Born to Save [12-7-25]

December 7, 2025

Luke 13:1-9

“Born to Save”

Here’s the big picture from these nine verses. It’s something you might want to write down:

NOW IS THE TIME TO REPENT

Almost nothing happens anymore without us knowing. It goes beyond the old adage, “If it bleeds, it leads.” From the ubiquitous cellphone to CCTV, when bad things happen, you will see it or hear about it.

A recently completed bridge collapsed in China. A hurricane in Jamaica. Atrocities in Africa. A UPS jet crashed upon takeoff. These horrors happened within weeks of each other. Playing out on our screens.

While we know more of what happens on a more widespread basis, people 

2,000 years ago also knew of bad things. Two of them are alluded to in our passage. And I’m throwing two in for good measure.

The first was an atrocity committed by Alexander Janneus. Who, pray tell, was that guy?

Alexander Janneus was the second king of the Hasmonean dynasty. Oh, you say, that dynasty. He ruled an ever expanding Judean kingdom from 103 to 76 B.C. So he was around about 100 years before Jesus began his public ministry. Many people knew about him, even without Wikipedia. He ordered the butchering of 6,000 Pharisees. Their offense? They objected to his sacrilegious temple offerings.

The second was an atrocity committed by Herod Archelaus. Who, pray tell, was that guy?

We know several Herods were mentioned in the New Testament. This 

Herod ruled from 23 B.C. – A.D. 18. He ordered the slaughter of 3,000 protesters during Passover in Jerusalem.

The third atrocity was committed by Pilate. Armed Samaritans gathered at Mount Gerizim to view sacred vessels of Moses buried there. He feared it would break out into a bloody revolt against his authority.

The perpetrators of these three fairly well-known atrocities were horrible human beings. They were expressions of the worst of human nature. We’ve seen things as bad or worse than these throughout the course of history. People can be awful human beings.

The last thing mentioned was a disaster of natural proportions. No one person orchestrated it. It was probably a combination of poor design, construction, and geological variables. A tower fell. People died.

Here’s the short version of the point. It’s a simple question:

WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN TO YOU WHEN DISASTER STRIKES?

One way or another, at some point in your life, some kind of disaster will strike. When it does, where will you spend eternity? That’s a question we all need to ask. Yet some want to avoid it.

In spite of technological advances, life is still dangerous. We mitigate risks, but they can never be eliminated.

Medicine and pharmacology have done much to treat disease and keep us healthy. Yet there remain fixed life expectancies.

Life is dangerous. And it’s not like we have any choice but to face it. To endure it. Once, when I was a snotty preteen, and mad at my parents, I yelled, “I didn’t ask to be born.” A deep philosopher was I. And whilst I did not ask to be born, living in a dangerous world is not an option. There are all kinds of dangers, toils, and snares. Are you with me on that?

There’s a faulty theology that rises out of life’s unknowns. In today’s passage, the people were angling for some logical explanation about why 

bad things happen. So Jesus said:

“Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Jesus knew where they wanted the conversation to go. They wanted to hear that catastrophes only happen to sinners who deserve it. What’s the popular philosophical question…no more profound than the one I threw at my parents? “Why do bad things happen to good people?” That is such a garbage questions. It reflects a markedly bastardized Biblical theology.

Quoting Psalm 14, in Romans 3 Paul writes:

“None is righteous, no, not one;no one understands;    no one seeks for God.All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;    no one does good,    not even one.”

“Why do bad things happen to good people?” Not even close.

We are all familiar with such a twisted view. We know everybody dies. Sooner or later. Could be a calamity. Could be disease. Something unexpected. Doesn’t matter the cause. We all die. And some people thought untimely death or calamitous events were a sign of the judgment 

of God. Bad things happened because you were a bad person. And who gets to feel spiritually and morally superior expressing that belief? Right… the one to whom no bad thing happened. “Jesus, tell us we were better than those other people.”

If you had bad things happen, it meant God was judging you because you were a bad person. That’s what people thought.

Or they flipped the question. As we’ve already said, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” I’m not a bad person at heart. There’s good in me. Or my loved one. Or my friend. What I need to know is why, as a good person, did something bad happen? That’s what the people wanted to know from Jesus.

In 1861, in London, during the time of Charles Spurgeon, a train crashed. 

Dozens were killed. Around that same time, a tunnel disaster killed a large number of people. In response, Spurgeon touched on these disasters in a sermon. In that sermon, he said God didn’t kill them because of something evil or disobedient they had done. God doesn’t operate that way. Can you imagine how fearful life would be if God did operate that way? Spurgeon then used these stories as a need to repent. Be prepared if your train crashes or your tunnel collapses. These verses are all about judgment.

We also know about a lot of wretched, evil, wicked people who are doing very well. Children get cancer while one of America’s most prolific abortionists, who was responsible for at least 50,000 killings over the course of 40 years, lived a long and prosperous life. Ghouls such as him do everything they can to corrupt life and culture. We’ve all known and loved people who were striving to be decent, caring human beings who 

had their lives tragically cut short. What does it all mean?

Jesus’ answer was to turn bad theology on its head. Here’s something you might want to write down:

WE ARE ALL SINNERS, DESERVING OF PUNISHMENT.

The miracle of God’s grace and mercy is that bad things aren’t always happening to bad people. And every sinner here today says, “Amen.”

Jesus says the threat of judgment is a call to repentance. When you hear 

about horrible things happening to people, you need to make sure you are right with God.

That’s what Christmas is all about.

Listen to Matthew 1:

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,    and they shall call his name Immanuel”

(which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

What’s the key to those verses? “He will save his people from their sins.”

What’s the biggest tragedy of Christmas? It is keeping Jesus in the manger. Don’t get so caught up in the sentimentality of Christmas that you miss the Biblical truth. Jesus was born to die. He was born to die for our sins. The primary message of Christmas is reinforced in these verses from chapter 13:

REPENT OR PERISH.

Within those two words rests the patience and forbearance of God. 

Consider the man who had a fig tree. He was patient with its lack of production. God is the same way with us. We live…we love…we laugh…we enjoy the blessings of the life God gives us. He is patient. It is God’s compassion that leads us to repentance. Don’t miss the true gift of 

Christmas in the midst of all the fun and frivolity. Jesus was born to save us from our sin. His death on the cross is the only thing that matters. Use the beauty of this season to come to Jesus. Or to worship God for the gift of your Savior. Either way, celebrate the One who saves you from sin.

Here’s as blunt as I can put the point Jesus makes. Judgment will happen. You don’t know when or where or how, but when you die, you will face judgment. So don’t ask, why do bad things happen to good people. Instead, ask, is Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior? As Spurgeon said in his sermon in 1861, “It is only because He has mercy, not willing that we 

should perish but that we should come to repentance.”

Are you celebrating Christmas as a saved believer? Here’s the powerful affirmation of Christmas:

God has been merciful to you and given you an opportunity to 

repent.

Jesus Christ is our only Lord and Savior. He was born to die on the cross. Christmas has no meaning without the death and resurrection of Jesus. 

And life has no purpose without him. There is only Jesus. There is only Jesus. So when judgment comes, mercy awaits. Mercy awaits.

Who knew a baby in helpless condition was born to deliver us from our sin? As 2 Peter 3:9 reminds us:

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

What a beautiful Christmas promise.

Let’s end with this affirmation from Charles Spurgeon:

“MAY GOD GIVE YOU PEACE WITH YOURSELVES; MAY HE GIVE YOU GOOD WILL TOWARDS ALL YOUR FRIENDS, YOUR ENEMIES, AND YOUR NEIGHBORS; AND MAY HE GIVE YOU GRACE TO GIVE GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST.”

And together, the repentant sinners of Covenant Church say, “AMEN.”