You Shall See but Not Eat — Phil Beach Jr.

I'm going to read one scripture in 2 Kings chapter 7, and we're going to go back to this scripture in a short while. But I want to read this scripture because it's going to be the title of this message from the scriptures this morning.

The text is found in 2 Kings chapter 7, verse 19. 2 Kings chapter 7. Now, 2 Kings is after 1 Kings. 2 Kings chapter 7, verse number 19. Listen carefully. And the Lord answered the man of God, Beloved, be very careful what you answer.

Now, the man of God was speaking the word of God. So I'm not going to say be careful how you answer the man of God, but careful how you answer the word of God. Be careful. Be careful what your response is to the word of God, because your response to the word of God is going to determine your fate this morning.

It's going to determine where you go, where you don't go. It's going to determine how successful you are, how you're going to stand on the day of judgment. And that Lord answered the man of God and said, Now behold, if the Lord should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be?

And he said, the man of God said, Behold, thou shalt see with thine eyes, but shall not eat thereof. The name, the title of this message this morning is, You shall see, but not eat. You shall see, but not eat.

We will go back to this story. We will rehearse this story. And we will bring us right to the point where we read this morning as our opening text. But before we go there, I want to deal with two other issues.

Confession Before Entering a New Year

I want to deal with two other issues. First of all, beloved, I want to deal with the issue of confession. 1998 is on the horizon. We stand at the eve of 1998, and we are closing the books to 1997. I'd like to invite you to please open your Bibles, go with me through the Scriptures.

First of all, go to the New Testament, James chapter 5. James chapter 5. I believe it is imperative, it is imperative that we would understand that it would be very, very unprofitable, it would be very, very disappointing, it would be very, very destructive, and it would most definitely hinder our ability to accomplish God's will in 1998 if we do not get a grip of a particular truth that we must come to grips with.

This is a truth that we neglect very many times. Frequently, we neglect it, and it results in much harm and much damage that is incurred in our own lives and in the lives of our loved ones and in the lives of the body of Christ.

It's neglecting this truth. James chapter 5, beginning in verse number 14. Particularly, we're going to deal with verse 16. Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over them, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up. And if he hath committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that you may be healed.

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Proverbs chapter 28, verse number 13. Proverbs chapter 28, verse number 13. He that covers, the Hebrew word for cover is to keep secret or to hide, to conceal something.

He that covers his sins shall not prosper. But whosoever confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. Joshua chapter 7. Joshua chapter 7. This has to do with the story of the Israelites after having gone into the land of Canaan, came to the city of Ai and was instructed by God that they were not to take any of the things in the city for themselves.

But Achan was tempted to steal some Babylonian garments and some silver, and he coveted them and hid them in his tent. And that brings us to Joshua chapter 7, verse number 17. Actually, verse number 19.

And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto him, and tell me now what thou hast done. Hide it not from me. And Achan answered Joshua and said, Indeed, I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done.

When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonian garment, and two hundred shekels of gold, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them and took them. And behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.

Confession. 1998 is right around the corner. Today is December 28th. Only a few more days and we're coming into the year 1998. And I'm telling you right now, beloved, by the authority of the Word of God and by the Spirit of God, that if the devil had his way, he would want you to bring into 1998 all of those sins that you have failed to confess to God in 1997.

Because along with those sins comes all of the guilt that you're struggling with, all of the condemnation that you're struggling with, all of the fear that you're struggling with, all of the confusion that you may be struggling with.

And if you begin the year 1998 still bound to those sins that have tormented you, that you have not been able to get the victory over in 1997, then 1998 is not going to be a new year for you with a new beginning and new hope, but it's only going to be a repeat of 1997, and most likely you're going to get yourself deeper into deep water, and you're going to dig a hole deeper, and you're going to end up at the end of 1998 worse off than you were at the end of 1997.

All because there has been a failure to understand the need to confess your sins. It is a false hope to believe. And let me tell you, beloved, every single year there is a hope, there is expectations that come within the hearts of people regarding the new year.

Everybody begins to make new year resolutions. Everyone begins to make commitments to themselves. They make commitments to others. They make promises to themselves. They have goals, they have visions, they have dreams.

But it is a false hope to suppose that you are going to prosper, that you are going to be successful, that you are going to be able to accomplish what God wants you to do in the coming year, if in fact sin is not dealt with in our life.

It is a false hope. We must close our ears and close our minds and resist the feelings that come to us at this time of the year that is perpetuated by the children of this world and by the spirit that is in this world that 1998 brings great hopes for everybody, that we have a new beginning when we awake.

1998, January 1st, the slate is clean, hallelujah. We've got a new beginning. I say to you, that's bonkers, that's not true. You do not have a new beginning. Everything is not peachy keen in 1998, if in fact you are bringing along with you unconfessed sin.

Sin that you've not dealt with. Sin that you have not prayed about, that you have not wept over, that you are not standing against on the basis of Romans chapter 6, that I am crucified with Christ, and this sin is not to have dominion over me, and God, I confess it, I confess it to the one that it has manifested itself to, and I'm standing against it with all the power of grace.

There is no success, there is no prosperity, there is no real genuine free hope when there is unconfessed sin in our lives. And God invites us this morning to consider confessing our sin to Him and to one another that we might be healed, that we might be restored, that we might be strengthened, that we might be able to go into the year 1998 with true hope, with true vision, and with a true confession of this year is going to be better for God's work in my life than 1997 was.

Walking in the Light and Confessing Sin

1 John chapter 1, 1 John chapter 1. We've read it many, many times. Beginning in verse number 5. Listen carefully to the word this morning. Last night, before we read this, I'd like to tell you what we did as a family in the living room.

We all gathered together, and first we listened to Dr. James Kennedy. Blessed man, I love him. And he preached, and he gave a very challenging message, and I like what Norman shared this morning because it was along the lines of what Norman talked about.

Although, he had asked a question at the end which is very thought provoking. He didn't ask the congregation and the television audience, are you saved? He said, are you lost? Because the Son of Man has only come to seek and to save that which is lost.

He said, or rather I might say, you are lost, but do you know it? Have you come to realize the hopelessness of your condition apart from Jesus Christ? And he said that if you have not come to a despairing recognition that you are a lost soul, standing under the judgment of God's fury, then you can't be saved.

You can't be saved. He said it's foolish to think that a man can be saved if he doesn't first come to realize he's lost. So we watched that and I was shouting, hallelujah, yes. How true, how true. Have you come to see how lost you are without Jesus Christ?

But after that, the Lord had put it on my heart. And he said, gather the family together, Phil. And we gathered the family together and we read several scriptures in the New Testament all having one theme.

And the theme was the fact that God asks us to come to Him and make requests. And if we make requests, we know that we have the things that we ask for. If we ask according to His will, because we do those things that are pleasing in His eyes.

And we read many, many scriptures. Mark chapter 11, 1 John chapter 5, 1 John chapter 3. We read John 15. We read Matthew chapter 7. All of these scriptures that would indicate that God is asking us to come to Him in prayer.

But then after that, we had a time of prayer. And I know my kids are probably laughing now because I did most of the praying. But you know, Joe prayed for his family. He prayed for his children. And he asked God to forgive them for sin.

He asked God to forgive his own sin. So it's true, I did do most of the praying. But what we did is we prayed and we confessed our sins. But we didn't do it in a vague way. One of the tricks of the devil is to get us to deal with sin in a very impersonal way.

Oh Lord, I'm sorry I've sinned. Forgive me. Oh, that's cheap. That's cheap. When we read in Joshua chapter 7, we find that first of all, it is to God's glory that we confess our sin. It gives God glory when we confess our sin and we acknowledge what we have done.

But you'll notice that when Achan confessed his sin, he wasn't vague. He was very specific. He said, first of all, I've sinned against the Lord. He said, then he went on and he gave great detail that he saw with his eyes the Babylonian things.

He saw the gold and the shekels of silver. And then he said, I coveted them in my heart. He confessed his sin very specifically. We have to come to the place, beloved, where we are able to confess our sin very specifically.

So what we did last night is we prayed. And I asked all the girls if they would be willing to pray aloud and to confess specific sins that they wanted the Lord to deal with them about, that they wanted forgiveness for, that they wanted victory over, so that they could enter into the new year with a clean slate.

Beloved, please hear the Spirit of God this morning. God wants us to go into 1998 having confessed our sins to one another, having confessed our sins to God, having received a clear conscience and having a mindset that we are determined by the Word of God and by the grace of God that we are going to stand against those sins that have had us bound in 1997 and we are going to believe that God is going to deliver us and set us free so that we can go into 1998 with a clean slate determined to find victory over those sins that have had us captive in 1997.

But the devil doesn't want it to happen because he knows that he that covereth his sin shall not prosper. There is no prosperity with God or with anything else if there is sin in our life that we are not willing to confess to God.

So what we did is we confessed specific sins and named them and asked God to forgive. As the father, as the priest, as the head of my home, I confess the sins of my family to God. And we confessed our sins one to another and we prayed for healing.

We prayed for forgiveness. We prayed for cleansing. 1 John chapter 1 beginning in verse 5. This then is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you God is light and in him is no darkness.

God is light and in him is no darkness. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth. God is light and in him is no darkness. The light here is referring not simply to brightness, not simply to a characteristic of God that would necessitate us putting sunglasses on, but the light here indicates moral perfection.

In God is light. In God is moral perfection. In God is that which is right. And in him is no darkness. That is, in God there is no moral fault. There is nothing in God that is contrary to moral excellence.

So therefore if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth. One of the characteristics of walking with God, one of the fruits of having fellowship with Christ is in fact clinging to the light, clinging to moral perfection, doing what is right, and if we do sin we are immediately troubled by it and we are immediately inclined to confess our sin and deal with it.

And when that stops, that is, when we do sin and we fail to deal with it and we fail to confess it and we fail to forsake it and we fail to go back to the word of God and go for help in the body of Christ and deal with this sin until we overcome it, if we fail to do that then we are beginning in the process of being deceived.

We are deceived. We deceive ourselves, we do not deceive God, and only for a short time do we deceive others because eventually the truth will be made known. So this confession of sin is very, very, very important.

Let's read on. So if we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. To walk in darkness simply means to engage, to be a part of that which is contrary to God. Sin.

If we lie, if we gossip, if we're engaged in impurity of any kind, whether it's in our minds or whether it's physical impurity, fornication, adultery, pornography, if we are engaged in these things, if we are walking in them, and say we have fellowship with him, two things are present.

We lie and do not the truth. That's when self-deception comes in. That's when we become deceived. And being deceived is believing something that is not true. That's what deception is. Believing something that's not true.

And see, when you believe something that's not true, then you have no need to confess. Now watch what the word says. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.

So the difference here is this. Walking in light versus walking in darkness. That's the difference. If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. One of the characteristics of being a Christian and walking in the light is that we have fellowship one with another.

There is a fellowship that we share as we walk in the light together. There is a fellowship. There is a transparency that occurs in our lives with one another. When I am walking in the light and you are walking in the light, there is not only a fellowship we have with God, but we have it with one another.

There is accountability one with another. There is transparency one with another. There is a mutual heart sharing one with another. The absence of this fellowship with one another could indicate that somebody is walking in darkness.

Because to walk in darkness is that you don't have the fellowship one with another. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.

So you see, beloved, we can't get around this issue of our need to confess. Beloved, don't think that what this means is that you simply have the testimony, oh, I know I'm a sinner, that's why I've trusted in Jesus Christ.

That's not what it's talking about. Nor does it mean that you have a testimony, oh, yes, I know that I have to trust in the Lord every day. Listen, as long as you keep things vague and impersonal, you're just where the devil wants you.

Keep things impersonal. Keep things vague. But when you allow the Holy Spirit to deal with your heart like Achan and you are prepared to go to God and say, Lord, I've sinned against you and go to the people that you have sinned against, whether it's husband, whether it's wife, whether it's children, whether it's another member of the body of Christ and say, I have sinned against you and this is what I have done.

Until you're prepared to do that and to be honest before God and to deal with these things, then you are going to bring right into 1998 all of those sins that you have not confessed, that you're pretending either do not exist or you are just hoping someday we'll just go away without confession or you're just being very vague.

Yeah, I've sinned. The Lord knows and He knows. God will deal with it. That's not scriptural. The Bible teaches we are to confess our faults one to another. When was the last time you confessed a fault or a sin to somebody that you needed to tell and ask them for forgiveness and pray together?

When was the last time? Well, I don't do things that way. I'm sorry, I don't do things that way, Brother Beach. I mean, it's a question of whether or not you believe the Bible or not. It's really not a question of whether you do things that way or not.

It's not a matter of my way versus your way. It's not a matter of my preference versus yours. It's a matter of what does the Word of God say. Joshua said to Achan, give God glory and confess your sin.

Give God glory and confess your sin. I want to ask yourself a question right now. Ask yourself this question. Say in your heart, say, am I going to go into 1998 bound by the same unconfessed sins that I've struggled with in 1997?

Now, you know what the answer is? It's up to you. God doesn't want you bound. God wants you free. The Lord Jesus wants you to be free and wants you to go in to January 1st, 1998 with a new mindset. A stand against that sin based on the Word of God.

A determined will to say no to that sin. A transparency in your life. An honesty in your life. A willingness to make right something that's wrong quickly in your life. Those are qualities that have to be developed in us if we're going to succeed in 1998.

Take all of your plans and all of your hopes and all of your dreams and put them in a paper bag and light the match if you are not prepared to start first and foremost with confessing your sin and dealing with it.

Do not be deceived, beloved. Bob Grant said the greatest deception a person can be involved in is self-deception. And when he said that, I heard God's voice right to my heart. I said, yes, Lord, that is so true.

Self-Deception and Submission to God's Authority

So many people can be deceived about so many things, but all the greatest deception is when you're deceived about yourself. You believe something to be true about yourself when it's not. And self-deception begins when you no longer take the Word of God as your final authority and you no longer allow the Word of God to govern what you do, but you decide you know better than God.

Is there anybody in here that thinks they know better than God? Huh? Sarah said sometimes. Well, isn't that the truth? Thank you. Nobody here would say, I know better than God. But yet, when we continue to do things our own way and refuse to come and bow down before what is written in this book and say, Lord, your authority is here and I must bow to it.

When we don't do that, we are in fact saying, God, I know better than you. What a terrible place to be in. What an awful place to be in. You know, one of the thoughts that Dr. Kennedy was bringing out last night, and he probably is bringing it out because a very, very significant movie that's sweeping the box offices right now is The Titanic.

And it's a three-hour and 15-minute program, and it's an incredible movie. And he mentioned that one of the statements that was said by some person before the Titanic took off to sail to the United States, they were going to New York, was this.

Not even God can sink the Titanic. And Dr. Kennedy, after quoting that in the way that only he can do it, goes, If I were you, I would not tell God what he could or could not do. I would not do that, and I hope you will not either.

And you know, that's Dr. Kennedy. We all have our own personality, but Dr. Kennedy said it in such a way, I can't tell you what happened in my spirit when he said that. I mean, if I ever heard the clear voice of God, it was then.

Don't you tell God what he can or cannot do. The Titanic sunk, and over 1 ,200 souls perished within two hours and 20 minutes. Perished and met their grave at the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean. Men, women, and little children perished.

Now, I say that to say this. You say, well, we would never tell God what he can or cannot do. But I tell you, beloved, there is a form of rebellion just as wicked in our hearts when we go about professing to be Christians and followers of Christ, but yet we refuse to bow to the authority of God's Word.

We refuse to bow to the authority of the words of the prophets, the words of the Psalms, and the words of the apostles, which are, in fact, the words of God to us today. We refuse to bow to it. We know that it says, confess your sin.

We know that it says, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Yet we go in our pride. We don't confess our sin. We walk in darkness. We think nobody's looking, don't we? We look to the left.

We look to the right. And we say, nobody's looking. I can do this. Oh, how foolish we are. How deceived we are. How is it that we can say nobody's looking? God says, I see all things. God says, my eyes never sleep or slumber.

When you think nobody's looking at you, you better look again because there is a God in heaven who sees all things. And the Bible says one day we will stand before him, and we will have to give an account of everything.

I say everything that we have done in this mortal body, whether it be good or whether it be bad. Now, that's the word of God. Now, do we believe it? Do we want God's authority in our life? Do we want to be under His authority, confessing our sins to the Lord, to the Almighty?

Are you prepared to confess and forsake your sin? Is there anybody here that is actually saying, well, I can't really think of any particular sin that I'm guilty of? If so, I want to pray especially for you.

That's a scary place to be in. I can't think of any particular sin. That's a scary place to be in. As long as we are in these mortal bodies, though we might not be guilty of any particular sin at the moment, there is always the presence of sin in us and the temptation in the flesh that we must guard against.

I want to go to my next point, but I feel so strong in my spirit, this point of confession our sin. Have you failed to confess your sin to God or to another human being that you've sinned against? Do you continue to walk in darkness?

Are there areas in your life that you know have not changed, even though you've become a Christian? Strongholds. You know, there's some things that we learn through years and years of practice. And just because you become a Christian, sometimes those things are not unlearned overnight.

And for a while, the devil lets you go. But after a while, he starts bringing back into your life things that used to be a real problem in your life before you were a Christian. And if you're not careful, you see, he waits until you get all elated spiritually.

Boy, I'm doing so well. Hallelujah. I'm a Christian. I'm filled with the Spirit. Jesus is everything. Hallelujah. He says to his demons, draw back. Just let that area in his life that he is so, he's blinded to right now because he's just all thrilled that his sins are forgiven.

And that's true. He's just all excited about Jesus. That's true. He's losing sight of the fact that apart from Jesus, he's still a wretched old man. In his flesh, just draw back. Let him get cocky. Let him get spiritually proud.

Give him about six months, and he'll start wanting to put an impression to Christians. He'll start wanting Christians to think that he's so spiritual. It's at that time when he's so proud because then it'll be almost impossible for him to acknowledge that there's a sin in his life because he's a spiritual Christian.

He's overcome sin. So just wait. So after a little while, the devil comes and starts stirring and fanning into flame those sins, those attitudes, that unruly tongue. And you know what happens? We just let it go on and on and on and on.

And we don't deal with it. And we don't confess it. And we don't acknowledge our sin. And it becomes a stronghold in our life. It will ultimately become our spiritual ruin if we don't come to grips with it.

Is there a sin that you must confess? Do you want to be free in 1998? Then confess your sins one to another and pray for one another that you might be healed. Confess your sins. Believe the Word of God this morning.

Firstly, we looked at, you shall see, but you shall not eat. Certainly, if you fail to confess your sin this morning, you might see what God is going to do. You might see the deliverance that God has planned to bring to His people, but you won't partake in it.

You'll see it, but you'll not partake. My second point, after you have confessed your sin, then the Word of God admonishes us to consider our ways. Consider our ways. Turn your Bibles into the Old Testament, the book of Haggai.

Considering Our Ways and Building God's House

Now, who knows where Haggai is? Hurry up. Say it out loud so I can find it. Zephaniah and Zechariah. Zephaniah and Zechariah, the book of Haggai. You shall see, but not partake. Number one, confess your sin.

If you do not confess your sin according to the Word of God, you will not prosper. You will not come into the good of what God wants. You will go into 1998 in bondage, and you may end up worse than you are now.

What a terrible thing. Now, the Word of God bids us not only to confess, but to consider our way. This is when the temple was being rebuilt. The foundation had been laid, but because of opposition from the neighboring peoples, the work on the temple stopped, and it was not resumed until God raised up Haggai and a few other prophets to encourage the people of God to go on.

So the temple foundation had been laid, but the temple was not complete. And here's what the Word of God came to. Here's what the Word of the Lord was saying to the people of God. Verse number two, Haggai chapter one.

Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, This people say the time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built. Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O you, to dwell in your sealed houses, and this house lie waste?

Now therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider your ways. Here was a people who had seen the foundation of the temple of God built, but then because of opposition it stopped, and now sixteen years later the prophet Haggai was raised up by God, and he was saying, Thus saith the Lord.

You people are saying right now, It's not time for the house of God to be built. Why were they saying it's not time for the house of God to be built? They were saying it because they had become so self-centered, and so self-relating, that all of their energy, and all of their time, and all of their labor was being spent on themselves, and the fulfilling of their own dreams, and their own plans, and they could care less about the house of God.

They had become a self-centered, self-relating people, and because of that they refused to believe that it was time for the house of God to be built. Now listen carefully. Because they were self-related and self-centered, this is what Haggai said.

Verse number six. You have sown much and bring in little. You eat, but you do not have enough. You drink, but you are not filled with drink. You clothe you, but there is none warm. He that earneth wages, earneth wages to put it in a bag with holes.

Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider your ways. The people of God were in a state where their chief interests were not those of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now listen carefully, beloved. In the Old Testament, the house of God was understood as a building.

But in the New Testament, the house of God is not a building made with hands. In the New Testament, the house of God is the church, the temple of God. So if we were to apply these words in the Old Testament to the New Testament, the prophet would say to us that the house of God lays waste, the church lays waste, while all the members are simply going about living their own lives selfishly, unrelated to anybody else.

This is what the prophet is saying. Consider your ways. Number two. 1998. Number one, we must pray that God will give us the courage to confess our sins. And number two, where in our life have we gone wrong?

Where in our life have we been found lacking because we are concerned only about our own interests and only about our own desires, and as a result of our selfishness, we are neglecting others. We are neglecting the house of God, and therefore the house of God lays waste.

That word waste in the Hebrew actually means dry and parched, a condition without water. That describes so much the body today. And the reason why the body is so parched and so dry and is laid at waste is because the members therein are not really caring one for another the way we should.

We must consider our ways. If in 1998 we are going to come into all that God has intended for us. Verse number seven. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. Go up to the mountain and bring wood and build the house of God, and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord.

There is the command of God. Instead of going into 1998 with the mindset of how am I going to accomplish my goals, and how am I going to be benefited this year, and how am I going to succeed, and how am I going to prosper, and how am I going to get what my heart wants.

Instead of going into 1998 with that mindset, we must pray that God will change our mind so that we can come into this year saying, Lord, what is it that you want to do in your church? What is it that your desire is?

What do you want to see in your church? And Lord, I commit myself to that. I commit myself, I devote myself, Lord, to praying and seeing and acting so that you can be satisfied with your house. As opposed to committing and devoting myself to my own desires and my own interests and my own goals.

The house of God is being neglected today. The members of the church are being neglected today. The house of God needs to be built, but it's built by prayer. It's built by fellowship. It's built by communing with one another.

It's built by the spiritual stuff that Jesus Christ is made of. It's built by the features that are in Christ, by righteousness and joy and peace and long-suffering growing in us. But those things don't happen when we live our own selfish life.

They only happen when we come before the Lord and bow down before His Word and say, Lord, I renounce this ego, this self-centered drive in me, and I want to come back to where you are my head. The Word of God is my authority, and Lord, I want to get back involved in the building up of your house.