Too Late to Repent...the hardest one so far...
This painting is the 9th in the series of 12 that I am painting as a project dedicated to our Lord, Jesus Christ...there have been times in the the course of painting one, or another, of them that have been very challenging...for instance, it was really hard to paint Jesus is Nailed to the Cross, particularly when I had to paint the nails and Jesus in that horrible state that He was in...by this time on His last night He had been; whipped, beaten, spit on, had His beard plucked out, thorns stuck in His head, and any number of insults hurled His way...
It was, of course, necessary for Him to go through all of this...the most horrible, painful, humiliating death anyone before, or since, has had to endure...He did it to save us...all of us...from the certainty of an eternity in hell as we have all broken God's Law
...the 10 Commandments are God's Standard of Justice...He judges us against these Commandments...they are His Law...it is on this Law that He will compare our lives to see if we are "good"...Jesus tells us that there is "no one good...no, not one..." If Jesus said that even He, Himself, isn't good than how can we as sinful humans call ourselves good?
Jesus died in our place...in my place...and in yours...He made a way for us to avoid the ultimate reality of an eternity in hell for those who have chosen to ignore God's call through Jesus...we can never do enough...or be good enough to stand before a Holy and Perfect God, and be judged as anything but guilty before Him...and as He is a Just God...He must sentence us to death for our sins...but Jesus paid the fine...He paid our sin debt to God with His on blood on the hard wood of the cross.
150,000 per day
This current painting which I have entitled "Too Late to Repent" depicts masses of people coming over a hill to a pleasant looking meadow of lush green grass...they blindly march on towards an abyss that will ultimately, happily, accept them into its eternal torment...a torment that they have earned due to their failure to repent of their sinful lives and turn their hearts over to Jesus as their Savior. Its a broad expanse of area ("for wide is the path that leads to destruction") that provides room for the overwhelming majority of the approximately 150,000 people that die on average daily here on earth to end up in hell. Every one of those 150,000 have one thing in common...each and every one of them is judged at the very moment their heart stops beating for the last time...the Bible tells us "first the death and then the judgement" Hebrews 9:27
God will judge us...every one..."
...and then the judgement"...so, on what will our lives be judged? The answer is God's Law...the Ten Commandments...
"but I'm a Good Person...I am..." ...are you...?...
let's take the "I'm a Good Person" test...
Have you ever told a lie?...of, course you have...we all have...what's that make you?...right, a liar
Have you ever stolen something...even something small, or a long time ago?...again...we all have...what's that make you?...a thief
Jesus said to look upon a woman with lust you have already committed adultery with her in your heart...have you ever looked upon another person with lust?...of course you have...what's that make you?...an adulterer...
one last question...
Have you ever used God's name as a cuss word...? of course you have...that's called blasphemy and it is a very serious offense...
so, by your own admission (i'm not judging)...you are a lying, thieving, blaspheming, adulterer at heart...and that's only four of the Ten Commandments...were you to be judged by these standards do you think you'd be found innocent or guilty?...that's right...guilty...
God must judge us by these standards and He demands the shedding of Blood (what Jesus did on the Cross) in payment for our sins. The Bible tells us that if we are guilty of breaking one Commandment, then we are guilty of breaking all of the Commandments and must be punished with an eternity in hell...unless we repent of our sinful lives, and ask Jesus to be our Lord and Savior.
It was, of course, necessary for Him to go through all of this...the most horrible, painful, humiliating death anyone before, or since, has had to endure...He did it to save us...all of us...from the certainty of an eternity in hell as we have all broken God's Law
...the 10 Commandments are God's Standard of Justice...He judges us against these Commandments...they are His Law...it is on this Law that He will compare our lives to see if we are "good"...Jesus tells us that there is "no one good...no, not one..." If Jesus said that even He, Himself, isn't good than how can we as sinful humans call ourselves good?
Jesus died in our place...in my place...and in yours...He made a way for us to avoid the ultimate reality of an eternity in hell for those who have chosen to ignore God's call through Jesus...we can never do enough...or be good enough to stand before a Holy and Perfect God, and be judged as anything but guilty before Him...and as He is a Just God...He must sentence us to death for our sins...but Jesus paid the fine...He paid our sin debt to God with His on blood on the hard wood of the cross.
150,000 per day
This current painting which I have entitled "Too Late to Repent" depicts masses of people coming over a hill to a pleasant looking meadow of lush green grass...they blindly march on towards an abyss that will ultimately, happily, accept them into its eternal torment...a torment that they have earned due to their failure to repent of their sinful lives and turn their hearts over to Jesus as their Savior. Its a broad expanse of area ("for wide is the path that leads to destruction") that provides room for the overwhelming majority of the approximately 150,000 people that die on average daily here on earth to end up in hell. Every one of those 150,000 have one thing in common...each and every one of them is judged at the very moment their heart stops beating for the last time...the Bible tells us "first the death and then the judgement" Hebrews 9:27
God will judge us...every one..."
...and then the judgement"...so, on what will our lives be judged? The answer is God's Law...the Ten Commandments...
"but I'm a Good Person...I am..." ...are you...?...
let's take the "I'm a Good Person" test...
Have you ever told a lie?...of, course you have...we all have...what's that make you?...right, a liar
Have you ever stolen something...even something small, or a long time ago?...again...we all have...what's that make you?...a thief
Jesus said to look upon a woman with lust you have already committed adultery with her in your heart...have you ever looked upon another person with lust?...of course you have...what's that make you?...an adulterer...
one last question...
Have you ever used God's name as a cuss word...? of course you have...that's called blasphemy and it is a very serious offense...
so, by your own admission (i'm not judging)...you are a lying, thieving, blaspheming, adulterer at heart...and that's only four of the Ten Commandments...were you to be judged by these standards do you think you'd be found innocent or guilty?...that's right...guilty...
God must judge us by these standards and He demands the shedding of Blood (what Jesus did on the Cross) in payment for our sins. The Bible tells us that if we are guilty of breaking one Commandment, then we are guilty of breaking all of the Commandments and must be punished with an eternity in hell...unless we repent of our sinful lives, and ask Jesus to be our Lord and Savior.
A terrible risk...and a really bad result...
Remember, Jesus talked of hell 3 times for every 2 times He spoke of Heaven...For those of you who intend to go to your death in delusion that there is no: God, Jesus, Salvation, Heaven, hell, satan, sin, soul or an eternity...heck, why don't we add gravity to the list also? Denying reality doesn't make reality go away...
I have a question for you...WHAT IF YOU'RE WRONG?
So, what if i'm wrong?...if i'm wrong the worst thing happens is you live your life as a better person...loving others...hating none...not stealing...not lying...and all of the other things attendant with being a "true Christian"...
So, what do I mean when I say "true Christian"? I knew you'd ask...I believe that a true Christian is a person who, not only asks Jesus to be their Lord and Savior, but who repents of their sinful life...turns from the worldly life that we all lived before Salvation through Jesus. You cannot say that you are a believer in Jesus...(see Luke 13:5) saved by His precious blood and continue to live the life of an un-saved person...you are not saved if you continue to live a sinful life...does this mean that we won't sin anymore?...of course not...i still sin everyday...when i do, i ask for God's forgiveness and try to not repeat my sin...what would have been the point in Jesus dying for our sins if all we are going to do is to try to use His death on the cross as some kind of get out of jail free card?
To truly be Saved we must change...Jesus said that we must be "Born Again" meaning to turn from our former sinful lives...to repent...to turn 180 degrees from our former lives...sometimes having to turn from friends or even family to affect the change...if we are truly born again the Bible says that we "pass from death to life"...
All too real...
The realities of the things that i am telling you are all too real...denying them won't change facts...just like denying gravity won't let me dunk a basketball or jump off the face of the earth...the following are facts: Jesus, God, sin, hell, Heaven, Salvation...available to all...
the sad fact is that if you fail to repent prior to your ultimate and guaranteed demise you will be judged guilty according to God's Law...and when you realize that you were wrong...it's too late...too late to repent...
The people in the paintings are intentionally non-descript...non gender specific...but very much classified...I used just four colors to identify the images in the painting...
Gold signifies those who lived for their worldly goods...their idols...in violation of the 1st Commandment..."Thou Shall Have No Other gods Before Me"..Exodus 20:3
Blue signifies the false converts and the un-saved...those who refused to acknowledge God as their Sovreign Lord...also, those who claimed to be Christians but never actually repented...they still lived a worldly life...you see many of them in church on Sundays. John 3:3 & 3:7 Acts 8:18-23
Magenta signifies the false teachers, preachers, prophets and other so-called "leaders" of the "church"...they do not teach according to the Bible and lead others to hell by their false teachings...they are in both the denominational and non-denominal churches...with their "Pharisee Laws" and "traditions" driving their followers to believe their heresy. 2 Peter 2:1
Red signifies those takers of innocent lives...the murderers, abortionists, molesters, rapists, those who hurt the innocent or infirmed...haters and racists...their sins against the innocent will be judged harshly... Ex. 20:13, Isaiah 44:2, Deut. 22
Like the people in the paintings who came over the hill and saw the beautiful meadow...symbolic of the life that they so enjoy here on earth...those mostly everyday, ordinary people..."good people"..who...now as they draw ever closer...are coming to the realization that the world and the devil offered only an illusion of happiness...a sad illusion now in the process of being exchanged for the reality of an eternity of torment...in a place of their choosing...God doesn't want them there...He wants us with Him...He sent His only Son to die in agony on the Cross for them...in their place...but they turned it down...their pride guiding their decisions..."maybe tomorrow" they would think..."maybe tomorrow"...
As they near the abyss and realize what really is up ahead...they, no doubt, return in their memories to the times that they shut out the Lord's call...His call to change their lives for the better...in favor of something...or someone...that they thought would bring them happiness...they bought into the lies of the devil and they turned down the guarantee of an eternity of unimaginable joy and peace in Heaven with Jesus...as each gets nearer the edge and the heat and stench begin to set in...so also, does panic, anger, remorse and hatred for the devil who will now, forevermore, be their ruler in hell...
Maybe they'll remember the times that they hated, stole, lied and blasphemed the Creator of the Universe...how they wished ill of others because they had something that they didn't...or how they had been chronic liars...now near the edge they lock their heels to try to prevent what they now know to be the inevitable...those following behind and now seeing what's ahead also try to stop
...they wrestle and fight...a fight that ends the same for all of them...as they lose their footing and begin the horrible fall that will take them to their final home...they scream...you can nearly hear it coming off the canvas...they scream the scream of the lost...the forlorn laments of those for whom it is now too late...their case is closed...they were found guilty of breaking God's Law and as the Righteous Judge He is required to condemn them.
Please don't be one of them...don't take the risk that there will be a tomorrow in which to change...each year approximately 5,700 people die in crosswalks and it seems unlikely that many of them chose that as their method of suicide...death by crosswalk...so, one must conclude that the overwhelming percentage of those unfortunate 5,700 had fully expected to make it to that curb on the other side...after all...it was only, what, forty or fifty feet away?
I hate this painting...over what it represents...I grieve over how many thought that there would always be time to change...to give up that lifestyle that kept them in sin...how many of them didn't realize that they had the "disease of sin"...not fully understanding that just because they thought of themselves as "good"...especially when compared with others...doesn't make them so...it's not my standard, or your standard that matters...only God's...
Last Thing...please seriously consider your life in view of this commentary...are you really a "good person" when compared to God's Standard?...do you go to church...on your way to hell?...have you repented, or do you still live "in the world"?
So, if I'm wrong...the worst happens is people speak well of you at your, no doubt, well attended funeral to talk about what a fine, loving, giving, honest person you were...
What if you're wrong!...Truth is Truth and fact is fact...denying won't save you...only Jesus can do that...give Him your heart...it's too great a risk...
I pray you will listen to His call...you don't know if you have a tomorrow...tick, tick, tick...
I have a question for you...WHAT IF YOU'RE WRONG?
So, what if i'm wrong?...if i'm wrong the worst thing happens is you live your life as a better person...loving others...hating none...not stealing...not lying...and all of the other things attendant with being a "true Christian"...
So, what do I mean when I say "true Christian"? I knew you'd ask...I believe that a true Christian is a person who, not only asks Jesus to be their Lord and Savior, but who repents of their sinful life...turns from the worldly life that we all lived before Salvation through Jesus. You cannot say that you are a believer in Jesus...(see Luke 13:5) saved by His precious blood and continue to live the life of an un-saved person...you are not saved if you continue to live a sinful life...does this mean that we won't sin anymore?...of course not...i still sin everyday...when i do, i ask for God's forgiveness and try to not repeat my sin...what would have been the point in Jesus dying for our sins if all we are going to do is to try to use His death on the cross as some kind of get out of jail free card?
To truly be Saved we must change...Jesus said that we must be "Born Again" meaning to turn from our former sinful lives...to repent...to turn 180 degrees from our former lives...sometimes having to turn from friends or even family to affect the change...if we are truly born again the Bible says that we "pass from death to life"...
All too real...
The realities of the things that i am telling you are all too real...denying them won't change facts...just like denying gravity won't let me dunk a basketball or jump off the face of the earth...the following are facts: Jesus, God, sin, hell, Heaven, Salvation...available to all...
the sad fact is that if you fail to repent prior to your ultimate and guaranteed demise you will be judged guilty according to God's Law...and when you realize that you were wrong...it's too late...too late to repent...
The people in the paintings are intentionally non-descript...non gender specific...but very much classified...I used just four colors to identify the images in the painting...
Gold signifies those who lived for their worldly goods...their idols...in violation of the 1st Commandment..."Thou Shall Have No Other gods Before Me"..Exodus 20:3
Blue signifies the false converts and the un-saved...those who refused to acknowledge God as their Sovreign Lord...also, those who claimed to be Christians but never actually repented...they still lived a worldly life...you see many of them in church on Sundays. John 3:3 & 3:7 Acts 8:18-23
Magenta signifies the false teachers, preachers, prophets and other so-called "leaders" of the "church"...they do not teach according to the Bible and lead others to hell by their false teachings...they are in both the denominational and non-denominal churches...with their "Pharisee Laws" and "traditions" driving their followers to believe their heresy. 2 Peter 2:1
Red signifies those takers of innocent lives...the murderers, abortionists, molesters, rapists, those who hurt the innocent or infirmed...haters and racists...their sins against the innocent will be judged harshly... Ex. 20:13, Isaiah 44:2, Deut. 22
Like the people in the paintings who came over the hill and saw the beautiful meadow...symbolic of the life that they so enjoy here on earth...those mostly everyday, ordinary people..."good people"..who...now as they draw ever closer...are coming to the realization that the world and the devil offered only an illusion of happiness...a sad illusion now in the process of being exchanged for the reality of an eternity of torment...in a place of their choosing...God doesn't want them there...He wants us with Him...He sent His only Son to die in agony on the Cross for them...in their place...but they turned it down...their pride guiding their decisions..."maybe tomorrow" they would think..."maybe tomorrow"...
As they near the abyss and realize what really is up ahead...they, no doubt, return in their memories to the times that they shut out the Lord's call...His call to change their lives for the better...in favor of something...or someone...that they thought would bring them happiness...they bought into the lies of the devil and they turned down the guarantee of an eternity of unimaginable joy and peace in Heaven with Jesus...as each gets nearer the edge and the heat and stench begin to set in...so also, does panic, anger, remorse and hatred for the devil who will now, forevermore, be their ruler in hell...
Maybe they'll remember the times that they hated, stole, lied and blasphemed the Creator of the Universe...how they wished ill of others because they had something that they didn't...or how they had been chronic liars...now near the edge they lock their heels to try to prevent what they now know to be the inevitable...those following behind and now seeing what's ahead also try to stop
...they wrestle and fight...a fight that ends the same for all of them...as they lose their footing and begin the horrible fall that will take them to their final home...they scream...you can nearly hear it coming off the canvas...they scream the scream of the lost...the forlorn laments of those for whom it is now too late...their case is closed...they were found guilty of breaking God's Law and as the Righteous Judge He is required to condemn them.
Please don't be one of them...don't take the risk that there will be a tomorrow in which to change...each year approximately 5,700 people die in crosswalks and it seems unlikely that many of them chose that as their method of suicide...death by crosswalk...so, one must conclude that the overwhelming percentage of those unfortunate 5,700 had fully expected to make it to that curb on the other side...after all...it was only, what, forty or fifty feet away?
I hate this painting...over what it represents...I grieve over how many thought that there would always be time to change...to give up that lifestyle that kept them in sin...how many of them didn't realize that they had the "disease of sin"...not fully understanding that just because they thought of themselves as "good"...especially when compared with others...doesn't make them so...it's not my standard, or your standard that matters...only God's...
Last Thing...please seriously consider your life in view of this commentary...are you really a "good person" when compared to God's Standard?...do you go to church...on your way to hell?...have you repented, or do you still live "in the world"?
So, if I'm wrong...the worst happens is people speak well of you at your, no doubt, well attended funeral to talk about what a fine, loving, giving, honest person you were...
What if you're wrong!...Truth is Truth and fact is fact...denying won't save you...only Jesus can do that...give Him your heart...it's too great a risk...
I pray you will listen to His call...you don't know if you have a tomorrow...tick, tick, tick...