Good evening. Good to see all your faces. I'm here up here to do two things I just found out a little while ago. I knew I was going to preach, but now I have to answer Pastor Dean's question, too, about some wood that's under here, but you'll find out about that in a minute. This thing is on? Doesn't sound like it's on. Yeah, all right. Amen. Well, this evening, we're going to be looking at a lot of different scriptures, and I would like to with the Lord's help, look at the olive tree and olives and their oil. So we're going to start off just looking at some scriptures about olives, mostly in the Old Testament, so you can turn to Genesis. Turn to Genesis. I'll start here with the Word of Prayer. We'll be in Genesis 1. Let's open with the Word of Prayer. Heavenly Father, I thank you, Lord, for your preserved Word. Lord, I thank you that it was It was purified, Lord, and it was inspired, and it's preserved, Father. You promised that, and You've performed that promise, Lord. I'm here this evening in this place, Lord, with this book in my hands. Lord, You're almost coming back. The church age is almost over, and we still have the truth, Lord. You've come through on Your promise. I thank You for that. And Lord, help us be faithful to it. Help us to obey it. Help me tonight. Give me the right words, Lord, and may the Holy Spirit of God fill me, Lord, and use me as you see fit. And may Jesus Christ, Lord, get all the preeminence and the glory, Father, that he rightly deserves. And I pray in Jesus' name, amen. All right, so first of all, the olive and its oil. I really like physical illustrations because I think the Lord can really, really teach us things with those. That's why He created such a vast universe and that's why He put His hands, His fingerprints in the smallest things in His creation, in the microscopic things and also in the far off things that we need a telescope to see. Amen. And so Genesis chapter 1 verse 29. God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth and every tree, and the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed. To you it shall be for meat. So right there we see that trees and their fruit are to be given for our meat, for our food. And an olive is a fruit and it contains a seed. It's the fruit of the olive tree. The olive is one of the trees given to God's people in the promised land. Deuteronomy 8 verses 7 through 10 speaks of wheat and the barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranates and he calls it a land of oil olive. And the olive tree, I grew up in the Mediterranean in Sicily and it's full of olives. It's either olives or grapes as you're driving through the countryside. And all the olives that you see in the fields are cultivated olives, domesticated. They're good for food. If you take a wild olive tree, it produces olives about the size of raisins, you know, like the size of a shriveled raisin. And it's pretty much all bone. It has a thin layer of flesh around it. It's good for nothing. So here he's telling them it's a land of oil olive, the olive that has oil, that's gonna make oil. And if you remember in the scriptures, he said, this land is ready for you. The towns are there, the walls are there, you just need to move in. What a blessing. And that's a picture of what he blesses us with as believers, amen, in him. He said the olive would be unfruitful in the land as a result of Israel's sin. Deuteronomy 28, 40, the Bible says, thou shall anoint thyself with the oil, or rather thou shall have olive trees, but thou shall not anoint thyself with the oil for thine olive shall cast his fruit. And you can just write these references down. We're not gonna turn to all of them. Olive branches were used to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. In Nehemiah 8, verse 15, they went into the mount and they fetched olive branches and pine branches, but among them was olive. spring and fall, you need to prune an olive tree. And my dad, we had a few olive trees on our property, and my dad would get the pruning scissors out. He would trim them, so you had to use a saw on the larger ones. You had to thin them out so they would produce more fruit. And me and my brother had to get out there, me and Simone mainly, we had to get out there and Sometimes it was raining and it was cold, but we had to get those olive branches off the ground because we had to get the wood cut up and we used it in our fireplace. And that smells really good, that olive wood. The wood of the olive tree was used by King Solomon when he constructed the temple. It was used in the doors for the holiest of all. It was used for the two beams, the posts on either side of the main door of the temple. And 1 Kings 6, verse 23, within the oracle, he made two cherubims of olive tree. So the cherubims, and the holiest of all, that had their wings stretched over the mercy seat, they were made of olive wood, and they were wrapped in gold. I was going to show it a little later, but this is a piece of olive wood here. The way Pastor Dean was holding it, I thought he was going to throw it, but it would be okay. It's a very hard wood. My brother-in-law and sister actually brought this from Israel. This is probably the tree that Jesus was leaning on. No, I'm kidding. But as you see, this is at the joint of a tree, but it's cracked, obviously. It has some age to it. It's not really a pretty thing to look at. But you see the beautiful wood here. That's all throughout the olive tree. It's marbled. And very hard to work with because the grain is not straight and even. It's not used by most carpenters to make anything except small pieces of jewelry and whatnot. But you won't find a chair made of olive wood. And if it is, it's very expensive. It's hard to get good wood from an olive tree. So that was a lot of work, making those cherubims. Olives were shaken off the tree and harvesting. They were trodden, Micah chapter 6 verse 15 talks about treading the olive for oil. They were trodden or crushed. The olive tree was used for food and other domestic uses in Jotham's parable of the trees in Judges chapter 9. The trees went forth at a time to anoint a king over them. They said unto the olive tree, Rain thou over us. But the olive tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness? Wherewith by me they honor God and man. So it was used in religious uses in the temple. It was used for man's food. It was used for illumination, Matthew chapter 25, verse 8. You remember the parable of the foolish virgins who asked the wise ones for oil because their lamps were blown out. And we have a clay lamp here, an olive oil lamp, and the olive oil was poured inside here. And the wick here is It has completely burned. I forgot to change it before I brought it tonight, but the wick would protrude from this end and slowly wick out oil as it burns. So the wick doesn't really burn. It's really like burning the oil. And if you light one of these and you smell the smoke that's coming off of the flame, it's a beautiful, clean smell. You would be surprised. And so it was used for illumination. Now turn to Genesis chapter eight. We're gonna look at the first mention Genesis chapter 1 was just speaking of trees, but Genesis chapter 8 is the first mention of olive and it's very significant. The first mention of olive here expounds God's plan of redemption for mankind. Genesis chapter 8 is the account of the flood of Noah, verse number 6. And it came to pass at the end of 40 days that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made, and he sent forth a raven. Now, the raven in Leviticus 11, Deuteronomy 14 is an abomination. It's unclean. And it says the raven went forth to and fro. Job chapter 1, verse number 7 speaks of Satan who's going to and fro. And it says that the raven went forth to and fro until the waters were dried up from off the earth. So as long as man is on the earth, Satan's going to be here. His presence is going to be here. Verse number eight, also he sent forth a dove from him to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground. The dove which in this account would typify the law, found no rest for the sole of her foot. and uh... under the law of israel had had no rest and that's why jesus christ had to come and she returned onto him into the art for the waters were on the face of the whole earth then he put forth his hands and took her and pulled her in on him in the arc questions to fourteen speaks about how we blotted out the handwriting of ordinances it was against us and which was contrary to us in took it out of the way mailing to his cross Hebrews 10 9 says lo I come to do thy will O God he taketh away the first that he may establish the second Verse number 10 and he stayed yet other seven days. And again, he sent forth the dove out of the ark Matthew 21 37 says last of all the husbandman sent unto them his son saying they will reverence my son and That verse right there They killed him when he came But that's not a lie. They will reverence his son. So that is not a misstatement there. Verse 11, and the dove came into him in the evening and lo, in her mouth, in the mouth of the dove was an olive, there's the first mention, an olive leaf plucked off. And that plucked there, you just see the T and not the E-D, which is okay. That's not an English grammar error. The spelling is okay. What we're looking at is the words. The Bible says every word of God is pure, and that's the word plucked. Plucked off, and that olive leaf was when Noah saw that olive leaf in the dove's beak, that was a promise of life. That means life has returned. John chapter 1 verse 16 and 17 says of his fullness have all we received and grace for grace For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ He was the dove that came back with the promise of life the fulfillment of life So no one knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. I Acts 13 39 says and by him all that believe are justified from all things From which he could not be justified by the law of Moses. The first one was no good There was no rest. He found no rest had to come back with a second He had hope Verse 12 and he stayed yet other seven days and again, he sent forth the dove out of the ark the third time now and And the dove came into him in the evening and lo in her mouth was in, I'm reading the wrong verse, verse 12. He stayed yet other seven days and sent forth dove which returned not again unto him anymore. And John chapter 14, verse 16 and 17 says, I will pray the father and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever. So that's the permanent dwelling of the Holy Spirit sent out into us, and he's gonna be with us into eternity. He's never gonna leave us. You're stuck with him, for lack of a better term, amen? He shall abide with you forever, even the spirit of truth. So, The olive tree, we looked at some of its usage in the scripture, and I'd like to sort of give a quick brief, I'm looking at the time, explanation of how olives are grown in the Mediterranean, how they're harvested and made into oil. Olives grow usually close to the sea, and we'll look at that more later. Olives are harvested in the fall, usually in October, November. It has to be cold, but it can't be too cold. The olives are harvested usually right when they're turning from green to black. So they're not black mush. They're not aged, but they're not immature. They're right at the prime. They're harvested. They're shaken to the ground or beat down or pulled off the branches. They scoop them into nets, they have great like nets on the ground, the olives fall down, they lift the sides of the nets, collect the olives and they put them into baskets or crates and they ship them to or drive them to the olive press and now it's all machinery. When they get to the olive press, the olives are washed, in water, they're shaken on a vibrator, the leaves come off, the sticks, spiders, whatever's on them. I was talking to Stefano a couple weeks ago about making olive oil and there's no way that they get every little nook and every little thing nook. you know, thing off those olives. I mean, the expensive olive oil that you buy, doesn't matter how much it costs, it has stuff in it. You know, so they're not scrubbing them one by one. So, you know, an olive on the top where the stem comes out, there's a little crevice in there like an apple, like, you know, they're not cutting that out, that's in there. So they wash the olives, the sticks and leaves are out, removed, and the olives go right up, they're not even held, they go right up into the basin where the stones are revolving. It's two stones revolving on a central axis, obviously machine powered and crushed repeatedly over and over and over again. It's not one or two passes, it keeps going on and on and on. And we would usually go in the evenings. And it was almost like magical. My dad would, I forgot that part, go into the olive press, the oil press. We didn't press our own olives. We had a few olive trees, but we usually just cured those and ate those. But once a year, we would drive to a town called Alkama. It was about 45 minutes away, and they had an olive press there. And it was a cold press, so the olive was not heated at all, which is an important thing for the quality of the oil. And so anyways, it was very magical almost being there at night. We usually go in the evenings with our containers and the machines were going inside and all the men were standing around talking and there was the smell of the oil and all the tile floors were slippery and you had to kind of walk careful and they had to stay away from the dangerous areas where the olives were going in the pit to get washed. And we did that every year. It was like a tradition. And I'm really glad I experienced that. So anyways, after the olives were crushed, the paste that was inside the basin was channeled out and spread around on what are called cloth frails. They usually make them out of reeds or jute or something like that, flexible things. They look like CDs with a hole in the middle. And layer upon layer, those are stacked on a cart that has a pole in the center. So the rings are dropped on. you know, layer of jute, layer of olive paste, and every few or so the steel plate is placed on there to increase the pressure. And even just stacked on that cart, you look down the sides and you see glistening oil that's running down the sides of those mats. And there's a lot of water that comes with it, too, because an olive is not all oil. It has oil and water. And they start to push those carts up to the pistons that are in the floor. They drive the cart up there and lock it. And a piston comes up from the floor and lifts the whole cart with all the mats right up onto a steel frame, almost like the thing we have in the print shop where Brother Frank would crank down the thing on the Bibles, Brother Pat knows, and Brother Mike and everyone in the print shop. If your hand gets in there, it's done. These pistons at the oil press are no joke. I mean, I was young, so maybe I'm gonna exaggerate. They were as big around as that seat cushion, but I don't think they were that big, but they were big hydraulic pistons. and that olive paste just stays in between those mats and you see it's like Niagara Falls on the sides just water and oil and it collects in the bottom of that cart, it's channeled out the water stays at the bottom and the oil stays on top and it's separated I believe that place used They may have used centrifugal force to separate the oil, I'm not sure, but it wasn't heated. And the oil that comes out of that spout, Stefano has seen it, maybe some others, is green. That oil is green. Not like Brother Pat's shirt, not that yellow. Stand up, brother, if you would. But it's bright, right? How many of you have seen that oil? All my siblings, right, my mom, that oil is It's brighter than grass. It's beautiful and it's cloudy and it's thick and it has all the crushed stones in it. It's good oil. My dad would get bread sometimes and he would just kind of hold it under the spigot as it was, you know, when this little stream was coming out. He would put it on the bread, we would fold it, put a little cheese on it. That was good. I missed that. But the oil is good. We buy it at Whole Foods now, but it still comes from Sicily, so it makes it worth it. Alright, let's move on. Turn to Isaiah 53 if you would. So we're going to go back through the life of the olive, and I'd like to look through it as a frame, I guess, at Jesus Christ and see, draw applications from the olive into his life. There are a number of things in the scriptures that we can apply to him, that we can say he's like a shepherd, he was as a lamb, he's the door, he's the bread, but he's like an olive, he's like an olive. The scripture doesn't state that explicitly in one verse, but when you compare scripture with scripture, you see a good picture. So Isaiah 53, verse number two, The Bible says, for he shall grow up before him as a tender plant. Now, the olive tree can be planted from the young shoot of an existing tree. If you take the shoot off of an olive tree, especially near the base, and plant it with a scent of water, it'll grow. So he came into the world young. He didn't come into the world as a man. Psalm 52.8, if you're taking notes, says, I'm like a green olive tree in the house of God. An olive tree can also be taken from a knob and grown around the base of an olive tree. It's very knobby. If you break off one of those knobs and plant it, it'll take root and it'll grow shoots. It needs to be grafted, but it'll grow. Isaiah 53, the same verse, the second half says, and as a root out of a dry ground. So I believe it was Pastor Mike that pointed out in a message that Verse right there, tender plant, speaking of his infancy, and as a root out of the dry ground. Supernatural, how does a root thrive in dry ground? And it's known that the olive tree can survive on very little rainfall. If an olive tree is to produce fruit, a cultivated grafting must be grafted into the wild tree. Galatians chapter 4 verse 4 says been when the fullness of the time was come God sent forth his son made of a woman made of a woman made under the law He didn't create a special race to which to send his son He sent his son right to fallen man, and he planted his seed the seed of God in a fallen woman She's not immaculate. She wasn't a perfect woman. She wasn't conceived without sin. That's nonsense. She was a human, a normal human, a woman, a good woman, a godly woman that God chose, a young girl that was soon to be married. And God said, I'm going to put my seed in her. Romans 1.3 says, Concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, Second Timothy 2.8, remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel, the seed of David. The olive tree, as I pointed out, was not a straight, beautiful tree, but ragged, rugged, split, and gnarled. So an olive tree, if you look at olive trees growing, and you can kind of see it here, I didn't hand select this piece, my sister did, or my brother-in-law. But, It kind of spirals as it grows, kind of spirals on its own. And some of those old olive trees, especially in Israel, I know that Pastor has mentioned this and you guys have seen it. Some of them you can almost stand in the crevices that are in those trees. They're not Nice majestic tall straight trees. They grow like they're deformed like as if they can't grow straight They have beauty of their own, but they're not they're not something that's desired Isaiah 53 verse 2 says he hath no form nor comeliness and when we shall see him there's no beauty that we should desire him It's wood is not desirable for any practical uses. Solomon used it, my opinion is because of its symbolic nature, especially because he used it on the cherubims, but it's hard to work with. The Bible says in Isaiah 52, 3, he is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed him not. If you had to ask a carpenter, do you want some nice straight pine and oak, or do you want this gnarled chunk of olive wood to make your, you know, tabletop, he would say this, I have to go with the oak, that olive wood is gonna be a pain. He's gonna turn it down and reject it. We esteemed him not. Pliny the Elder, a Roman naturalist and historian said, the olive will not grow in extremely cold places, nor yet in extremely hot ones. So it needs a temperate climate, AKA California, Greece, Spain, Italy, Lebanon. Those are the main olive growing nations or places. California is not a nation they'd like to be. John 1.14 says, and the Word was made flesh. He took on flesh. The temperature of our flesh is lukewarm. It needs just an easy climate. And He was made flesh. The Bible says Philippians 2, 7, 8, So he took on flesh and he came into our clime. The olive, Pliny the Elder also stated, only grows at places within 40 miles of the sea. So we already mentioned some places where the olive grows, and all those places are in the vicinity of lakes and oceans, lakes, seas, and oceans. No coincidence, I don't think. The Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, if you look at a map of Israel and hold it straight up north-south, with the compass, Mount Olivet and Jerusalem are right around, maybe a shy 40 miles. Me and Mose, we're looking at Google Maps today, trying to like measure it with the thing, but it's maybe between 35 and 40 miles straight out from the Mediterranean Sea. You can take that for what it's worth. But only grows at places within 40 miles of sea. It's true. If you look at places where olives grow, it's close to the sea. Italy, you are way less than 40 miles from any sea in anywhere you are in Italy. You know, under the big top, if you know the geography. Isaiah 57 verse 20 says, the wicked are like the troubled sea. He came close to people. He came close to mankind. That's the point here. And I have a whole list of verses here about the sea being compared or mankind being compared to the sea. Jude 1.13 says, Raging waves of the sea foaming out their own shame. Speaking of men, Psalm 89, verse nine says, thou rulest the raging of the sea. When the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them. Thou hast broken Raab in pieces as one that is slain. Thou have scattered thine enemies with thy strong arms. Speaking of people. You can look at Isaiah chapter 65, Isaiah 65. You can write these references in your margin right next to this if you'd like. But the seas and the waters, when it mentions, in the plural, it's speaking about men, usually ungodly men. Psalms 65 verse number seven. Which stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the people. Psalm 93 verse three and four says, the floods have lifted up their voice, the floods lift up their waves. The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea. That's a good promise to hold on to, especially in these times. The Lord on high is mightier. It doesn't matter how high the waves roll, it doesn't matter how wild and stormy and confusing they can be. He on high is mightier, like a lighthouse, straight, unmoving, amen? All right, move on. Into this world that loves the darkness and hates the light, that hates the truth and loves lies, Jesus Christ came. Speaking of waves, they roar and they rage. The Bible says in Psalms chapter two, why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? He came into a world that was against authority. They were revolting against Rome. They did not want They wanted to be a self-ruling people. Since the days of Saul, they wanted their own king, and they did not want God to rule over them. The Bible says in Luke 19, verse number 10, for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. John 1, verse 10, 11, He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own. He came to mankind. Let's look at Mark, chapter 5. He came to people. And I'm not a very sociable person. I kind of feel like I could live in a little house with just one little people and just kind of observe the world as it passes and not really mingle much. So I have to kind of force myself to talk to people and get on my shell and it's good for me. But Jesus Christ, He was around people. I don't know what kind of personality he had, but if we want to minister to people, If we want to do the work of the Lord, we have to come out of ourselves. We can't excuse our personalities. We can't make excuses for ourselves. You don't have to be flamboyant, but that's being like our Savior, amen, is to want to be around people, as much as it may be against your nature. Mark chapter five, verse 23 and 24. Jesus is on the way to go heal the daughter of Jairus. Verse 24, Jesus went with him, with the ruler of the synagogue, and much people followed him and thronged him. Matthew 5, verse 1, when he saw the multitudes, he went up into a mountain and taught them. Matthew chapter 9, when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them. Matthew chapter 13, when great multitudes were gathered around him, he went into a ship and he taught them. He didn't leave them. And he said, pray the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth the laborers into his harvest. So an olive tree grows in the vicinity of the seas and of waters. The olive must not be bruised prematurely or it can dry and not yield abundant oil. So they have to be careful of wind storms and they have to think about those things when they're growing olives because if the olives get rattled around, if they get bruised, They can break open, the weather can get in, insects, mold, or they can just dry up and just dry rot, and they won't yield enough oil. They must not be bruised prematurely. John 7, verse number 30, go there. John 7, verse number 30. The Lord created us in time. He placed us in the capsule of time. When He sent His Son, His Son entered that time. And John chapter 7 verse number 30 says, Then they sought to take Him, but no man laid hands on Him, because His hour was not yet come. They were capable. They were able to. They eventually did. They laid hands on Him and they drug Him away. But here His hour was not yet come. And that's repeated in John chapter 8. Just turn a page over, verse number 20. These words spake Jesus in the treasury as he taught in the temple and no man laid hands on him for his hour was not yet come. Luke chapter 22. Do a few pages back. Luke 22, verse number 53. This is at the end now when they came to arrest him. Be ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves, he asked the chief priests and the captains of the temple. When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me. He said, how come you didn't do it back then? But this is your hour and the power of darkness. This is your hour and the power of darkness. So it had to happen at the right time, not too early and right the right time. The olive is harvested, as I said earlier, when just turning from green to black at its peak of maturity. If you look at Isaiah 53 again, keep something there because we're gonna keep referring to that portion. Isaiah chapter 53 verse 8. He was taken from prison and from judgment and who shall declare his generation for he was cut off out of the land of the living. Cut off out of the land of the living. Out of his generation, out of his age group. What happened to this guy? His friends so young in life from a human standpoint. He was young strong. I'm 27 now, so I'm like I guess in a few years. I'll be 30 or 33 and You know I think it was Pat. It was brother art preview that was saying you know the age I think what point at what age you know quarter your life is up and half I think half was 32 or something if anyone remembers something like that 35 so right before his right before his halfway point right in his prime and so when the olive is just a green and black in the fall harvested he was crucified in the prime of his life and as a practical, a devotional point, give your all to Him, now, in the strength of your youth, when you're young. If you're a teenager now and you say, I'm not at the prime yet, you will be very soon. And as I will be middle-aged before I know it. There's no stopping time. There's no stopping time. It will keep on rolling. You know that, like when we were just at camp, right? On Friday, you're like, oh, we have three days left here. And then Saturday, it's getting a little tight. And then on Sunday, you're like, that's it. I can't believe it's over. But that's how time goes, amen? Don't waste life on yourself and on the world, amen? Galatians 2, chapter two, verse number 20 says, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. The olives are harvested and then they're cleaned. The olives are brought into the oil press and they're washed with water. Even in ancient times, they didn't try to dry the olives or anything because that extra water would facilitate extracting the oil. The Lord requires clean offerings. Turn to Numbers chapter 19. The Lord requires clean offerings. The offering itself must be clean. Numbers chapter 19, verse two. This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord hath commanded, saying, speak unto the children of Israel that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish. The offerers, those who sacrifice the offering must be clean. The same chapter, look at verse number seven. Then the priest shall wash his clothes and he shall bathe his flesh in water. And afterward he shall come into the camp and the priest shall be unclean until the evening. And he that burneth her, shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean unto the even. And verse nine, a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and shall take them and lay them up in a clean place. Whatever makes clean must be clean. The priests had to be clean. They had to be living right had to be clean inwardly and outwardly when they made a sacrifice So when the Lord wanted a sacrifice for sin, he said I need a clean offering and the offerer Must be clean Jesus Christ was both he was the offering and he was the offer himself Hebrews 9 14 turn there. Look at this verse Hebrews 9 14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? So he offered himself without spot, and that's why he can clean us. That's why he can make us pure and purge our conscience, amen? The olives are cleaned with water. Hebrews chapter five, you know the verse, Christ loved the church, gave himself for it that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. There's the www that you need to be looking at. With the washing of water of his word. Psalm chapter 12 verse six says, the words of the Lord are pure words. Psalm 119, 140, thy word is very pure, clean water. John chapter 15, verse number 10, go there. John chapter 15, verse number 10. Earlier in the chapter, he says, now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. They are cleaned with water. John chapter 15 verse number 10. He was obedient to his father's words. He fulfilled the righteousness of the law in his life. He was surrounded with the temptations that we are surrounded with. Times have changed, we have new devices, we have new things, but the sins and the lusts in our heart were in the hearts of the men of his time. And he experienced them, and he resisted. He resisted with the word of God. That's how he held off Satan in the wilderness, with the word of God. Prayer sanctifies. 1 Timothy 4, verse 5 speaks about every creature of God being good, nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. Look at Mark 1. Jesus Christ's life, was for many reasons. It was a warning to Israel. It was an offer to Israel of the Messiah. It was proof for his future body that they could resist and obey and yield and live victoriously. He's our example. And it was also a preparation to be offered. Mark chapter 1 verse 35. All of His life you see Him as a minister, as a healer, as a preacher and teacher. And also, you see him in quiet, in solitude, praying. Why did God need to pray? Why did Jesus Christ need to pray? He was gonna be made an offering for sin. He had to be ready. What if you, I mean, just me preparing for this, you know, you're fearful, quaking, shaking, praying, you know, beseeching the Lord. Imagine being the offering for the sins of the whole world. What preparation. His whole life. Mark 1, verse 35. And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out and departed into a solitary place and there prayed. Luke 5, verse 16 says he withdrew himself into the wilderness and prayed. When he took the disciples up into the Mount of Transfiguration, it says he went up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering. You know how you can become more prepared, more suited for the Lord's work? Spending time in prayer, spending time in his word, being washed, sanctified with prayer. There's a hymn that says, O to be like thee, blessed Redeemer, pure as thou art. And we can only be clean as we expose ourselves to the Word of God, spend time in prayer, and He sheds light on things in our lives. Amen. Matthew chapter 26. is the evening of his trial, his betrayal and trial and crucifixion, or not crucifixion, that happened the next day. Matthew 26, verse number 36. Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, which in Aramaic means oil press. Gethsemane means oil press in Aramaic, no coincidence. He saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here while I go and pray yonder. He went a little further and fell on his face and prayed. It says, he went away again the second time and prayed, saying, oh my father, if this cup may not pass away from me except I drink it, thy will be done. Verse number 44, and he left them and went away again and prayed the third time, saying the same words. The Bible says, as he was there in the garden, he sweat great drops. as it were, great drops of blood. I don't know if that's when the sin was placed on him, but he was feeling the weight of the sacrifice that he was about to undertake, the offering that he was about to make. I mean, think about the priests under the law when they made a sacrifice. There was fear in killing that animal. I mean, he was the offering and he was the offerer. The mixed feelings, the fear, the shame that he knew he was about to bear, the sins of the whole world that he hated, that he hates, he's God. Hates sin, that's why he created a hell. created hell for Satan and his angels and those that do not obey the gospel of God. He abhors sin and he was about to be made sin in great anguish. But although our sins and iniquities would be laid on him on that cross, he went into that ordeal clean. He was clean. He was spotless before God. God looked on him and said, you're my son. You're my beloved son. I delight in you. Hear ye him. He was ready. He was ready when he went. The olives, after they are cleaned, are crushed. They're poured into the basin and the millstones turn repeatedly over and over. And sometimes it was one, usually it was two. And to this day, it still is two great huge stones about this high, about this thick, monsters crushing those olives. And if I had to name those stones, I'd name one of them judgment and one of them wrath. just repeatedly turning, repeatedly turning and crushing. Isaiah chapter 53 verse five says, he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And with his stripes, we are healed. The olives must be crushed immediately after harvest to guarantee the oil quantity and quality. Some authorities say if when you harvest olives, you can't wait more than 24 hours. After 24 hours, the quantity of the oil you're gonna get drops exponentially. Look at Matthew 26. While you're turning there, I'm reading Isaiah 53, verse eight. The Bible says he was taken from prison and from judgment. He was arrested, was not put in a holding cell, was not placed in prison. He wasn't even judged fairly. It was quick. And we're gonna look at the scriptures here at how quick this all happens. Matthew 26, verse 20. The Bible says, now when the even was come, he sat down with the 12. That's him eating the Passover with the 12, that even. Verse number 30, and when they had sung in him, they went out into the Mount of Olives that same evening. Verse 45, He comes to his disciples, 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. Now the next chapter, verse one, when the morning was come, so now it's the next morning, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. Verse 45. This is the hands on the clock when Jesus Christ was crucified. From the sixth hour, there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. So six in the morning is the first hour of the day. At 12 o'clock, it's the sixth. And at three o'clock, it's the ninth. So somewhere between three and the evening, Jesus Christ died, probably shortly after three. And then if we look at verse number 57, when the even was come, there comes a rich man of Arimathea named Joseph to take the body of Jesus. So we're 24 hours after the evening prior when he was in the garden. So not even 24 hours past, quick. And so the olives need to be crushed immediately after the harvest for the proper oil to be extracted. The whole olive must be crushed. There's some new machines where they remove the pits and they just grind the flesh and make the oil, but I haven't tried that oil. I don't know if I've ever had it, but I would argue that it's way inferior because if you break open an olive seed, you can break open an olive seed with a hammer and it has an almond inside. Like if you break open a peach seed, how many of you have broken open a peach seed and had the thing inside? Those are very good for you. They actually, full of antioxidants and all kinds of crazy stuff, good for preventing cancer and all that, but inside of an olive bone is a small white like seed, almonds, and it's very soft and full of oil. So the whole thing is crushed. That makes good olive oil. The whole olive is crushed. The olive is made of three parts. That has the skin on the outside, it has the flesh, and then there's the seed on the inside. And those things correspond to the body of Christ, first of all. Hebrews chapter 10, verse five, turn there if you would. Hebrews chapter 10, verse five. His body was offered. Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice an offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me. His body. So our flesh is corruptible. His flesh did not inherit the kingdom of God. His blood was good. But his flesh wasn't. He had a resurrected body when he rose. His flesh was offered, his body. His soul was offered. If I had to compare the skin, flesh, and seed, I would say the skin would be the outer part that you see, his flesh. Then the flesh of the olive right under would be the soul, if you would, and the seed would be his spirit. His soul was offered. Isaiah chapter 53, verse number 10, says it. Please the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seed, shall prolong his days. And his spirit was offered. Luke chapter 23, turn there if you would. His spirit was offered, Luke chapter 23, verse number 46. And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And he gave up his spirit. And having said thus, he gave up the ghost. Why did all those three parts of Christ need to be offered? Well, his body had to be offered because ours is corruptible. And we're going to put on a new body. Corruption is going to put on incorruption. Mortality is going to be clothed with immortality. It's going to put on immortality. So, his body was offered. His soul had to be offered because ours is unclean, stained with sin, needs washing with his blood. And his spirit had to be offered because ours is dead and must be quickened. Those stones, as they're turning and crushing the olives, I would watch those stones, and it seemed like they were going on for too long. Because, I mean, an olive is small compared to those stones. How long do those stones really need to turn? But it just kept going and going and going. And when the paste comes out, and they spread it on those cloth frails, it's like peanut butter. It's smooth. It's smooth. But that unending turning and crushing of the millstones reminds me of the excessive physical suffering that Christ was subjected to, subjected himself to at the hands of sinful men. His scourging is something that I've always thought about when I think about relentless, prolonged, excessive Why, why so extreme, right? So just a few scriptures on that. Turn to 2 Samuel chapter seven, if you would, 2 Samuel chapter seven. Okay, so speaking of David here, let's go right to verse 14. Catch in the middle of the verse says, if he commit iniquity, speaking of the seed of David, I will chase in him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children of men, but my mercy shall not depart away from him as I took it from Saul. So speaking of the future heir to the kingdom. So direct prophecy on Jesus Christ. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 25. Just wanna give a little background here to his scourging. Deuteronomy chapter 25, verse one. If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them, then they shall justify the righteous and condemn the wicked. And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten. As you read these verses, especially not the New Testament, but the old. As you're reading it, learn and try and study to see Jesus Christ through these verses. So don't just read, it is a story, but it's a filter to be laid on top of the New Testament and on top of Jesus Christ. And you see wonderful things that way. So verse number two, and it shall be, if the wicked man, was Jesus Christ wicked when he was on the cross? Why did God turn from him? If he wasn't wicked, full of sin, why would God turn from him? He was made to be sin. He was made sin. He was wicked on that cross at that moment in time. And that's not blasphemous to say, but it should make us thankful and it should make us live holy. He bore that wickedness so we don't have to. If the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down and to be beaten before his face, according to his fault by a certain number. Now here's that verse speaking of 40 stripes. 40 stripes he may give him and not exceed, lest if he should exceed and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee. Now, Jesus, although he was tried by the Jewish Sanhedrin, was scourged under Roman authority. The Jews didn't scourge him. The Romans, at will, scourged Jesus Christ. And so, they were not subject to this Old Testament law and rule. And if you look at other scriptures, for example, Psalm chapter 129, Turn there if you would, Psalm 129. The severity of his scourging is really brought out. And we're on the point of the excessive crushing and mistreatment, scourging that he experienced at the hand of sinners. Psalm 129, verse three, the plowers plowed upon my back. they made long their furrows. That's a prophecy of Jesus Christ and his scourging. So whether the furrows were long in length or long in quantity and time, it's probably both. Isaiah chapter 52, if you would turn there, verse number 14. As many were astonied at thee. You gotta kinda read the prior verse for the grammar to be right. Behold, my servant shall deal prudently. He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. As many were astonied at thee. His visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men, so shall he sprinkle many nations. His visage was marred more than any man, his physical face and his form more than the sons of men. Psalm 22, verse 17 says, I may tell all my bones, I may count them, they look and stare upon me. He was ripped to pieces, excessive scourging. I gave my back to the smiters, Isaiah 50 says, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting. Verse nine of Isaiah chapter 50 says, behold, the Lord God will help me. And throughout those accounts of the crucifixion, you see his hope in God. You see him looking to his father. Even though he knew his father was gonna reject him, he said, yet will I look toward thy holy temple. All right, I'm gonna end on this point. We're finishing this point, I'm not starting another one. So that crushing symbolizes the physical excessive suffering he endured and also the spiritual suffering of eternal judgment on sin. Jesus Christ, we know that he came into time and he bore our sin on the cross. At that point, however, he was not in time because the Bible says the wages of sin is death. What kind of death? The eternal death. Go look in Matthew chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12 verse 38. We're speaking of eternal judgment for sin. executed on Jesus Christ. Matthew chapter 12, verse 38. Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of the prophet Jonas. For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. So Jonah is a picture. His story was for himself and for Nineveh, but it was also for, it was a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ. It was a sign. So the son of man would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Now go to Jonah chapter two. Jonah chapter two. Jonah. Jonah chapter two. So Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Look in chapter one verse 17. Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Okay. Verse number six. Chapter 2 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains the earth with her bars was about me. How long? forever yet hast thou brought up my life from Corruption. Oh Lord my God. See the sign of the Prophet Jonas is this whole account here chapters 1 & 2 and Then his resurrection It was about him forever eternally Jonah I believe had a supernatural experience, he was a sign. Now, there are stories about men in the time of whaling that were swallowed by some of the larger whales and they survived, they lived. Now, one, they weren't in the belly of that, inside of those whales as long as three days and three nights, so shorter than that, it was like a day. There's stories, I was going to try to get stories and some first-hand accounts, but suffice it to say, the men that were extricated from those whales never looked the same the rest of their lives. Their skin was bleached white from the acid. They were mottled from the acid, corroded from being in the stomach of that fish, of that whale. The one story I'm thinking of, the guy was a cripple the rest of his life. He walked with a hunch, so he had severe damage. And Jonah, chapter three, the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. Chapter three says, Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days journey. And Jonah sets out on this hike, trek out to Nineveh, walking around the city of three days journey. It doesn't sound like a man who has been half asphyxiated for three days and three nights, you know, slowly, slowly being cooked by acid. So I believe Jonah had a supernatural experience. in earthly standards, three days and three nights, but outside of time, like Victor Hugo, like this crazy time travel kind of thing. Now, think about eternity and it freaks you out. When I was a child, I would think about eternity and I still do. And it's crazy because you think about it starting and you think about some of the things that you're going to do in eternity, but then when you start, when you remove the time element from it and you say, wait a minute, when is it going to end? It's just going to keep going. Me and my mom would sit there and we would kind of like try to talk about it and like, you can't really talk about it because it makes you start feeling weird. Like, and after eternity, after, it's just going to go on, brothers and sisters, just on and on and on. There's nothing after that. Forever, we're going to be with the Lord. And on the other hand, however, and in the case of Jesus Christ, eternity in the wrong place is eternal horror. Eternal anguish, suffering, regret, horror. Horror. I'm going to end there because it's nine o'clock. I feel like I've been preaching five minutes. But I have over half of my notes left, so I'll get to it some other time. And so olives are harvested after the cultivation. They're harvested and they're cleaned with water. And I think that's, oh, then we got to the crushing. So, and then they're crushed. And after that, the process continues. Let's see. I want to end with something here. I could just end with another point. No, I'll end. Amen. Okay, it's nine o'clock. All right. Amen. Praise the Lord. So that will be to be continued, Lord willing. And if by any chance you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and you're not sure about what olives have to do with Jesus Christ, don't worry about that. The story's not over. But what you do need to think about is what we were just, what I just mentioned is eternity. He bore that eternity for you. He was in your place. The Bible says He was made to be sin for us who knew no sin. He lived a sinless life. Remember what I was talking about? He lived a pure life without sin, preparing himself to be offered and to offer without sin, only at the end all of God's sin, not God's sin, all of God's wrath and judgment on sin poured out on Jesus Christ. And He spent eternal judgment for you in a place that He didn't have to go to, He didn't deserve, so you didn't have to. So I hope you will not make His offering vain. I didn't make His offering vain, I accepted it. When I was six years old, the summer of 2000, I trusted Jesus Christ as my Savior. And ever since then, I've loved Him more and more, seek to know more about Him, and so should you, amen? And brother or sister, Don't let the prime of your life and your youth be spent thinking about the future or worrying about the future now, today, so that there are no regrets when we see them, amen? All right, let's close in prayer.