Found Wanting

Although we may have read this Bible verse many times, do we really take it as seriously as we should? It is a very solemn time in which we live. Those of us who have known the message for many years are more or less settled into the truth, but there are many young people who are still deciding. There is not much time left in which to decide because soon the time will come when the judgment will be finished and the pronouncement will be made, “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” Revelation 22:11,12

“And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.” Mat. 25:32,33 There are only two sides – you have to be on one side or the other when Jesus comes. Have you considered which side you will be on when Jesus separates the sheep from the goats? There is no middle ground.

“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” 2 Cor. 13:5. Sometimes we have to stop and take time to examine ourselves to see which side we really are on.

“Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.

Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.” Hag. 1:5-7. This warning is also for us today. We are to consider also our spiritual life. We need to ask ourselves how will we stand in the judgment?

BELSHAZZAR

In the book of Daniel chapter 5, we read of the drunken feast of King Belshazzar. This feast was interrupted by God’s hand, writing on the wall, delivering a message to the king. Daniel was called to interpret the mysterious writing. This is the interpretation given to him by God.

“MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.” Daniel 5:26-28.

“At the very moment when the feasting was at its height, a bloodless hand came forth, and traced on the wall of the banqueting room the doom of the king and his kingdom.

“Little did Belshazzar think that an unseen Watcher beheld his idolatrous revelry. But there is nothing said or done that is not recorded on the books of heaven. The mystic characters traced by the bloodless hand testify that God is a witness to all we do, and that He is dishonored by feasting and reveling.

We cannot hide anything from God. We cannot escape from our accountability to Him. Wherever we are and whatever we do, we are responsible to Him whose we are by creation and by redemption.” Te 49

I want to focus on the middle part of this message – the TEKEL. Here God told Belshazzar that he was weighed in the balances and found wanting. His moral worth was placed in God’s balances and was found to be sadly very short of what God’s high standard was. While the rest of the prophecy was directed to King Belshazzar and came to pass exactly as Daniel interpreted it, the TEKEL part is a warning for God’s people of all time. We need to take this very seriously. What does it mean to be “weighed in the balances and found wanting?” In the judgment, which is going on in heaven right now, (as I mentioned in the beginning) every person will be put into God’s balances and weighed.
When Belshazzar heard those words, did he repent? No he died soon after. Those words mean — TOO LATE. They are very serious words. If your name is called in the heavenly sanctuary today and there is something lacking in your character – you too will receive that same pronouncement, “you are weighed in the balances and found wanting.” It is too late to change.

“Those who are unfaithful to the work of God are lacking in principle; their motives are not of a character to lead them to choose the right under all circumstances. The servants of God are to feel at all times that they are under the eye of their employer. He who watched the sacrilegious feast of Belshazzar is present in all our institutions, in the counting-room of the merchant, in the private workshop; and the bloodless hand is as surely recording your neglect as it recorded the awful judgment of the blasphemous king. Belshazzar’s condemnation was written in words of fire, ‘Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting’; and if you fail to fulfill your God-given obligations your condemnation will be the same.” MYP 229

Although someone may have been weighed in the balances and found wanting, does that mean they die immediately? No, not always. A man named Canright opposed E. G. White and her work for years, however towards the end of his life he decided to make peace with Sister White. He was miserable, but he went to talk to her anyhow and she told him to repent. He said he couldn’t. As much as he really wanted to, he simply couldn’t any more – there was no repentance for him. He had gone too far.

SIN AGAINST HOLY SPIRIT

Canright had sinned against the Holy Spirit. That is a sin that cannot be forgiven ever. “Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.” Matthew 12:31, 32 When you sin against the Holy Spirit, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting. Your name may not have come up in judgement yet, but it may be too late for you, for example, King Saul was rejected by the Lord, but still continued living for years.

I found 3 ways in which you can sin against the Holy Spirit in the following quotations. “It is not God that blinds the eyes of men or hardens their hearts. He sends them light to correct their errors, and to lead them in safe paths; it is by the rejection of this light that the eyes are blinded and the heart hardened. Often the process is gradual, and almost imperceptible. Light comes to the soul through God’s word, through His servants, or by the direct agency of His Spirit; but when one ray of light is disregarded, there is a partial benumbing of the spiritual perceptions, and the second revealing of light is less clearly discerned. So the darkness increases, until it is night in the soul. Thus it had been with these Jewish leaders. They were convinced that a divine power attended Christ, but in order to resist the truth, they attributed the work of the Holy Spirit to Satan. In doing this they deliberately chose deception; they yielded themselves to Satan, and henceforth they were controlled by his power.

“Closely connected with Christ’s warning in regard to the sin against the Holy Spirit is a warning against idle and evil words. The words are an indication of that which is in the heart.

DA 322. Although the third one is not directly the sin against the Holy Spirit, we read that it is closely connected. How careless we sometimes are with our words, not realizing that idle and evil words are closely connected with the sin against the Holy Spirit.

Here is another good definition from the Spirit of Prophecy about the sin against the Holy Spirit.
“What constitutes the sin against the Holy Ghost? It is willfully attributing to Satan the work of the Holy Spirit. For example, suppose that one is a witness of the special work of the Spirit of God. He has convincing evidence that the work is in harmony with the Scriptures, and the Spirit witnesses with his spirit that it is of God. Afterward, however, he falls under temptation; pride, self-sufficiency, or some other evil trait, controls him; and rejecting all the evidence of its divine character, he declares that that which he had before acknowledged to be the power of the Holy Spirit was the power of Satan. It is through the medium of His Spirit that God works upon the human heart; and when men willfully reject the Spirit and declare it to be from Satan, they cut off the channel by which God can communicate with them. By denying the evidence which God has been pleased to give them, they shut out the light which had been shining in their hearts, and as the result they are left in darkness. Thus the words of Christ are verified: “If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” For a time, persons who have committed this sin may appear to be children of God; but when circumstances arise to develop character and show what manner of spirit they are of, it will be found that they are on the enemy’s ground, standing under his black banner.” 5T 634

To have sinned against the Holy Spirit means you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting. Perhaps a person’s name has not come up in judgment yet, but they have rejected God’s calls of mercy – it will still be too late. This is serious. It is life and death. There is no way we can make it to heaven on our own – and Jesus knows this – He is still pleading for you to make a change in your life. He is a God of love and mercy, not a God of vengeance and hatred. He loves, not destroys. We destroy ourselves by refusing the help He is offering to us. We chase the Holy Spirit out of our lives when we persist in sin. When He is gone, He is gone – it’s forever.

What does it mean to be weighed in the balances and found wanting?
It means – TOO LATE!

“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it. In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.” Amos 8:11-13.

These people mentioned above realize too late that the Holy Spirit is gone. Many of them realize this after the close of probation – there is no more mercy – no more messages from heaven for them.

“In this world we have temporal duties to perform, and in the performance of these duties we are forming characters that will either stand the test of the judgment or be weighed in the balances and found wanting. We may do the smallest duties nobly, firmly, faithfully, as if seeing the whole heavenly host looking upon us.” TMK 157

“Let the human agent consider the solemn fact that the day of reckoning is just before us, and that we are daily deciding what our eternal destiny shall be. ….It will be an awful thing to be found “wanting” when the book of accounts is opened in that great day. . . Upon the decisions reached in that day depends the future, eternal interest of every soul. We shall have unspeakable joy, or unutterable woe and misery. . . O how Jesus will love to recompense every true worker! Every faithfully performed duty will receive His blessing. It is then that He pronounces the benediction, ‘Well done.’” TMK 326

TYPE OF PEOPLE WHO WILL BE FOUND WANTING

“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Matthew 7:21-23 Christian people are mentioned here who only have a form of godliness, but do not possess the power of God. Those that have been filled with self-righteousness.

In the days of Christ, the Pharisees were keeping the law piously, but what did Jesus call them? He called them hypocrites. Why? They were keeping the letter of the law and not the spirit of the law. What is the difference?
“Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. Mat 5:27-28.

“Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.” Mat. 5:21,22. How many people call each other derogatory names implying foolishness in the other person?

You see this especially true in unconverted young people. How lightly they regard the matter of calling someone a fool, yet in the eyes of God it is a grievous sin.

So we see a difference. There is so much included in the spirit of the law than we at first realize. I have a few statements from the spirit of prophecy here regarding other ways that it is seen whether a person is keeping the spirit of the law or not. Here are statements about the kinds of people who will be weighed in the balances and found wanting.
“When Christ gave the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, there were many in the Jewish nation in the pitiable condition of the rich man, using the Lord’s goods for selfish gratification, preparing themselves to hear the sentence, ‘Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.’ Dan. 5:27.” COL 267

“Home missionary work has been strangely neglected. Those who have had the greatest reason for earnest, Christlike solicitude for the salvation of their children, have been indifferent to their responsibilities, and have lightly regarded the wants of their households. The responsibility which God has given to men and women as parents, many have shifted from themselves to the Sabbath school worker and to the church influence. But each instrumentality has its work, and parents who neglect their part will be weighed in the balances and found wanting.” CSW 44

“Perilous is the condition of those who, growing weary of their watch, turn to the attractions of the world. While the man of business is absorbed in the pursuit of gain, while the pleasure lover is seeking indulgence, while the daughter of fashion is arranging her adornments–it may be in that hour the Judge of all the earth will pronounce the sentence: ‘Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.’ Daniel 5:27.” GC 491

“It is for the eternal interest of everyone to search his own heart and to improve every God-given faculty. Let all remember that there is not a motive in the heart of any man that the Lord does not clearly see. The motives of each one are weighed as carefully as if the destiny of the human agent depended upon this one result. . . . God in heaven is true, and there is not a design, however intricate, or a motive, however carefully hidden, that He does not clearly understand. He reads the secret devisings of every heart.

“Men may plan out crooked actions for the future, thinking that God does not understand; but in that great day when the books are opened, and every man is judged by the things written in the books, those actions will appear as they are. . .
“There are many who need now to consider the words, ‘TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting’ Dan. 5: 27” HP 156

“None can know what may be God’s purpose in His discipline; but all may be certain that faithfulness in little things is the evidence of fitness for greater responsibilities. Every act of life is a revelation of character, and he only who in small duties proves himself ‘a workman that needeth not to be ashamed’ can be honored by God with higher service. 2 Timothy 2:15. He who feels that it is of no consequence how he performs the smaller tasks proves himself unfit for a more honored position. He may think himself fully competent to take up the larger duties; but God looks deeper than the surface. After test and trial, there is written against him the sentence, ‘Thou art weighted in the balances, and art found wanting.’” PK 218

“If you have not laid aside your envy, your jealousies, your hatred one against another, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God. You would only carry the same disposition with you; but there will be nothing of this character in the world to come. Nothing will exist there but love and joy and harmony.” 3SM 155

“Purity of life and a character molded after the divine Pattern are not obtained without earnest effort and fixed principles. A vacillating person will not succeed in attaining Christian perfection. Such will be weighed in the balances and found wanting. Like a roaring lion, Satan is seeking for his prey. He tries his wiles upon every unsuspecting youth; there is safety only in Christ. It is through His grace alone that Satan can be successfully repulsed. Satan tells the young that there is time enough yet, that they may indulge in sin and vice this once and never again; but that one indulgence will poison their whole life. Do not once venture on forbidden ground. The only safety for the youth in this age of pollution is to make God their trust. Without divine help they will be unable to control human passions and appetites. In Christ is the very help needed, but how few will come to Him for that help.” 2T 408

“Those who are ‘do-nothings’ now will have the superscription upon them, ‘Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.’ They knew their Master’s will, but did it not. They had the light of truth, they had every advantage, but chose their own selfish interests, and they will be left with those whom they did not try to save.” TM 237

“There is no one, however earnestly he may be striving to do his best, who can say, ‘I have no sin.’ He who would say this would be under a dangerous deception. ‘If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us’ (1 John 1:8). How then can we escape the charge, ‘Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting’?” UL 53

CONCLUSION:

“This is the great day of atonement, and our Advocate is standing before the Father, pleading as our intercessor. In place of wrapping about us the garments of self-righteousness, we should be found daily humbling ourselves before God, confessing our own individual sins, seeking the pardon of our transgressions, and cooperating with Christ in the work of preparing our souls to reflect the divine image. Unless we enter the sanctuary above, and unite with Christ in working out our own salvation with fear and trembling, we shall be weighed in the balances of the sanctuary, and shall be pronounced wanting.” 7BC 933

Who wants to hear the following words?
“The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” Jeremiah 8:20

“As the books of record are opened in the judgment, the lives of all who have believed on Jesus come in review before God. Beginning with those who first lived upon the earth, our Advocate presents the cases of each successive generation, and closes with the living. Every name is mentioned, every case closely investigated. Names are accepted, names rejected. When any have sins remaining upon the books of record, unrepented of and unforgiven, their names will be blotted out of the book of life, and the record of their good deeds will be erased from the book of God’s remembrance…

“All who have truly repented of sin, and by faith claimed the blood of Christ as their atoning sacrifice, have had pardon entered against their names in the books of heaven; as they have become partakers of the righteousness of Christ, and their characters are found to be in harmony with the law of God, their sins will be blotted out, and they themselves will be accounted worthy of eternal life.” GC 483

In the light of all this solemnity what is Jesus calling us to do? Matthew 11:28-30, Isaiah 8:20.
“For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” 1 Timothy 2:3-6

It is a very solemn time in which we live, and the Lord is calling each of you to come to Him and surrender your lives to Him, while there is still time. While mercy is still lingering in the heavenly sanctuary. Let us pray for one another that we may make earnest efforts towards this end. There is nothing in this world that is too dear to hold onto, in exchange for eternal happiness, eternal peace and eternal joy. Yes, the world may look attractive to young minds today, but the Lord is trying to tell you that He has something better. Something money can’t buy. All that is on this earth will soon be all burnt up. With all the sacrifices we have to make on this earth (the battle to give up cherished idols and habits that seem so hard to give up and change) – when Sister White saw a vision of heaven, she said “heaven is cheap enough.” The things we have to suffer are small in comparison with glory of the heavenly city. Yes, Jesus paid our penalty – heaven is cheap enough.

May God help us to take Him into our hearts and leave the world behind, making more earnest efforts to live for Christ so that when our name is brought up in the heavenly sanctuary we will not be weighed in the balances and found wanting.
AMEN

Wendy Eaton.