We're considering this Psalm under this title, The Yellow Brick Road. And that's because I don't believe there's another theme or better imagery, Brother Al, that more closely relates the complexity of this text than The Yellow Brick Road does. Now, if you remember, the safest way to the Emerald City was staying on The Yellow Brick Road. and the safest way for us to reach the city whose builder and maker is God is for us to stay on the yellow brick road found in Psalm 17, where we find the main purpose of this Psalm is to show you and I the path that we should follow as we strive to live for God in this wicked world. Now this path, this yellow brick road is prayer. Now our single greatest failures as Christians are prayer failures. And the yellow brick road is a path of prayer, the single hardest thing for most Christians to do faithfully. But David was a man that knew how to pray. And in Psalm 17, we are learning from David just how to use our most effective prayer. If you found your place in Psalm 17 and you're physically able, I'm going to ask that you go ahead and stand with me at this time. And we're going to read these first four verses together. Psalm 17, starting in verse number one. Hear the right, O Lord, attend unto my cry. Give ear unto my prayer that goeth not out of faint lips. Let my sentence come forth from thy presence. Let thine eyes behold the things that are equal. Thou hast proved mine heart, Thou hast visited me in the night, Thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing. I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. Concerning the works of men, by the word of Thy lips have I kept me from the paths of the destroyer. And all God's people said, Thank you, and you may be seated. Again, the title of the message is, The Yellow Brick Road. And I see in the first four verses, a path paved by Jesus. And each of these verses give us a detail about prayer that if followed will keep us from venturing off of the path paid in gold. Number one in verse number one was pray with transparency and with intensity. Pray with transparency and with intensity. Intensity. Now friends, when we come before the throne of grace, we have to come with a humble heart, but with a fervent faith, and then with a reverent repose. And then we have to offer a prayer that we know it would be right for God to answer. Number two, in verse number two, pray with truth and with integrity. When we get into one of those pickles, we have to learn to let God be the judge. God sees, God knows. And we have to quit trying to fix it and learn to simply trust God as he works everything out for everyone's good. Number three this morning. In verse number three, pray through testing and with faith. intention look at verse 3 thou has proved mine heart thou has visited me in the night thou has tried me and shalt find nothing I am purposed that my mouth not transgress pray through testing and with Intention. Now to stay on the path paved of gold, friends, we must continue to pray even when it is the Lord himself that is proving and trying us. Hebrews chapter 12 and verse number five encourages us saying, nor faint, listen to this, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. So often we faint during times of testing and trial, and we give up on the throne of grace. But Colossians chapter four and verse number two says to continue. Brother Hicks, continue in prayer. In other words, don't grow weary. I think about the Garden of Gethsemane. In a time of tremendous testing and trial, the Lord Jesus cries out with a very passionate prayer when he says, Oh Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. I think of another occasion on the cross of Calvary, another time of great testing and trial. And Jesus cried out with a very powerful prayer, saying, Father, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Jesus prayed through testing and with intention. And friends, we must follow the Lord. Now, the first thing I see in verse three is peace. Look at it, peace. David said, thou has proved my heart. Thou has visited me in the night. Thou has tried me and shalt find nothing. I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. Now, David seems to be fighting here and victoriously against a verbal outburst. He says, I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. You remember how we mentioned last week about coming before the throne of grace innocently about a situation that we ourselves have already buggered up? You remember that? Friend, and oh, how we should take that to heart. Because if our mouth had not transgressed when dealing with our enemies, if we did not harbor bitterness and hatred in our hearts toward those who have wronged us, then maybe God would be our shield and our buckler and our strong tower, just as he promised he would, maybe then God would, as he says in verse number eight, hide us beneath the shadow of his wing as he comes and answers our prayer, rescues us, and defends our cause. Church, go ahead and put it down big, plain, and straight. We cannot cover our sins when dealing with Almighty God. If we try to cover our sins in His presence, we will not prosper. The Bible tells us in Proverbs chapter 28 and verse number 13, that whoso covereth his sins, shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them, that is our sins, they shall have mercy. Now, Achan tried to cover his sin. He didn't confess them, and God gave him no mercy. Friends, I want mercy. I do not want God giving me what I deserve when I do wrong. I want mercy. And the way to have it is to confess sin and to forsake sin. Listen, that produces peace in our heart. The Bible says in 1 John 3 and verse 21, Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. Otherwise, we might as well be praying to the wall. A heart right brings confidence in prayer. That's what we see in verse number one, when David says, hear the right, attend unto my cry, hear my prayer. A heart that is not right brings caution in prayer. Well, maybe I shouldn't pray. God will not hear me. God's angry with me. Beloved, if our heart condemneth not, then have we confidence toward God. Nothing like having peace right here with God. The second thing I notice in verse three, not only peace, but purpose. Look at it. David said, thou has proved mine heart, thou has visited me in the night, thou has tried me and shalt find nothing. I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. Our prayers must have a purpose. David's purpose in prayer was that his mouth not transgress. He said I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. Did you know that it's not an accident that some believers are not drawn into verbal confrontations and into quarrelsome words? Then the only way that you're gonna be able to stop responding to those who provoke you, ma'am, the only way you're gonna be able to stop responding to those that provoke you, sir, the only way you're gonna be able to stop responding to those who provoke you is for you to do like David and make a conscience covenant with your mouth to stop it. Job said, I have made a covenant with mine eyes. And you and I need to make that same covenant with our mouth. Because if we say everything on our mind, if we never hold anything back, God just straight up calls us a fool. Proverbs chapter 22, Proverbs chapter 29 and verse 11, the Bible says, a fool, a fool uttereth all his mind. but a wise man keepeth it in until afterwards. Now friends, I've seen plenty. They almost wear it like a badge of honor and they have no shame when they say, well, I'm just gonna tell you what I think. I mean, they wear it like a badge of honor. No shame. I'm proud to tell you exactly what I think. That may be considered a badge of honor on earth, but it's considered a badge of shame in heaven. Now we can put shackles on the old hands and feet to tame them, and we do. But friend, I wanna tell you this morning that only a spirit-filled Christian walking down the yellow brick road is able to tame the tongue. God called it an unruly evil. In James chapter three and verse number eight, in that same text, he says, the tongue can no man tame. Now David did, and he did it with the help of God. And my message to you this morning, my dear precious Christian friends, is that by God's grace, listen, we can control that loose cannon sitting on our face. We absolutely can control it. But it takes purpose. The Bible says in James 3 verse number two, if any offend not in word. Look at that. If any offend not in word, the same is a perfect man. Sir, your wife and children are gonna be hard pressed to submit to your efforts of leadership if you have not purpose that your mouth should not transgress. Ladies, if there's no bridle on your tongue, then there's likely to be little in the way of honor and respect coming from your husband and from your children. Proverbs chapter 21 and verse 23, the Bible says, whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles. Are you tired of soul troubles? Learn to keep your mouth and keep your tongue. And God tries to help us. He's so good to us. He's constructed the mouth in such a fashion so as to give us 32 pearly white gates in order to keep our tongues behind so they don't get loose and run wild and hurt others. If that little thing in your mouth is notorious for spewing out venom and hatred at others, if it is known for talking nasty about others and tearing other people down, listen, we can be certain we are not on the yellow brick road. Verse Peter chapter three and verse number 10 says, for he that will love life and see good days, let him, let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips that they speak no guile. But there's more. Church, verse three, is loaded. Not only do we see peace and purpose, but also see proving. And look at verse three again. Thou hast proved mine heart. Thou hast visited me in the night. Thou hast tried me, shalt find nothing. I am purpose, that my mouth shall not transgress. David said, Thou hast proved mine heart. That's the key, did you see it? It's all about the heart. Thou has proved mine heart. If our heart is right, our mouth will be right. If our heart is not right, then our mouth will not be right. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 12, in verse number 34, he said, oh generation of vipers, how can ye being evil speak good things? Watch this, here it comes. For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. What's down in the root of the tree will show forth in the fruit. Anybody see that hydrothermal eruption from the geyser in Yellowstone this week? Anybody see that? Google it if you haven't seen it. Just a massive explosion, very, very violent, sent all kind of debris up into the sky, sent to tourists scattering and scurrying for safety, debris of hot water and rocks, some as big as basketballs. Thank God, as that black cloud filled the sky, nobody was injured. But friend, that's the exact connection. That picture is the exact connection between the heart and the mouth. The heart begins to swell inside. Swell from undealt with sin, and anger, and emotion, and hurt. And it keeps swelling until it explodes out into the air through the mouth, hurling all kinds of venomous and vicious words and hateful and hurtful words onto others with a very hot temper and tone. Out of the abundance of the heart, Jesus said, the mouth speaketh. We gotta learn to take the fuel out of the fire in our sinful heart. The Bible tells us in Proverbs chapter 26 and verse number 20, where no wood is there, the fire goeth out. And so when our mouth begins to fly off the handle, at that moment, right then, we need to let God prove our heart. And if our mouth continues to fly off the handle, we need to continue letting God prove our heart until he says, as verse number three, he finds nothing. Now we don't know exactly how, and we don't know what it was all about, but it's obvious from the language in this verse that God had been performing some heart surgery on David. Jesus said this in Revelation chapter two and verse number 23. He said, and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and the hearts. Now that word reins there means the innermost parts of a man. It's where the secrets of our secrets are. And Jesus said, I'm the one that searches the reins and the hearts. We can't be afraid to look within because God's looking within. He already knows what's there. He wants us to know what's there. So make time to be still and let God, as verse three says, visit you in the night. Don't allow TV watching and internet surfing and social media scrolling to come in and kill and steal and destroy that very precious time with the Lord. Then we can't get distracted and shut out God at the end of the day. But allow God to come in and do his work of proving and trying. And then with purposeful intention, ask God for victory on whatever it is you're struggling with down in your heart. Now on Friday, 7 a.m. in the morning, I had an MRI done on my shoulder up at TOC in Tallahassee, Florida. And do you know what I did for 15 minutes as they loaded me in and I laid in that narrow tube? I prayed. You say, I don't blame you, pastor, I pray too. Well, friend, I wasn't praying against claustrophobia. I was praying and asking God about my life and about my heart. I was begging God to search my heart and to try my heart and to help me. And then I went through my prayer list. Friend, these very precious moments strengthen our faith in the Lord. They deepen our fellowship with the Lord. They keep us off the path of the destroyer and they keep us on the path paid in gold. Our heart needs to be right so that our mouth can be right. Thou hast proved mine heart. Thou hast visited me in the night. Thou hast tried me and shalt find nothing. I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. Walk the path paved of gold. Do like David, make a covenant with your mouth and allow the word of God to come into your heart, to come into your life and probe and prove your heart. The path paid of gold. Each of the first four verses give us a valuable truth, a valuable nugget about prayer to keep us right on the yellow brick road. The first thing we see is we must pray with transparency and with intensity. The second thing we see is we must pray for truth and with integrity. Pray through testing and with intention. And number four this morning, in verse number four, We must pray with thoughtfulness and with indebtedness. Pray with thoughtfulness and with indebtedness. Look at verse four. David said, concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer. Notice that last phrase, the path, of the destroyer. Church, there it is right there. We have a choice. The path paved of gold or the path of the destroyer. That's the devil. That's the way of sin. That's the path that leads away from God. Sir, ma'am, young people, stay off the path of sin. I know it seems so harmless and is mocked and ridiculed and belittled today, but stay off the path of sin. It always, it always leads to the destroyer. The Bible tells us in Proverbs chapter 14 and verse number 12 that there is a way that seemeth right to a man. I know it seems right. The world says it's right. There can possibly be no harm. There's a way that seemeth right unto a man, but God tells us the end thereof are the ways of death. What's to be our guide? Verse number four is very clear, look at it. By the word of thy lips. The old saying chock full of so much biblical truth says, sin I keep you from this book or this book will keep you from sin. How do we avoid the destroyer? By the word of thy lips. The words of God's lips are found right here in the Holy Bible. Dig deep into his doctrines, my friend, you will defy the destroyer. Listen, God's word can control our words. When the tongue of a child of God is wild, when it is hurtful, it is a direct reflection of one thing and one thing only, that is a direct reflection of spiritual malnutrition. Just not much of God's word inside. There'll be plenty of gospel songs and Christian jargon and hymns, but not much of God's word. We gotta stay close to this book, and we'll stay on the yellow brick road. That's the thoughtfulness and indebtedness is all centered on God's word, by the word of thy lips. Psalm 119 and verse 105 says this, thy word is a lamp unto my feet. Watch this, and thy word is a lamp unto my path. If you've wandered off the path paved of prayer, I can guarantee you something this morning. You have not been in God's word the way you should have been. What do I do, preacher? You gotta turn the lamp back on. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet. You gotta cut the lights back on. It is a light unto my path. You gotta get back into God's word. No Bible, no prayer, no right heart, no right mouth, no walking with God. And listen, mark it down, the destroyer will be right around the corner. You may not see it, probably ain't gonna see it because the way you're on seemeth right. But God's telling you there's destruction at the end of it. Believers outside of God's will can't see. The spiritual lights are out. There's no discourse with heaven. And they begin to act in un-Christlike ways. Very, very dangerous place to be. I know you wanna help them. What do you do? Friend, the very best thing that we can do for them is to reintroduce the flashlight back into their life. Here's how you do that. In conversation, Create an opportunity to quote scripture to them. During visits or during a meal, close that visit with a prayer. Open that meal with a prayer and pray and purposely quote scripture skillfully in your prayer. When you send a text to them, when you email them, throw in some scripture, you'd be amazed the way God uses things like that. David said in verse three, I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. And now David says in verse number four, by the word of thy lips, he stays off the path of the destroyer. I am purposed that my mouth and by the word of thy lips. My mouth and thy lips. Did you catch it? mouth shut and ears open. That's how we stay on the yellow brick road. James says, let every man be swift to hear and slow to speak, chapter one and verse number 19. Friend, God's given us one mouth and two ears because we need to listen more and to speak less. Look at verse four again. David says, concerning the works of men, By the word of thy lips, I have kept me from the path of the destroyer concerning the works of men. Now, what in the world are the works of men? Well, we gotta think about the context, because it could be varied. The works of men in the context of Psalm 17 is the tongue. It's things related to our mouth, sowing discord among the brethren. accusing the brethren, vengeance, and malice, and clamor, and evil speaking. Let me give you a very important verse, mark it down. If you don't mark anything else down, I hope you get this. Ephesians chapter four and verse 31. The Bible says, and let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all Malice. What an instructive text. And friend, I want you to watch the progression in this text when we fail to deal with sin in our heart. Watch the progress and it all starts with bitterness. Let all bitterness, bitterness, literally poison and we got to flush it out of the heart. It all starts right there. Bitterness, forms a root down inside of us that literally puts a hook into our very soul. And then that bitterness turns into wrath. It's that slow, smoldering burn inside when that name is mentioned, or you start to think about them. And the heart begins to beat a little faster, and it begins to beat a little harder, and the blood pressure begins to rise, and it turns into anger, agitated, impulsive emotion. It shows up with a bad temper and with a bad attitude. It's all over your face. It's all over your body language. And that bad temper, that anger turns into clamor. Loud speaking. We're past talking and frustration. Now we're shouting. We're over talking the other person. And they say, well, why are you shouting? And you say, I'm not shouting. Next comes evil speaking. disparaging someone else's character and good name and injurious speech done with anger and shouting is used to do it. And friends, if we do not put the brakes on right here, there comes malice, physical violence, rage. If you've ever seen Dude Perfect and Ty in Dude Perfect when he becomes the rage monster. That's the idea right here. A desire to injure, not ashamed to break laws. Bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking and malice, welcome to the path of the destroyer. That's the works of men and God said we should put that away from us. Because in a moment of rage, Man commits murder. In a moment of rage, havoc is heaped upon a relationship. Grave damage is done. Well, does the Bible tell us in James chapter three and verse number six that the tongue is set on fire of hell. Husbands and wives venture onto the path of the destroyer. and they cut loose with their tongue and their marriage ends in divorce. You always, you never, you don't do your part around here. You make my life miserable. I don't love you. I hate you. My life would be better off without you. And there's a sign hanging on the door of that home. Warning verbal combat zone. There are no silent arguments. Proverbs chapter 13 and verse number three says this. He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life. Do you see that? Get it down. He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life. But he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction. and the most treasured relationships in our life come crashing down and burning because of the uncontrolled tongue. You say, pastor, that's exactly what happens, yeah. Friend, we don't need a PhD in psychology or psychiatry to understand the precise nuances of anger, arguments, and altercations. We have the master manual right in our lap, right at our fingertip on all of these malignancies that come out of our mouth, boiling and spewing out of our heart. We have the Bible. And God invites us this morning to walk down the yellow brick road. And for the mouth, for the tongue, that yellow brick road is found in Ephesians chapter four. I want you to look at it as we close. Ephesians chapter four and verse number 29. The yellow brick road That helps, as David said, when he's purposed that my mouth shall not transgress by the word of thy lips. I have kept me from the path of the destroyer. Look at Ephesians four and verse 29. The Bible says, let no corrupt communication proceed out of thy mouth. Do you see how good God's Word is? Do you see how foolish it is to ignore the Word of God in your life? How many have heaped so much hurt in their life and on their relationship because they ignored the Word of God to scroll through social media, ignored the Word of God to drink some beer and be with their buddies, ignored the Word of God to play with sports, and then things come crashing down in their life. Verse 29, let no corrupt communication proceed out of thy mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. Look at verse 30. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Now friend, did you notice? that it is the mouth that is not used for ministering grace to others. Did you notice that it is the mouth that is not used for edifying others? It is that mouth that grieves the Holy Spirit of God. So many Christians, they sit and they wander. Why does God feel like he's a million miles away from me? When I come to church, I'm not cussing, I'm not drinking, I'm not doing drugs, I'm not promiscuous, and I'm not where I shouldn't be. Why does God feel like he's a million miles away from me? But that mouth's been running loose, it's been tearing others down, and God is a million miles away for that very reason. It's grieved the Holy Spirit of God. What's the remedy? Be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. If the power of the resurrected Christ is living in you, then that same power is inside of you. And greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Jesus said this about the devil. In John chapter 10 and verse number 10, He is come, listen, he's giving you a description of your enemy. He is come to kill, to steal, and to destroy. That's exactly what he wants to do to our relationships. Look at me, friend. There are no enemies in this place, but you have a very real one in the devil. and he will kill the sizzle of love in your relationship, he'll destroy the treasured trust in your relationship, and he will steal years of time in your relationship, time spent fussing and fighting, time that can never be recaptured, good memories that could have been created, forever gone and replaced with angry, bitter fights and hurt feelings. He is a roaring, Lion, oh God, help us to see our enemy this morning. It's not your spouse, and it's not the saints, it's Satan. Would you go ahead and stand with me this morning? As we get ready to go into our time of invitation, would you listen as we close out our service today? I saw what you said today, the word of God is very clear. And I wanna make a change. My friend, here it is. If we want to control our tongue, we must control our heart. The book of James talks about the little rudder on a ship controlling that giant vessel, just that little rudder. James talks about the little bridle, the little bit in the horse's mouth controlling that big, powerful animal. And while it's true, the bit controls the horse, there's somebody holding those reins. And the question that has to be asked this morning is this, who's holding the reins of your life? Is it self? or is the Holy Spirit of God. So much to pray for this morning as we think about this path paved of gold. Church, as we begin our prayer and invitation time, I'm gonna invite you down to come heat up these cold altars with the fervent heat of your warm prayers. Gracious Heavenly Father, we pray