February 9, 2005 - Ash Wednesday

 

Sarah was rich. She had inherited $20 million. Plus she had an additional income of $1000 a day. That’s a lot of money today, but it was immense in the late 1800s!Sarah was well known. She was the belle of New Haven, Connecticut. No social event was complete without her presence. Sarah was powerful. Her name and money would open any door. Colleges wanted her donations. Politicians clamored for her support. Organizations sought her endorsement.

Sarah was rich. Well known. Powerful. And miserable.Her only daughter died at five weeks of age. Then her husband passed away. She was left alone with her name, her money, her memories, and her guilt. It was her guilt that caused her to move west. Guilt drove her to San Jose, California. She yearned for freedom from her guilt. She bought an eight-room farmhouse plus 160 adjoining acres. She hired sixteen carpenters and put them to work. For the next 38 years, craftsmen labored every day, twenty-four hours a day, to build a mansion.

Observers were intrigued by the project. Sarah’s instructions were more than eccentric…they were eerie. Each window was to have thirteen panes, each wall thirteen panels, each closet thirteen hooks, and each chandelier thirteen globes. The floor plan was ghoulish. Corridors snaked randomly, some leading nowhere. One door opened to a blank wall, another to a fifty-foot drop. One stairwell led to a ceiling with no door. Secret passageways. Trap doors.Tunnels. This was no retirement home for Sarah’s future; it was a castle for her past.

The making of this mysterious mansion only ended when Sarah died. The completed estate sprawled over six acres and had six kitchens, 13 bathrooms, 40 stairways, 47 fireplaces, 52 skylights, 467 doors, 10,000 windows, 160 rooms, and a bell tower.

Why did Sarah want such a castle? Didn’t she live alone? “Well, sort of,” those acquainted with her story might answer. “There were the visitors…”And the visitors came each night.Legend has it that every evening at midnight, a servant would pass through the secret labyrinth that led to the bell tower. He would ring the bell…to summon the spirits. Sarah would then enter the “blue room,” a room reserved for her and her nocturnal guests.Together they would linger until 2:00 a.m., when the bell would be rung again. Sarah would return to her quarters; the ghosts would return to their graves.

Who comprised this legion of phantoms?Indians and soldiers killed on the U.S. frontier. They had all been killed by bullets from the most popular rifle in America—the Winchester. What had brought millions of dollars to Sarah Winchester had brought death to them.So she spent her remaining years in a castle of regret, providing a home for the dead.You can see this castle in San Jose, if you wish. You can tour its halls and see its remains.

But to see what unresolved guilt can do to a human being, you don’t have to go to the Winchester mansion. Lives imprisoned by yesterday’s guilt are in your own city. Hearts haunted by failure are in your own neighborhood. People plagued by pitfalls are just down the street, or just down the hall.There is, wrote Paul, a “worldly sorrow” that “brings death.” A guilt that kills. A sorrow that’s fatal. A venomous regret that’s deadly.How many Sarah Winchesters do you know? How far do you have to go to find a soul haunted by ghosts of the past? Maybe not very far… Maybe Sarah’s story is your story.

What “ghosts” are haunting your house?A failed marriage?A dishonesty in your career? An unfaithfulness to your loved one?Living a lie?Holding a grudge?Keeping a jealousy?Destroying a friendship?A covered up abortion?A hit and run?Not being faithful to your Lord?What room do you keep them in?Do you see them every night?Are you spending time with them tonight?

Tonight is Ash Wednesday, a time reminding us to repent.The beginning of a 40 day journey with Jesus to the cross.And as we walk beside Jesus, each step of that somber journey reminds us of our sinfulness – in the sharpest possible contrast to the purity of the sinless Lamb of God!Jesus had no sin!And then there’s us!We have a haunted mansion full of guilt!

Tonight, the Apostle Paul encourages us:“Be reconciled to God!”Bring those ghosts out of the closet and lay them at his feet!Come clean.Admit where you have failed God.Have Godly sorrow for offending a holy God!Paul says:“Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.”

Sarah’s sorrow was worldly sorrow. Many people recognize the unpleasant consequences of their sin and are persuaded that they are guilty. The “ghosts” come out.All hope is lost!This superficial sorrow may lead to a temporary reformation, but not to a genuine turning to Christ for forgiveness. Godly sorrow, on the other hand, stems from the realization of offending a holy God. It leads to genuine repentance.Sorrow and faith.Contrition and hope.

“Today, we're going to talk about Lent," Tim announced at the beginning of the adult class he was teaching. "It realized the other day that in all the years I've been teaching this class we've never talked about Lent."Tim began by asking his class what they thought about Lent.

"Mostly, I think of Lent as a time to give up something, make some kind of sacrifice," said Jawan. "I've just about run out of things to give up though.Don't know what I'll give up this year."Shamal saw Lent from a different angle. "I think Lent is about repentance," he said. "It's a time to rethink your life before God and rededicate yourself to doing his will.I can do better with my life.Lent's helpful because it gets me thinking about how I can do better in God’s eyes and in the eyes of others." "How do the rest of you feel about that?" Tim asked. "I think Shamal's right," replied another. "Lent is about repentance.I know I can do a lot better with my life, too."

"What is true repentance?" Tim then asked them all."It's feeling sorry for your sins," said one. "It's feeling sorry for your sins plus a vow of improvement.I can do better.That's the heart of repentance."The class discussed it and came to a general consensus that repentance is feeling sorry for what you have done wrong and promising to do better in the future.

Tim let the class mull over their consensus for a few moments.Then he announced, "Well, I totally disagree with this kind of thinking about repentance.I've been repenting like that all of my life but it never seems to do me any good.I don't think it's done you any good either!Every year at Lent, we say we feel sorry for our sins and promise that we can and will do better, but who does any better?I don't, for one.”

“It seems that I say I can and will do better, but I don't. That's made me turn back to the Bible to see what God says about repentance. What's the point of promising we can do better all the time when we don't do it anyway?In his Word, God shows us something different. So this year I'm not going to promise that I can do better.This year I'm going to confess to God that I can't do any better.I've said, 'I can,' for years but I don't.So why not just tell God, 'I can't.'I can't do better, Lord.That's why I come to You!I don't have the power to remake myself, but I trust that You have the power to remake me as a new person!”

“For Lent this year, I'm just going to say to God, 'I can't.'I'm going to ask God to do for me what I can't do for myself.That's what true repentance is all about.Being sorry for having failed God, and trusting in the forgiveness He won for me in Christ.Saying I can’t and trusting that He can.”I can’t but He can!

You remember all those ghosts you have?Failure.Dishonesty.Unfaithfulness. Hatred.Selfishness.Greed.The things for which we deserve to have God’s wrath poured out on us?Well, Jesus took them!Jesus, who did none of those things, was delivered up for them. He was handed over to judgment because of these sins. He had to carry them to the cross! Jesus was our substitute. He satisfied the debt we owed! That’s why we can say: I deserved hell; Jesus took my hell; there is nothing left for me but His heaven!No more ghosts!I can’t but He can!

And do you remember what Jesus’ life was like?He never failed.Was always honest.Always faithful.Never hated.Always loved.Never greedy.Always put others first.Yes – He did what we couldn’t!He was perfect, just the way God wanted us to be.But friends, this isn’t to make you and me feel guilty!He did this for us!Jesus’ perfection is now our perfection!This is God’s way of saying: “In the day of salvation I helped you!”I can’t but He can!

A man was greatly disturbed about his sin, so he wrote to Martin Luther. Luther, who had agonized much over his own guilt, replied, “Learn to know Christ and Him crucified. Learn to sing to Him and say: Lord Jesus, You are my righteousness. You took on You what was mine; You set on me what was Yours. You became what you were not that I might become what I was not.”

Friends, as we begin this Lenten journey with Jesus to the cross, as we see Him take on our sins to pay the price for them, and as we see that pure and perfect life He lived become ours, remember this:“Now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation!”God is offering you full and free forgiveness through Jesus Christ NOW!So be reconciled to Him!Repent!Don’t hold onto your ghosts!Lay them at his feet!Let Jesus pay for them!You and I Can’t, but He Can!Amen.

 

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