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