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[ Silence ] [MUSIC] ♪ To the Lord ♪ ♪ Oh ♪

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♪ Open wide ♪ ♪ My arms are closed ♪ ♪ Lord ♪ ♪ I'm coming ♪

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♪ I'm coming home ♪ ♪ And I've wasted ♪ ♪ Many a precious year ♪ ♪ Now I'm coming home ♪

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♪ I'm coming home ♪ ♪ And I now repent ♪ ♪ With big bitter tears ♪ ♪ Oh Lord ♪

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♪ I'm coming, coming home ♪ ♪ And I am coming, coming home ♪ ♪ I'm coming, coming home ♪ ♪ Oh, never, never more ♪

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♪ I'm coming, coming home ♪ ♪ Walking by, dying on, dying on ♪ ♪ Oh Lord ♪ ♪ I am coming, coming home ♪

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♪ And I'm tired of sin and praying Lord ♪ ♪ Now I'm coming, coming home ♪ ♪ Oh, I trust ♪ ♪ Thy love ♪

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♪ Believe ♪ ♪ Thy word ♪ ♪ Oh, Lord ♪ ♪ I'm coming ♪

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♪ Coming home ♪ ♪ Oh, I'm coming, coming home ♪ ♪ I'm coming, I'm coming home ♪ ♪ Oh, nevermore to roam ♪

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♪ Lord, you open now ♪ ♪ I announce your arms of love ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, I'm coming ♪ ♪ Coming home ♪

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♪ I'm coming ♪ ♪ I'm coming home ♪ ♪ Yes I am ♪ ♪ Oh, to hell ♪

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♪ I'm going to Rome ♪ ♪ Oh, I want you, oh ♪ ♪ I want you open, open now ♪ ♪ Mine arms, your arms above ♪

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♪ Oh, Lord ♪ ♪ I'm coming, coming home ♪ ♪ Home ♪ ♪ I'm coming home ♪

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♪ Coming ♪ ♪ I'm coming home ♪ - Amen. - Amen.

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Psalm number 26, verse six, are these words. I will wash mine hands in innocency, so will I compass thine altar, O Lord. That is the King James Version.

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The Jerusalem Bible translation, I will wash my hands in innocence and join the procession around your altar singing a hymn of thanksgiving, proclaiming all your wisdom. The subject of the message, cry of the innocent.

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Cry of the innocent. With nostalgia, we refer to the age of innocence, the time when we were babes in the woods. It's a time when we were without fault, without guilt,

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without any sense of wrongdoing. There is something within us that yearns for the return of innocence. It is the search for the lost card. It is our search for the lost Eden.

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is that state of being that pleases God. It is that which grants us the privilege of standing in the divine presence. The cry of the innocent, as portrayed in Psalm 26, is an experience which arises in preparation for worship.

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According to the Levitical system, a lamb without blemish was to be sacrificed to atone for the sins of the guilty. All of the sins of the nation were

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placed on a scapegoat at a particular time of the year, and the goat disappeared into the wilderness. The Bible teaches that the innocent must suffer for the guilty.

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The blameless must bear the blame. The sinless must suffer for the sinful. Now this is an experience which is hard to bear. For when we are innocent, there is something that cries out in an expression of the ultimate

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concern of the human family. In this particular passage of Scripture, the psalmist proclaims his innocence. It seems that he is accused of something that he did not do and he is suffering the consequences. He's blameless, without fault, free from the responsibility of moral wrongdoing.

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And this is an experience that to some degree every human being has. I remember as a lad in school, we were taking an examination in seventh grade history class. And SMA asked me to let her see my answers on my examination paper. I refused.

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He became angry and the teacher noticed that we were engaged in conversation during the examination and he said, "What's happening back there?" And SMA said, "Well, Marvin is meddling me." And I was usually into something, so the teacher said, "Well, you come up here, Marvin."

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And he took his strap and he gave me a few licks. I protested that I was innocent, but he didn't believe it. And that kind of experience happens all the way through life. When we see the innocent suffer for consequences that should be carried by the guilty, when

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When this happens to us, we're deeply hurt. We are prone to experience frustration, anger, and hostility. And we cry out to God, "Lord, why would you let this happen to me? I've been doing what is right.

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Why have you let so many wrong things happen to me? A person who's living the good life is suddenly killed by a stray bullet, altogether innocent, but it happens. Today we are well aware of the fact that hundreds,

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yay thousands and even millions of little children suffer from disease and starvation, malnutrition. Innocent little children. And we wonder why it all happens.

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This is a sign of the cross. The psalmist's cry here is, "I will wash mine hands in innocency, so I will compass thine altar, O Lord." First of all, this is a cry of vindication.

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The psalmist seeks the judgment of the Lord. And even though this psalm is written many years before the appearance of the Jesus of history, in a very real sense it expresses the Christ event. It is a reality in human experience for the innocent to seek divine vindication.

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Human judges are imperfect. Justice is often bought. As one person was asked when he said he wanted justice, he was asked the question, "Well, how much justice can you afford?"

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Many innocent people are condemned in the court of public opinion and from time to time we read where an innocent person is convicted of a crime and serves years in the penitentiary only to discover after all of that time that that person is finally declared innocent of the crime by the courts.

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Now for us to participate in the Christ event is to come to understand what is involved in the cry of innocence because as we focus on the cross, we hear the cry of one who suffers there in agony, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" It is a cry for divine vindication. Now here the psalmist is accused of wrongdoing and he goes to the temple seeking divine vindication.

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He knows he is innocent, but he needs another source of reference. You know, we have our ways of vindicating ourselves. We try to vindicate ourselves so many different ways. I remember as a child, we were trying to vindicate what we were saying and prove that we were

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right. Say, "I crossed my heart and hope to die." Or we might say, "Well, I swear on a stack of Bibles." But we need, you see, a source of reference, another source of reference.

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The psalmist goes to the temple and presents his case to God. In the Levitical system, it was necessary for the priests to wash hands and feet before making a sacrifice upon the altar. They had to be cleansed before they were prepared to meet God.

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And this is true for every worshiper. We must be cleansed of guilt before we are prepared to worship. we are prepared to be welcomed into the divine presence. The psalmist here cries out, "Examine me, O Lord. Check me out. Make me ready to come before your presence.

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Judge me. My intentions are good." But you see the road to hell is paved with good intentions. We may have an honest desire and yet be wrong so the psalmist looks to God who knows us through and out, out and out. He knows our inner thoughts. He not only is able to judge our actions but he's able to judge our intentions

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that he knows us better than we know ourselves. And the psalmist cries to him, "Judge me, O Lord, examine me. "I'm looking for your loving kindness,

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"your steadfast love to sustain me." He cries out for divine vindication. "I don't know of anything that I have done wrong in your midst. I've tried to keep your commands. I've walked in the right way.

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And even though they are saying things about me and they're seeking somehow to humiliate and disgrace me, I come to you here in the Holy Temple and cry out, You examine me, O Lord!" The cry of innocence. Secondly, not only is there the desire here for divine vindication, there is an appeal for justice based on integrity. Innocence

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is not determined merely by words that are spoken. When you visit prisoners today, it's in my experience, that when I've gone to the jails and talked with prisoners, they practically every time, they say time and time again that they're innocent.

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They're innocent. They're being mistreated. The whole system is against them. And the most habitual criminal loudly protests his innocence.

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He thinks that he is right and everybody else is wrong. That often is the case. But the psalmist here says, I will wash my hands in innocency

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and I will join the procession around your altar. You see, there were founts of water situated at the temple entrance where the worshiper could wash his hands as part of the cleansing ritual before passing beyond the gates where he could walk around the altar, where he experienced God's presence and mercy, where he united

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with others in God's fellowship and once washed and cleansed the worshiper is released from bondage, bondage of guilt and set free to praise God for his wondrous deeds. You can't really praise God today or any other day until somehow God has washed us and cleansed us, cleansed us of our guilt and cleansed us of the

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bondage of wrongdoing so that we can enter into his presence and it is only when God has cleansed us that we are welcomed into his presence. And having been cleansed we can praise God for his wondrous works. And what are some of his wondrous works? Well God's work as creator. You know we really don't praise God's

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creative genius until somehow he's cleansed us with his Spirit. You see God God didn't stop creating when he made the world. God is still in the creation business. He's doing something new all the time.

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He did something new this morning. And his grace is new every morning. God is doing something new in our lives. God is at work in the world.

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He's creating and making new. And it is only through the cry of innocence that we can recognize and express our gratitude for his creative work. His work is also seen in the Exodus experience, where he delivers his people.

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And he didn't stop delivering his people when they were in bondage in Egypt, but God is still delivering his people. There are always occasions in our lives where God is bringing us out of bondage into the marvelous light of freedom. God is still in the deliverance business. The Exodus experience is still real. And then he's the covenant God. See, he has

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made promises to us, promises that we have here in his word. And God keeps his promises. To those who are faithful to him, God is faithful to his promise.

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The Lord has promised good to me. His word, my hope secures. He will my shield and comfort be, as long as life endures.

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God keeps His promises. And you see, the Lord has to do this for us in order to be the covenant God. And He has to fix us so that we can feel at home in His house

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and delight to be in His presence. It's said of Nathan Pritikin, who is a developer of a popular diet program, that he was almost a workaholic.

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One of his close associates, Pat McGrady, said of him that he didn't go to the movies. And he used this phrase that he was in so many ways a very innocent man.

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Now Mr. McGrady by that remark is suggesting that to be innocent is not to know what life is really all about. To be innocent is to be cleansed and purified by God,

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but it's not to be in the dark, not really to be sort of a babe in the woods, but to be innocent is to somehow be cleansed by God so that we can face the realities of life

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and feel at home in God's presence. And in order for that to happen, Guilty stains must be washed away. Oh, as we look now toward the cross of Calvary,

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there is one there, Pilate, who engages in the ritual of innocence. Jesus is brought to his judgment hall. And several times, Pilate tells the crowd,

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I find no fault in this man. But they cry all the more, "Crucify Him! "Crucify Him!" And then Pilate turns to the crowd

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with Barnabas, a robber, a revolutionist. And he brings Barabbas, rather, before the crowd. And he says, "Whom shall I release unto you? Will it be Jesus or Barabbas?

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And Barabbas, you see, is guilty. Barabbas has committed a crime, and Barabbas has been tried for his crime. And the penalty is death.

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And when Pilate presents one who is innocent and one who is guilty and asks the crowd about whom shall I release unto you, they cry out that the guilty will be released and the innocent will suffer for a crime that's committed by the guilty. That's the scripture,

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that's the way life is, and it's only when we recognize that that we recognize the cross, that's the cross in human history. And then Pilate takes a bowl and he washes his hands. He washes his hands and he says to the crowd that I am innocent of the blood of this just man. And they cry out, "Let his blood be

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upon us. Now Pilate is guilty of condemning a just man and yet he declares that he's innocent. Now Jesus is innocent yet he receives the verdict of guilty and we wonder where is justice? And the psalmist cries out, "For justice based on integrity. Integrity of character. That's where justice really

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must be found. Well you can commit many many acts that look so good and people can say, "Well this seems to be such a good man," but real, real justice is based on character, based on who you are. It's based upon your attitude, it's based upon your intentions for justice which is not based on character is mockery and a

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miscarriage of justice. Finally the cry of the innocent is a cry of faithfulness. The innocent here makes the plea to the throne of heaven, Lord hear my humble cry. Lord I've walked in wisdom's way. I've not sat in the seat of the scornful. I haven't had fellowship with evildoers. I'm innocent. Redeem me, he

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says. Come to my rescue. False charges are leveled against me. And this is the mystery of life that the innocent are crucified, the strong suffer for the weak. That's the only way we can enter into the gate of happiness and that is by following the one who is despised and forsaken. The only way that we can enter

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into the gate of happiness is to be falsely accused and still be faithful to God. The only way that we can really enter into the gate of happiness is to learn how to endure hardness as a good soldier. The only way that we can learn and live life abundantly somehow to know what it is to suffer persecution and to

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rejoice. That's the only way that we can really enter into the gateway of happiness and that you see is a mystery. So the only way that we can really be happy is to embrace the mystery of life and the mystery of life is God. He's the great mystery. We don't ever understand all about it. We never really

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understand why God permits certain things to happen the way they happen, but somehow we've got to embrace the great mystery of life and it's embracing that mystery that our happiness is secure. That's what Job learned to do. They came and they watched what was happening all around him. He lost his wealth, he lost

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his family, they were taken one by one and somehow even his wife did not really understand him and his closest friends forsook him. They really could not relate to his situation and Job began to question God. But somehow in the midst of it all, he embraced that great mystery and he cries out, "Though he slay me, yet

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will I trust him." That's the way we must embrace it, that's the cry of the innocent. "I'll be faithful, I'll be faithful." That's what the psalmist is saying here. He said, "I will join the procession around your altar." And then he says, "I I will sing the song of thanksgiving, proclaiming your wondrous works.

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You know, sometimes when God has done something new in our lives, and sometimes when God has delivered us from some crisis, we forget what really happened. But the psalmist here said, "I'm going to be faithful. No matter what happens in the course of my life, I will be faithful.

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I'll embrace the eternal mystery and my feet, my feet shall stand in a level place. No, sometimes when God blesses us we get beside ourselves and we think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think, but he said my feet shall stand in a level place and they shall not slide because I will embrace the great mystery of life and I'll stand firmly on him. Well, that's the victory. That's the victory. You don't understand. None of us do. We don't understand many of the things that occur. That's the mystery of the cross. We

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don't understand. Sometimes it's in the family, it's on our job, it's in the church, it's wherever we are. But somehow we've got to embrace the great mystery of life. And if you really want to understand it, you want to get a view of what it's like. John said, "Well, look, here's a picture of it." He is able to

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pull back the curtain and get a peep into eternity, and he says, "I saw a crowd. I saw a crowd that no man could number made up of every kindred and tribe and language and nation." And they were singing a song. They were shouting, salvation be unto our God, victory unto our God. And I said to one of the

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elders, "Who are these?" And he said, "These are they. These are they. These are they that have had their robes washed and made white in the precious blood of the Lamb. These are they that have been made innocent by the sacrificial suffering of the Lamb of Calvary. These are they who make the cry of the innocent, who have

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somehow come through great tribulations and they've had their robes washed and made white by the blood of the crucified lamb. Christ himself is the cleansing fountain. We can't really worship God except we do it through Christ who's that cleansing fountain. And somehow the poor got a glimpse of that when he wrote

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"There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunge beneath that blood and lose all their hope." [MUSIC] [MUSIC]

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♪ I will be your God ♪ ♪ No more will I grow old ♪ ♪ I'm still a star ♪ ♪ Beaming in the dark ♪

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♪ Whose broad stripes and bright stars ♪ ♪ Through the perilous fight ♪ ♪ O'er the ramparts we watched ♪ ♪ Were so gallantly streaming ♪

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♪ The guilty and the sinners ♪ ♪ The innocent and the blasphemed ♪ ♪ Be ye the world ♪ ♪ And those who are in the desert ♪

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♪ Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave ♪ ♪ O'er the land of the free ♪ ♪ And the home of the brave ♪ ♪ And the home of the brave ♪

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♪ I will ♪ ♪ Oh, what I see ♪ ♪ What's wrong, I say ♪ ♪ My way ♪

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♪ What's wrong, I say ♪ ♪ The way ♪ ♪ Was long ♪ ♪ I seemed only ♪

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♪ On the way ♪ ♪ Oh, as he ♪ ♪ Watch all my sins ♪ ♪ Away ♪

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♪ Watch all my sins ♪ ♪ Away ♪ ♪ Watch all my sins ♪ ♪ Away ♪

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♪ And then may I ♪ ♪ Go my lefty ♪ ♪ Wash all my sins ♪ ♪ Away ♪

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♪ Hey ♪ [BLANK_AUDIO]