives, I have access to God. Because he lives, my story and your story is not over. Because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Because he lives. Early 70s. They had uh they were pregnant with their third child. And back then, if you remember, I wasn't around. If you remember back in the 60s, there was so much drugs and there was an epidemic of drug trafficking and murders and people dying. And these this couple is pregnant with their third child. And they're thinking, what are we gonna do? How why didn't we plan for this? How are we gonna bring this child into this world? See, there was so much insecurity happening. Society was turning upside down. Sound familiar? And in that moment they wrote this great, great song. And I would love for you to sing it with me.

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Because he lives, I confess tomorrow because I'm not sure.

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So that he can be the light in your life. So that you would be the light in your life. No matter what you're doing, no matter what you're living, no matter what's gonna run you, there is light on the other side of what you're living, there is light on the other side of the starness, there is light for you the first press. The second press there is healing, there is healing church for your body. And if you are sick today, physically sick, I would ask that you just raise your hand right now and we're gonna declare this word over your life that by his stripes, by his stripes, you are healed in Jesus' name. And it's not just physical healing, it's emotional healing, it's your mental health as well. That was the second press. The healing by his stripes, every lash, he took was for you. Every single one of them, so you can be made free. He took what we deserve. To give us what we did not deserve. That's relationship. That's Jesus. The third one. The third presence so that you can come into his presence free, free, with a new identity, a new life that God has established for you, He has called you, by so we wanna ship him, and we wanna play his name!