Even When I Have Success (Psalm 30) Myles Holmes | Aug 24, 2025

Hello and welcome to the Redemption Church Podcast.

We're a church in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada that exists to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission and the spirit of the Great Commandment.

Thanks for joining us today.

I want to begin our time this morning clearing up a mystery that many of you have been asking us about endlessly.

As you know, my wife is pregnant with our fourth.

And since we already have three girls, there has been, I've never, I don't know if there's ever been as much investigation in my life.

There's been a lot of interest.

And many of you know that the results have been sitting in an envelope on our fridge.

And that's really been the mystery is how could we go without opening it?

But when you have three girls and you've been through the trauma I've been through, you you might know.

This past week we opened it.

I'm really hoping that was a female gasp there, not like a male gasp.

In light of that, I want to announce the next title in our Even When series.

Which means we're having another girl.

Just yeah.

As much as you clap for me, pray for me all the more, please.

We're gonna move on.

That's probably words I'm gonna be saying a lot when these girls are teenagers.

Let's move on.

Anyways, move we're gonna move on.

If you have your Bibles, you can open them to Psalm chapter 30.

Psalms 30 · chapter mention

If you're gonna need a copy of God's word, so the ushers are coming to the front, you can just flag one of them down.

They'd love to get a copy into your hands, which you can keep as our gift to you.

One of the most dangerous things that will happen in your life spiritually will happen not in moments of suffering, but in moments of success.

We know how suffering can drive us to Christ.

We've heard testimony after testimony.

In fact, we've experienced it ourselves, likely, of the dark valleys being the very place where God was nearest to us.

Suffering, in one sense, is easy when it comes to faith because it subtracts everything from us so that all we have left to rely on is God.

But success does something different.

If suffering subtracts, success adds.

So that when the promotion happens, when the kids are doing well, when you are healthy, success tests our faith by adding to it.

And I want you to understand this morning that success can actually be more of a spiritual danger than suffering, because success confuses the picture of faith.

Success keeps adding things to our life until one day we realize that we are depending on everything but Christ.

Where suffering leaves us with nothing but Christ, success adds everything to the picture so that we may lose him.

Now, Psalm 30 is a confession of David after a time when God had given him success.

And in that success, David says something in this Psalm that I think we're all prone to.

He looks at his life and he says this I shall never be moved.

He felt undefeatable.

And this walking on the mountaintop in his life had caused him to forget God.

And so you're gonna find when we read the psalm, God did something.

He hid his face from David.

David learned this powerful lesson that you and I need to embrace this morning.

It's a truth we need to hear that when the good, that the good life, when the good life doesn't ultimately give glory to God, it will never meaningfully endure.

In other words, success will not last in your life unless it turns into worship.

David is teaching us this lesson this morning, that there is no lasting success, there is no enduring success in life unless that success points to a glory greater than yourself.

That you can have achievement, you can have prosperity, you can have wealth, you can have peace in life, but if that doesn't result in a praise given to Jesus, it will ultimately not last.

I want you to see this with me in Psalm 30.

So would you stand with me as we read the word of God?

Psalm 30, a Psalm of David, a song at the dedication of the temple.

I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up, and have not let my foes rejoice over me.

O Lord, my God, I cried to you for help and you have healed me.

O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol.

You restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.

Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name.

For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime.

Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the mourning.

As for me, I said in my prosperity, I shall never be moved.

By your favor, O Lord, you made my mountain stand strong.

You hid your face.

I was dismayed.

To you, O Lord, I cry, and to the Lord I pled for mercy.

What profit is there in my death?

If I go down to the pit, will the dust praise you?

Will it tell of your faithfulness?

Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me.

O Lord, be my helper.

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing.

You have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness.

That my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.

O Lord, my God, I will give thanks to you forever.

This is the word of the Lord.

You can take a seat.

David learns something here that changes everything about the way he faces success in the future.

And what he's teaching us this morning is that it's only in Christ, only in Christ, can you have true and lasting success.

It's a lesson David learned the hard way.

And it's a lesson we desperately need this morning.

We're going to see this in four points this morning.

The first thing I want you to see, let me just kind of lead you through our four points before we get into it, is that success is a gift to celebrate.

After that, I want you to see that prosperity is a danger to confess, that God's discipline is a mercy to remember, and that grace is a praise, is a reason to praise.

Notice first with me the gift.

Look at this.

Success is a gift to success to celebrate.

Look where David begins in verse 1.

Read it with me.

Look what he says.

I will extol you, O Lord.

He bursts out really with the heartbeat of Psalm 30, which is not David's glory.

It's not a testimony about how great he is.

It's God's glory.

And David is writing the psalm because he wants the whole world to know exactly what God had done for him.

That's why praise begins the Psalm.

You see that there in verse 1.

I will extol you, O Lord, and it ends the Psalm.

Look at verse 12.

That my glory may sing your praise.

I will give thanks to you forever.

And what David has found is sort of this bracketing.

Everything in life is meant to become the glory of God.

David had come to discover that the true glory of life, I mean, listen to this, because we need to download this into our souls.

The true glory of life is not the success you achieve, it's the way that your life ultimately points to something greater than yourself.

In other words, the greatest trophy that you can display is not the trophy case that points to how great you are and all the things you've achieved.

It's when your life becomes a trophy of God's that points to his glory.

And in Christ, that is a glory that lasts forever.

Now notice David had truly received a gift that caused him to celebrate.

We don't know in verses one to three exactly what the situation was, but something had brought him to the brink of life.

Look at verse 2.

He says he cried out to God for help.

Maybe it was a sickness, maybe it was a near-death experience, but whatever it was, it was serious.

He speaks of being healed.

He speaks of being drawn up from the pit of his soul almost slipping into Sheol, the realm of the dead.

In other words, David was all but finished.

And his enemies, he says, were even beginning to glow.

Like they thought they had won the victory over David, but God delivered him.

God lifted him up.

And David looks at this victory that he received, and he looks at this success that he experienced in his life.

And what does he do?

He says, I will extol you, O Lord.

I will extol you.

I can't help but stop here and be convicted about my own life, about how quick we are to take the gifts of God and to celebrate the gift while completely forgetting the giver.

How many times have we enjoyed what only God could accomplish?

The answered prayer, the miraculous provision, the reconciliation of a relationship that we thought just it just could not be reconciled.

And God works in this miraculous way, but then we completely forget.

I mean, we know God gives, that's a certainty.

And we know we take.

But the question is, do we give thanks?

Do we give him the glory?

Are we like the child?

I mean, we have seen the child who gets the present and tears into the wrapping paper and only enjoys the gift without ever acknowledging the giver.

And I wonder, loved one, if that has been us with the Lord.

I mean, practically, this is why I cannot commend enough the practice of praying specifically.

Loved one, do you pray specifically?

Do you have a record of the things that you pray for written down?

I mean, there is almost not a more powerful practice to remember what the Lord has done than to write down what you're praying and go back days later, weeks later, years later, and see just how the Lord had answered.

It's only then that you'll be able to say, I extol you, O Lord.

It's only then that you give the praise to the Lord.

I want you to see, though, that in this psalm, David is pointing us to a success far greater than anything he had experienced just in this personal deliverance.

Look at what he says in verse 4.

In verse 4, he says, Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name.

The moment that David is delivered, he extols the Lord personally, and then he looks to the congregation of saints and he says, Hey, listen, now it's time for you to praise the Lord.

Now it's pointing us to something bigger because listen, if I were to come up here and have some sort of success in life, you know, say I were to shoot a really good round of golf, you would know it, I would tell you.

Let's say I were to come up here and to just boast in it.

You know, maybe you'd clap for a while, but you'd hope that I would sit down pretty quickly.

This isn't time for you to, you know, kind of use your time to talk about your success and expect us to join in celebrating what you've done and all of your achievements.

But that's exactly what David does here.

Why?

Why does David experience this victory and immediately turn to everyone else and say, hey, listen, you better praise as well?

It's because he's pointing to something greater.

I want you to notice that David isn't just a private person, David is the king.

And in God's design, the king's deliverance is the people's deliverance.

If the king was brought to the brink of death and delivered, then the king being delivered was also the rescue of God's people.

And so David is able to look at himself in this kingly position and then look at Israel and say, hey, listen, you need to praise the Lord as well because he has delivered your king, and the prosperity of the king, the king is the prosperity of the kingdom.

And you know where I'm going with this, that Psalm 30 points to a much greater reality that you and I have experienced.

You see, David's deliverance was real.

David truly, in these verses, was delivered from the brink of death.

But listen, I don't want to spoil the story of Scripture for you, but David dies.

He's no longer alive.

And what David's deliverance points to is another king, the true son of David, Jesus Christ.

And Jesus Christ was brought not only to the brink of sickness, Jesus Christ faced death itself.

And on the cross, he bore the full weight of sin.

And in that moment, Satan had thought he landed the decisive victorious blow, but on the third day, the Father rose him up.

And you know, verse 5, it ultimately finds its fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

You see that weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes in the morning.

Weeping may tarry for the night.

Good Friday.

Jesus may be killed.

He may be crucified, but joy comes on resurrection morning when the risen Christ secures eternal life for all of his saints.

And you see, what's happening in Psalm 30 is we are being pointed through our victories, through our success, through the good times that happen in our lives, the mountaintop experiences that all of us have, we're being pointed through them to the greatest victory.

It's incredibly good news.

I mean, loved one, look at verse 5 again.

This is such good.

This is a promise to hold on to.

Weeping may tarry for the night.

But because of Christ, joy is coming in the morning.

Can you hear the hope in that picture?

I mean, tarry is like this kind of you know old way of saying make a home.

It's like, you know, weeping, it might it may be a guest in your home.

It may stay for the night, but it's not the owner of the home.

It is not staying because of the gospel.

Weeping is only a guest in your home.

And you know, I can't help but for the second week in a row to use a Lord of the Rings illustration.

And so you will forgive me.

That's probably why there's less people here this week.

And if I kill the church through Lord of the Rings illustrations, then that's a great reason to do it.

But anyways, here we go.

When Sam Wise wakes up after his trip to Mount Doom, he asks Gandalf these words Is everything sad going to come untrue?

And loved one, I want you to see in Psalm chapter 30, verse 5, the answer, the answer for you is yes.

Psalms 30:5

Yes.

Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes in the morning.

Everything sad will come untrue.

Our King Jesus, he walked into the deepest night of death, but he came through the other side into the dawn of eternal life.

And he now leads a victory parade of all those who have faith in him.

It's all because of his resurrection.

There is no more weeping.

Everything that is sad will come untrue.

Everything that is sad will come to an end.

It is coming to its final redemption in Jesus Christ.

I mean, I just cannot help but to think of that old hymn.

You know that hymn?

Because he lives, I can face tomorrow.

What does tomorrow bring?

What challenges does it bring that has not already been defeated in the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ because he lives, off fear is gone.

So listen, when we elevate the little wins that happen in this life as though they're this amazing thing, forgetting the reality of what Jesus has already accomplished for us on the cross, and through his resurrection, we are losing sight of the big picture.

Listen, like David, you and I may be healed.

We may experience miraculous recovery from sickness in our life.

We may experience miraculous provision.

You can get promoted at your work.

I mean, you can experience really great successes in this life.

But all of it will pass away.

It will all come to an end.

There is no success in this world that does not have an expiry date.

And when you place your faith in Jesus Christ and you are united to him, you are united to the one who has secured eternal victory, eternal success through his resurrection life.

This is the problem.

I mean, if you can be honest, you know, life is a roller coaster.

There are valleys of suffering and there are mountaintops of joy and peace.

And we can just be honest and say, it is harder to follow God on the mountaintop, isn't it?

I mean, it's easy to forget God when things are going well.

Paul says in Philippians 4, he said he had to learn how to be lifted up.

I mean, he had to learn how to be brought low, but he also had to learn how to be lifted up.

And I'm convinced that is not something that we have learned.

Success and prosperity are a gift that is given by God that point to Christ.

But the problem is that when we experience those things, you and I are prone to drift from God instead.

When blessing happens to us, something inside of us, a result of the sinful fall, causes us to forget God, to believe that we don't need the Lord anymore.

And that's exactly what David confesses in verse 6.

Look at it.

Look at the pages of scripture with me.

Look at verse 6.

As for me, David said, I said in my prosperity, I shall never be moved.

There's foreshadowing here.

Listen, loved one, it leads to our second point.

Success is a gift to celebrate, but the second thing I want you to see is that prosperity is a danger to confess.

Prosperity is a danger to confess.

David looks back on his prosperity and he realizes it led to this deadly self-sufficiency.

You see those words.

There's kind of like this, you know, cinematic, like dun dun, dun.

You know what I'm talking about?

I shall never be moved.

The very word prosperity, it means ease, security, abundance, peace.

And for David, the immediate danger of prosperity and for us isn't just in the prosperity itself, it's in how we react.

It's in what the prosperity makes us feel.

When life gets easy, when life gets comfortable, when we live in security, when we have abundance, the problem is how it makes us react.

I mean, just can you imagine what comes out of David's mouth?

I'll never be moved.

I mean, what are you doing if someone says that in your small group?

Right?

You have a ministry, the person beside him punches him, right?

You know, you don't say that kind of thing.

The confession here is that the gift that David had received in life had made him proud instead of grateful.

Love one, that's the problem with prosperity.

You know, prosperity is not a problem in and of itself.

God does give blessings.

In fact, Mark read it this morning when he prayed in 1 Chronicles.

David himself prayed these words both riches and honor come from you, O Lord, and you rule over them all.

Again in Deuteronomy chapter 8, verse 18, scripture is clear Remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth.

Deuteronomy 8:18

The New Testament comes, and in the book of James says that every Every good gift comes down from the father of light.

Now listen, God does not promise his people earthly wealth, he does not promise his people ease, he does not promise his people health.

Sometimes he gives them, sometimes he takes them away.

But even when he does give them, they are always temporary, they are never ultimate.

It's important for us to make the distinction here.

Prosperity is not the sin, success is not the sin, health is not the sin, neither are they guaranteed to us.

These are passing gifts.

They are given to us, the scriptures say, by God.

They are given as gifts to be honored, for God to be praised for.

They are gifts to be stewarded.

They're not to be worshipped as though they are the goal of our lives.

And so what David is parsing out here is this that the problem with prosperity isn't what fills your hand, it's what enters into your heart when your hands are full with God's good blessings.

Instead of growing grateful, instead of stewarding the things that God has given us with responsibility, we start to grow self-sufficient.

See, your prosperity, and all of us have this whispered into our ear, living in a North American world.

Prosperity kind of whispers this idea: hey, you can do this.

You're okay, you're unmovable, you're untouchable.

Loved one, it is a lie that this very moment is dragging people into the pit of hell, believing that they do not need Jesus Christ because they can rely on their wealth, because that because life is easy, because nothing is driving them to need a savior in Jesus Christ.

The Bible warns us again and again.

Deuteronomy 8 warns, when you have eaten and are full, beware lest your heart be lifted up and you forget the Lord your God.

Proverbs 30 praise, give me neither poverty nor riches, lest I be full and deny you and say, Who is the Lord?

Jesus said it plainly, you cannot serve God and money.

So listen, loved one, prosperity, success, a life that's going well, when things are good, these are a test.

They are a gift, yes, but it is also a spiritual danger.

Because when everything looks stable, when the money's coming in, when when you're doing well at work, when the kids are thriving, when health is good, our temptation is to maybe never say it vocally.

Maybe we'd never be so bold as David, not only to say it, but to write a song about it.

But the temptation is to say, I'm never going to be moved.

Success, prosperity, good times in life, these are not bad things.

They are like a fire.

And listen, fire in the fireplace is a great thing, isn't it?

In the coldness of winter to have a fire in the fireplace.

I mean, it's a beautiful thing, but we know that fire in the living room is a bad thing.

The forest fires can destroy cities.

And so the same thing, fire that has this power to warm and to comfort that can be an incredibly good thing is also an incredibly destructive thing.

And loved one, this is what God is showing us.

Prosperity in the right heart can fuel worship.

It can fuel giving, stewarded well, it can be a great mover for kingdom advancement.

However, in the wrong heart, success can destroy a life.

And so, I mean, at a time like this, what we do is we we ask the Holy Spirit, maybe even praying right now, God give me honesty to ask this question.

Is the success you've experienced in life, is the blessing that has occurred in your life, is it warming the house?

Is it increasing your affection for the Lord?

Or is it burning the house down?

I mean, that really is the question, loved ones.

I mean, the problem is not with good things.

The problem is with the way that we react to them.

They do not increase our affection for God.

We do not take the things that God has given and offer them back to Him, saying, Lord, use these as you please.

Instead, we take them and we hoard them.

And the more we do that, the more it corrupts our hearts.

How do you know if the success you've experienced, if the blessing that God has poured into your life is warming the house or burning it down?

Well, I mean, it really has to do with the affections.

Have you stopped praying?

I mean, loved one, are you in a season right now where you can go a day without prayer?

Like, does a day without prayer look any different to you than a day where you wake up and you are in the Word and seeking the Lord in prayer?

Have you stopped clinging to God?

And you know, at a moment like this, in the strength and confidence we have, knowing that we've already been forgiven for everything, we turn to the Lord and confess that his gift to us has been more destructive than it has been glorifying.

That rather than stewarding it, we have hoarded it and it has destroyed us.

Loved one, confess where comfort has dulled your hunger for him.

Confess where abundance has replaced dependence in your life.

This is why Jesus, he he looks at us and in the first sermon he preaches, in the Sermon on the Mount, he says, Blessed, blessed, happy.

Listen, happy are the poor in spirit.

Because the poor in spirit know they are needy.

And there is this posture of humble dependence that leads to a life of blessing that is almost impossible with prosperity, that is almost impossible with success, that is almost impossible in the good times.

So, loved ones, guard your heart here.

Fight for dependence.

Refuse the gifts that God gives to you to be a replacement, God's replacement.

Instead, thank Him, praise Him, turn to Him and worship, offer them up to God.

God, these are yours.

Loved one, that's the only way to prosper.

In a world where you are successful, in a world where God's blessing you, in a world where things are going okay, the only way to truly prosper is to offer everything that God has given to you up to God and say, God, this is yours.

I'm not white-knuckling this.

Now look, this is the mercy of God.

When prosperity makes us proud, God loves us enough to shake the foundation that we are standing on.

And that's exactly what happens in verse 7, which leads to our third point.

I want you to see that discipline is a mercy to remember.

Discipline is a mercy to remember.

In verse 7, David admits what we already know.

He says, By your favor, O Lord, you made my mountain strong.

In other words, success comes from you.

The source of his deliverance was never himself, it was always God's grace.

Now the problem wasn't that God lifted him up.

And listen, everyone, the problem in your life is not that you're too blessed.

I mean, I don't think there's anyone who's saying that.

The problem is what that what happened in your heart when that success happened.

The problem was that David took the gift and made it his pride.

This this prosperity, this success, this blessing, it led him into self-sufficiency.

But look at God's mercy here.

When David stood pridefully on the mountain that God had built, you know, I mean, the picture is so ironic here.

David can't build a mountain.

And he's standing on this mountain and he's saying, I'm never gonna be moved.

I will never be moved.

And God is looking at that mountain and saying, Listen, I made that mountain.

You are standing there because of my blessing in your life, because I opened the funnel of my sovereign power in your life and gave you that blessing.

And here you are standing on the provision that I have given you, and you're pridefully saying, I'll never be moved.

And God's mercy is this that when David says that, look what God does.

You hid your face, David says.

You hid your face.

And it was not cruelty, it was not God being like petty, like, hey, listen, I gave you that mountain and you're gonna thank me for it.

This was God's mercy, it was his kindness.

This is what led David to repentance.

Is that he was standing on this hill that he once felt indestructible on, and God hid his face.

And now what does David do in verses 8 to 10?

He cries out to the Lord, Lord, hear my cry, come back.

It was a mercy.

It was what the he the writer of Hebrews says: the Lord disciplines the ones he loves.

Don't miss this.

In your life, God will sometimes shake the very mountain that you are standing on to remind you who holds it up.

If success, strength, self-dependence, blessing, if these things are making you feel immovable, God in his mercy will discipline you to bring you back to dependence.

It is the sh the the shaking of a merciful father who would rather shake your world than let your heart drift into apathy and coldness.

God is very willing.

He is very willing to put you under the scalpel and to insert his surgical scalpel into your life and create pain in order to cut out the disease of sin.

I had to learn this early in my life.

You know, I can look back on my life and say that apart from growing up without the presence of a father in my life, I would never have known Christ.

And as much pain and difficulty as that brought into my life and my family's life, I would go through it a thousand times again just to know the healing that was brought through the discipline of the Lord when he caused me to endure that.

And this is what God will do.

He will shake us, he will discipline us, and he's not cruel about it.

It's not for vindication, it's to save us and love.

I wonder if you can even look at your life right now and see the Lord doing the same thing out of love for you, pulling the carpet beneath you.

He may take away the job that you have been placing too much of your identity in.

But you.

You don't have enough wisdom to deal with this person, and he allows them in your life because there's no other way you would depend on him.

It is his discipline and loved one.

It's not random.

It's not random, but it's God's merciful way of drawing you back to him.

So let me ask you: where is God right now shaking the mountaintop?

Where are you standing firm?

But so long as you stand firm in that place in your own self-dependency, God will hide his face from you.

Can I tell you something?

It feels like discipline right now in your life.

It feels uncomfortable, but but man, once you get through it, I'll tell you, I promise you it's true.

The Lord does discipline the one he loves so that you would go through it a thousand, a thousand times again.

And you know, some of you are on this brink of a decision you need to make.

You know it honors the Lord.

You know that you know what the Lord wants you to do, but it is gonna be painful and it is gonna cost you.

And love, I want you to know that when you walk in obedience to the Lord, all that you gain from it will never even compare to the small amount of pain.

The small amount of pain you experience here.

You know, isn't this how Paul talks about his suffering?

Such a small amount of suffering for an incomparable amount of glory process.

That's what makes it worth it.

And so when discipline comes in your life, don't despise it.

Don't hate what the Lord is doing.

Don't hate what's difficult in your life.

Don't hate the way that the Lord is tearing your affections away from what is temporary and putting them on what is eternal.

Instead, hate what would have happened if the Lord didn't act in your life.

It's God tends God's His tender mercy.

He heals what would have destroyed you.

He refuses to let your heart drift away from him.

Now, look, look, this is the hope, loved ones.

He shakes us, yes, he disciplines us, he wounds to heal us, but he always restores.

And this is where David goes next.

You see it in verse 11.

Look at verse 11 with me.

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing.

Loved one, that is the gospel, that's the Christian life.

Read it again.

You have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness.

The same God who hid his face in discipline, he now lifts David's face with grace.

It is a discipline that we need to remember.

But loved one, I want you to see fourthly that grace is a reason to praise.

Grace is a reason to praise.

You know, discipline never has the last word.

Discipline always leads to a purpose in your life.

And David here is pointing our eyes to the future.

Because of the gospel, our mourning will always be turned to dancing.

Our sackcloth, our grief, our sorrows, even our repentance.

I mean, the things that we need to repent of on a daily basis, they are coming to an end.

And there is a day, loved one, where your sackcloth will be replaced with clothes of gladness.

There is a great exchange coming.

And it's already begun in Jesus Christ.

We all know about exchanging, right?

We love exchanges.

Don't you love Costco for that reason?

I have a membership at Costco because you can take things back two years later that are completely broken and exchange it.

I don't know how they're in business, I don't know how they do it.

We had a broken vacuum, it wasn't working, we got it like two years ago.

We took it back, they gave us a brand new one.

I was so amazed I had to put it into the sermon somehow this week.

I was like, I gotta tell everyone about this.

But loved ones, there is uh an infinitely greater exchange coming.

At the cross, Jesus, he takes our sin and he gives us his righteousness.

Jesus wore our sackcloth so we could wear his gladness.

Jesus endured the darkest night that you would ever endure, facing the eternal wrath of God, so that when he returns, you would experience the brightest morning of his resurrected life.

He's done that.

The exchange has already begun in him, which means this there's no success that you can have in this life that will ever be as lasting as what Christ has accomplished for you on the cross.

Even your greatest earthly successes.

I mean, use your imagination and just imagine, you know, what the prosperity preachers tell you is possible, that you could make all this money, that you could get all these promotions, that you could do all these things.

Could you just imagine for a moment that that was true?

And I want you just to understand that your greatest life accomplishment will never begin to compare to the eternal accomplishment of what Christ has done on your behalf.

The promotion, the health, the achievement, the blessing in life, all of it will fade.

Every earthly blessing will go away.

But when the gospel takes hold of you, you realize that in Christ, Paul says we have every spiritual blessing.

That in him we have an inheritance that is imperishable, that cannot fade away, that is reserved for us where?

In heaven.

In heaven.

And loved one, this earth is passing away, and so are its achievements, and so are its successes, and so are its blessings, and so are its comforts.

All of it is passing away.

And Jesus is here calling to you this morning and saying, Listen, I have come and through my death and resurrection, I have overshadowed it all by something infinitely greater.

The defeat of death on your behalf, the truest success you could ever experience that is already yours in Him.

That means we don't need to live for success anymore.

If you're in Christ, you know this promise is true for you.

You are more than a conqueror, the scriptures say.

The victory is already complete, the victory has been won.

The question is this will you turn what happens in this temporary, short life into eternal praise for God?

Look where the psalm lands.

Look at verse 12.

David says this that my glory may sing your praise.

That my glory may sing your praise, that the greatest things that I ever achieve, that the greatest successes I ever have, that the greatest blessings that ever enter into my life, Lord, the goal of my life is that they would sing your praise and not be silent.

Oh Lord my God, I will give thanks for you to you forever.

Loved one, this is the end of every blessing.

This is the purpose of all success.

It is to point to the glory of God.

Not my achievements, not my prosperity, not my reputation, my glory, the thing that I live for, the trophy I run for is the praise of God.

And notice, David says, I will give thanks to you forever.

Loved one, if that is true of your life, if success is something that ultimately points past you to the giver of every good gift, I want you to know that you will give a glory, a thanks, a praise to God that is not just for a season, not just until the next trial, not just until the next success, it is forever.

It's the point of Psalm 30.

Success doesn't last until it becomes worship.

Earthly victories fade.

Prosperity comes and goes.

Discipline shakes us and grace restores us.

But the end of it all is this our glory, our glory.

Loved one, the glory of life is to praise God forever.

That's what Christ has purchased for us.

It is an eternity where every wind turns to worship.

Loved one, every night turns to morning, and every voice joins the song that will never end.

The song that sings his praise.

It's the song we sing now.

Would you join with me in praying?

Father, we turn to you, Lord.

And we give you the praise and the glory.

God, the very reality that we are here, clothed, having been delivered time and time again.

Through the temporary things that have stood in our way.

And yet, Lord, knowing that at the end of the day, it really, Lord, does not matter.

Everything is passing away.

Even David, who had experienced this miraculous deliverance, who was on the brink of death, would die again.

And yet, Lord, in your Son, we have experienced a union in which we will never pass away into eternal destruction.

Lord, where there is a physical death coming for us, but not a spiritual one.

God, that we will be resurrected, defeating our greatest enemy, death itself, through the power of Jesus Christ and your Holy Spirit.

And so, God, we have every reason to praise because Christ has risen.

And so, God, we worship you.

We sing this song now, Lord, knowing that this is the song we will sing for all of eternity.

I pray this in the name of your Son.

Amen.

Would you join with me in singing?