Romans 8:28-39 Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke
Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost Sunday, August 9, 2026 “God Is For Us”
“Why are you here, Elijah?” God asked the question, and we might want to ask the same question. Didn’t you just see an incredible miracle, Elijah? Didn’t you just match up—all on your own—with 400 prophets of the false god Baal and win? Didn’t God answer your prayer with fire that rained down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice you set on the altar, along with all the water you had poured on it? What are you doing in a cave? Pouting? Are you afraid? Did you expect that the big miraculous sign would have bigger results than what you saw? Did you expect that the evil king and queen would just stop bothering you? Peter, why are you here? It’s amazing that you jumped at the chance to walk out on water. What an impetuous thing to do. But it really was faith, wasn’t it? You really believed that if Jesus could walk out to you on the water, then he could let you walk on it too, didn’t you? How many steps did you take? Did you think that the next one would suddenly be the one when the miracle stopped working? No, you really didn’t think about it at all, did you? You took your eyes off of Jesus, and then the waves seemed to big and the wind seemed too strong. Your concerns became a self-fulfilling prophecy. Suddenly the water isn’t holding your feet. You’re sinking fast. You’re trying to gasp for breath. What a terrifying moment in time! Have you been to places like that before? Have you felt the fear or uncertainty or frustration of an Elijah? Have you expected things to get better, or things to go your way? Have you tried to be faithful to God and what he wants in your life only to feel like your life was falling apart anyway? Have you felt like you are the only one who understands your situation or the only one who is even trying? Have you felt like everyone else is out to get you? Or have you felt the sudden terror that Peter felt? You took your eyes off of Jesus and you saw the dangerous things and how they could take you down at any moment? Have you felt like you’re drowning in fear or in the expectations of others or in the overwhelming responsibilities of life? You heard both of these accounts in our service this morning. And you’ve heard the section we’re focusing the sermon on from Romans 8. Romans wasn’t written to Elijah. It wasn’t written to Peter, but they sure could have used the reminders it contains. In fact, those men ended up hearing what they needed. God directed Elijah back to his promises and the reality of his situation instead of the scary version he imagined. Jesus called out Peter’s lack of faith, his doubts. And while our circumstances are not the same as theirs, and our circumstances aren’t necessarily the same as the others around us, we have a lot in common with those believers and all those gathered for worship today. We have the amazing promises of God. We have his sure word. We know that God is for us, and that makes all the difference for how we live our life at any moment. It helps us deal with every doubt that may come into our hearts and minds. So that’s where this Scripture directs our attention. If God is for us, who can be against us? That’s not really as big an “if” as it sounds. Paul’s whole point is that God is with us, and since that is the case, no one is able to stand against us. Nothing is able to harm us. The reason Paul can give us these assurances is that God has given us his promises. This whole section begins with the premise: We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose. We could just stop there if only we could always keep this truth in mind. God has a plan and a purpose. He calls believers and promises to work everything out to serve their good. We know this. We have the promises of God. But do we really know it? It’s interesting that Greek, like several other languages, has one word for knowing something in your head, having knowledge, and another word for knowing by experience. The word used here is head-knowledge. We know that God makes this promise, even if we haven’t always considered it fulfilled or recognized it in our lives. What has been fulfilled in our lives is that God followed up on his plans and purposes. He knew us and planned our salvation. He predestined us and foreknew us. By the way, the word know in foreknew is not head knowledge, it is the experiential knowledge. God didn’t just have the idea of us in mind. He knew us
intimately before we were ever born. And he called us through word and sacrament. And he justified us by faith. And even though the glory of heaven from our perspective is out in our future, Paul can speak of it as an absolute and completed certainty. All God has promised tells us that God is indeed for us, so nothing and no one can stand against us. Paul has reminded us that we know God works things for our good because we have his promises. We know these things to be true because God has told us. But that’s not all. He goes on to tell us how we have witnessed God’s great love. He gave up his own Son for us. This is how much God is for us. He sacrificed his Son in our place. It wasn’t because we were so good that he needed to save us. It wasn’t that we had earned any measure of love from God. It was because he chose to love us and chose us to be his people. So he took away our sins by the sacrifice of his Son. That is history. It is real. It is done. Why would he leave any of the rest of his promises undone? Why would he stop short of doing everything he promised? So he tells us that no one can condemn us. No one can do the worst possible damage to us. Our eternal life is secure. Our salvation is certain. The good that God has in store for us is primarily that he will see us safely to our heavenly homes, and he will use everything that comes into our lives to make sure that it happens. We have God’s promises. We have the track record that he established by loving us and sending his Son to die for us. So now we can look ahead with complete confidence knowing God is for us. That means nothing can separate us from God’s love. But it doesn’t mean that everything will always go the way that we want it to or the way that we would be happy about. Paul asks: What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? And some of those things were real threats in the life of the Roman Christians. They were being persecuted. Christians in the early church were put to the sword, stripped and ridiculed. God didn’t tell Elijah that things would never go bad or be difficult. He didn’t tell Peter that he would never again feel as though he were sinking. He doesn’t tell us that nothing bad will happen to us. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. We can expect challenges and difficulties. We can expect hard times, sometimes for doing the things God wants us to do and for being the sort of people God wants us to be. Paul quotes a Psalm about being put to death daily or being led like a sheep to slaughter. That can be what it sometimes feels like to be a Christian. Life gives us reasons to fear or doubt or wonder. God gives us even more reasons to meet that fear or doubt with faith. Maybe the doubts arise when you feel all alone like Elijah did. You suppose no one can understand your problems and your concerns and your fears. Perhaps those you thought were your friends no longer seem so friendly. Perhaps your doubts come when you take your eyes off Jesus and you place them on the waves, the challenges, the dangers. Go ahead and add your doubts and fears to Paul’s list of dangers: trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword. Then, answer the question: will any of these separate us from the love of Christ. No! No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. “More than conquerors.” That phrase in English is just one word in Greek, and it is a rare word that only shows up in this one place in Scripture. It calls us something like “hyper-winners” or “super-victors.” It’s not just that we win, it’s that we win convincingly. How? Through Jesus Christ who loved us and gave his life for us. Now no powers, no forces, nothing in all of creation can separate us from him. Peter knew this. Elijah knew this. In their lowest moments, though, they lost sight of this truth. They needed to be reminded. They needed to fix their eyes on Jesus. They needed the precious message of good news whispered to them once again. That’s what I need. That’s what you need. You will have those moments, too. Why are you here? To be told the good news that Jesus overcomes all doubts and fears. You are victorious. He will take you out of the troubles of this world to a place where nothing will trouble you. Set your eyes on that. You know it. God is for you.
The Text: Romans 8:28–39 (EHV) 28We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, for those who are
called according to his purpose, 29because those God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers. 30And those he predestined, he also called. Those he called, he also justified. And those he justified, he also glorified. 31What then will we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32Indeed, he
who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also graciously give us all things along with him? 33Who will bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies! 34Who is the one
who condemns? Christ Jesus, who died and, more than that, was raised to life, is the one who is at God’s right hand and who is also interceding for us! 35What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36Just as it is written: For your sake we are being put to death all day long. We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor rulers, neither things present nor
things to come, nor powerful forces, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.