Let Go And Let God

Our sermon this evening is entitled “Let Go and Let God.” The title is derived from a popular statement used among Christians today. Before we can “let God,” or allow Him to work in our life, we have to “let go,” or throw off the chains that hinder our usefulness to the Lord. We have to stop allowing ourselves to be controlled by the things of this world, such as the desire for earthly possessions and wealth, or the feeling that we must meet the expectations of people. God may even call us to leave our loved ones or friends behind before He can and will use us.

Letting go and letting God is what’s called “faith.” Phillips Brooks defined faith by using the five letters found in the word to form an acrostic. He said that “faith means Forsaking All, I Take Him.”(1) Repeat this with me, if you will: “Forsaking All, I Take Him.” Hebrews 12:1-2 defines faith by saying, “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.” Faith is laying aside the world and looking ahead unto Jesus Christ.

Tonight, we’re going to look at letting go and letting God work in our life. The passage that we’re going to examine is often called the “Hall of Faith,” for in it are mentioned numerous people who understood the meaning of faith, and exemplified it through their behavior and response to God. Just as the individuals in the “Hall of Faith” discovered, we too will learn that before God can truly use us, we have to let go. It is my hope and desire that as we hear the Word this evening, that the Holy Spirit will do a work in our heart, and that we’ll be persuaded to follow the Lord wholeheartedly the rest of our life.

Faith Defined (vv. 1-3, 6)

1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. 6 . . . Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

The writer of Hebrews tells us that faith is a belief in the unseen. In verse 3, we’re told that by faith we believe that the world and the things in the world which we can touch and see were created by an invisible God. This is something that people today have a hard time dealing with. People want to believe that the things they can touch and see were made by something they can touch and see. This is the reason why scientists believe that one creature must have evolved from another creature.

People want to rationalize the world and simplify it so they can better understand it. If we can understand something, then we feel like we have power over it, and can control it. People desire control over their own lives. We don’t want someone else, or rather God, to have the control. Here’s the problem: When we take control, then we’re not living by faith. Living by faith is learning to let go of the control of our own life, and trusting that control to something unseen; and that something is God and His divine will.

In verse 6, we read that without faith it is impossible to please God. Living by faith is attempting for God what we can’t do by ourselves. We might decide not to follow the Lord unless what He’s said fits our specifications or abilities, but that’s not faith. Faith believes in the unseen and the humanly impossible. Faith yields our own inability to the unseen Force that is able. Faith attempts to do what can’t be done through human effort. Faith admits that what can be seen and rationalized is not all there is to the world. Faith let’s go and let’s God, and without it we cannot please the Lord.

Faith Exemplified (vv. 8-10)

8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; 10 for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.