Jesus is Lord – Love Has Come
Jesus is Lord
Together Church | Pastor Brandon Werner
December 14, 2025 | Series: Love Has Come
INTRODUCTION
If you have your Bible… open with me to Luke 1.
Last week, we heard the pronouncement of the angel to Joseph, and how God revealed to him that Jesus is Savior.
This morning, we’ll look at the angel’s pronouncement to Mary, and how God revealed to her that Jesus is Lord.
If you’re taking notes, here’s the main idea:
Love Has Come, and He is Lord of all.
Before we read the story of the angel’s announcement to Mary, let me ask you a question…
Have you ever been given a difficult assignment by God?
If so, how did you respond? How did you feel?
Difficult assignments from God come in many forms…
- There are assignments you never asked for.
- Sacrifices you didn’t expect to make.
- Circumstances outside your control.
- Fears you have to face.
- Uncomfortable settings or things that stretch you outside your comfort zone.
- Something you love that you need to let go of.
- Callings that change your life.
God gives difficult assignments to His people. When they come, your response will reveal your heart and what you believe about God.
That is true for us, and that was true for Mary.
In Luke 1, God gives Mary an incredibly difficult assignment. Mary’s response to that assignment revealed that she believed that He is Lord of all.
Let’s read it together…
Luke 1:26-38
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
The angel appeared – without warning – and disrupted Mary’s whole life: her family, finances, community, reputation, goals, plans, dreams, and way of life.
In one moment, Mary’s entire life was turned upside down by a difficult assignment from God.
This assignment was extremely challenging!
- God told her she would conceive a child as a virgin, before she had ever known a man.
- God’s assignment meant she would have to endure the public shame and humiliation of those in her family and community who did not believe this child was born of the Holy Spirit of God.
- God’s assignment meant risking the loss of her husband who she was betrothed to at the time.
- God’s assignment called her to endure the difficulty of pregnancy and the pain of childbirth, and then to invest herself as the mother who would raise Jesus.
- Then, perhaps the most difficult part of the assignment… Mary would have to endure the pain of losing her son to death on a cross.
In Luke 2, the prophet Simeon speaks to Mary and says…
Luke 2:35
“…a sword will pierce through your own soul also…”
Simeon’s prophecy foreshadowed Mary’s suffering:
- She would experience heart-piercing grief.
- She would walk through the agony of her Son’s rejection.
- She would witness the brutal crucifixion of the One she carried.
- The Messiah’s suffering would cause her to suffer.
That was God’s assignment for Mary. Now that’s a tough assignment.
How did Mary respond to God’s assignment?
Let’s look at the story!
When she first encountered the angel, she was greatly troubled.
That word means to be alarmed, perplex, and confused. It’s how you would feel if you were in a frightening situation and didn’t know what was going on.
The narrator tells us that Mary was greatly troubled as she “tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.”
But that initial reaction of being “greatly trouble” quickly changed as she discerned that the angel’s message was truly from God.
By the end of the pronouncement, Mary responded like this…
- “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord”
- “Let it be to me according to your word”
Mary responded with complete willingness and obedience to God! Not only that, but she also responded with rejoicing in God’s decision to include her in His plan!
Where do we see Mary’s response with celebration and rejoicing?
Shortly after this announcement, Luke records Mary’s Song… a joyful response to the Lord and His activity in her life! In the song, Mary said things like…
Luke 1:46-50
46 And Mary said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50 And his mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
What a gracious response to a difficult assignment from God!
We have a lot to learn from Mary.
For many of us, difficult assignments from God are often viewed as…
- A curse, not a blessing.
- An inconvenience, not a purpose.
- Annoying, not dignifying.
- Miserable, not an invitation into deeper joy.
We need something that Mary possessed…
The angel revealed Jesus as Lord of all… and Mary believed that was true! Because she believed He is Lord of all, it was Mary’s great delight to willingly offer her life in service to God.
BODY
For our perspective of God’s difficult assignments to be like Mary’s perspective, we must believe that Jesus is Lord of all!
When the angel came, Mary believed what the angel said. How did the message of the angel reveal the Lordship of Jesus Christ? Let’s look. The angel said…
- He will be great.
Earlier, when the angel spoke of John the Baptist, the angel said John would be “great before the Lord”. The angel didn’t call John “lord”. But the angel didn’t say Jesus would be “great before the Lord”, the angel declared Jesus Himself would BE great.
In both the Old and New Testaments, God is described as the One who is “great”.
Psalm 145:3
Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised,
and his greatness is unsearchable.
And in Revelation, in a scene of heavenly worship, the saints declare…
Revelation 15:3
Great and amazing are your deeds,
O Lord God the Almighty!
The angel revealed Jesus as Lord by declaring that Jesus is great! But he didn’t stop there. The angel also said…
- He will be called the Son of the Most High.
The phrase “Most High” is a reference to God and to His supremacy.
When the Bible describes God as the Most High, it is emphasizing His preeminence. He is the first and the last. He is before all things. He is the Creator of all things. He has power and authority and dominion over all things. He is supreme. He is Yahweh. He is Jehovah. He is God.
And the angel declared that this child that was to be born of the virgin Mary is “the Son of the Most High” God! He is King Jesus!
When declaring the supremacy of Jesus, Paul said this in…
Colossians 1:15-19
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell
Who is Jesus? He is the Son of the Most High! He is King of kings and Lord of lords… and He reigns supremely over all things.
That’s what the next lines from the angel continue to reveal… His Kingship and Kingdom. The angel continued and said…
- The Lord God will give to Him the throne of His father, David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His Kingdom there will be no end.
Go back in your Bibles, to the book of Samuel, where a prophet named Nathan spoke a promise from God to King David.
In 2 Samuel 7, God promised King David that he would raise up a descendent from his body, from his own line, a ruler who would establish his house and rule on his throne forever.
Now that’s a God-sized promise! No earthly king can rule on a throne FOREVER. Kingdoms rise and kingdoms fall; rulers are born and rulers die. But God promised David (remember that line, nothing is impossible with God?). God promised David that He would raise up an eternal reigning king; one who would rule on his throne over his house – the house of Israel – forever.
Later, the prophet Isaiah spoke of this same promise… this covenant God made with David. In that prophecy, the prophet likeness David’s family to a tree and the promised Eternal King as a shoot that rises out of the stump of that tree.
Here’s the prophecy…
Isaiah 11:1
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
Jesse is King David’s father.
A stump is what remains after a tree is cut down and seemingly dies. But a shoot can rise up out of that seemingly dead stump.
The prophet was foretelling what would happen to David’s line. The tree of his kingdom would be cut down… seemingly dead. But from that stump God would raise up the heir of promise… the eternal reigning king.
That’s the prophecy… so what happened?
Here’s your short history lesson of the Kingdom of Judah and the line of David…
That tree of David was cut down when the Babylonians overthrew the Kingdom of Judah – David’s Kingdom – in 586 BC. After that, the tree was decimated over and over again by the various kingdoms of the world that claimed power over the Promised Land and over the Jews.
The Kingdom of David, that mighty tree, was…
- Cut down and made a stump by the Babylonians
- Chopped at by the Persians
- Ground up by the Greeks
- Trampled by the Egyptians
- Stomped on by the Hasmoneans
- And decimated by the Romans
By the time Mary and Joseph were born, it was near impossible to see how God could raise up an eternal reigning king and keep His promise to David.
But Mary and Joseph were born of the line of Jesse, born of King David.
Isaiah 11:1
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
Jump forward in your Bible with me now to a prophecy from the book of Revelation. There’s the great scene with the scroll sealed by seven seals. (Remember that song we sing, “Is He Worthy?”) In that scene, all the inhabitants of heaven are searching heaven and earth to find someone who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll.
And no one is found. And the Apostle John – the writer of the book – begins to weep. But just as John begins to fear there is no hope, an elder speaks these words directly to him…
Revelation 5:5
5 And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
Only Jesus was found worthy!
And how is Jesus identified?
The Root of David!
And in Revelation 22, the last chapter of the book, Jesus speaks and identifies Himself this way…
Revelation 22:16b
“I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”
Jesus Christ is the shoot that sprung up from the root of Jesse! He is the son God promised King David! He is the fulfillment of God’s seemingly impossible promise.
Who can do something like that but God? He is Lord of all!
Jesus Christ is the eternal reigning King of kings and Lord of lords!
The angel declared Jesus is the eternal reigning King. He said…
Luke 1:30-33
30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
What an incredible thing God has done.
You know what else is incredible? Mary’s faith!
When she heard this pronouncement from the angel, she believed it! She believed that God was able to fulfill His promise to her father, David.
And she believed that God was able to fulfill His promise to her. Mary’s relative, Elizabeth, made that statement about Mary’s faith…
Luke 1:45
45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.
She believed that God would bring this about. And she even believed God could use her – a poor and lowly woman – for such a glorious assignment as this.
She believed He is Lord!
Now, why would Mary believe that?
As a Jew, Mary had faith in the divine attributes of God. The God of Israel, the Lord our God, is not like any other gods that the religions of this world invent.
No other god is the supreme lord over all things.
All other gods are limited. They are all weak in some way. When you study other religions, you quickly find that these gods are restrained in their power and abilities in some or in many ways.
But our God is the ONE TRUE GOD.
And because of who He is, He is Lord of all!
Our God is not weak, limited, or restrained in His power in ANY way. The God of Israel, the God of Mary, the Lord our God, has divine attributes that give Him authority and power over all things.
What are the divine attributes that make our God Lord of all?
- He is all-powerful.
To be all-powerful means there is absolutely nothing outside His control. He is Lord over every circumstance, season, situation, battle, challenge, and outcome.
Mary would have been very familiar with Israel’s history.
Throughout their history, there were many times when the Lord would call His people into battle. In several of those instances, God would declare to them that the battle was already won! He pronounced the outcome before the conflict ever took place.
All His people had to do was believe that He is Lord over the battle and align themselves with what He said to do! When they did, the outcome was assured.
There were even occasions where His people didn’t even have to fight! They would just stand by and watch as the Lord gave their enemies into their hands!
Mary knew the battle belonged to the Lord. There was no difficult assignment, no challenge she could face, where He was not Lord over the outcome.
God is all-powerful. And…
- God is all knowing.
That’s another divine attribute – God knows EVERYTHING. His knowledge is absolutely unlimited. When He makes decisions, when He acts, He does so with the full picture and all the information.
- What we cannot see, He sees.
- What we cannot know, He knows.
- When we are not sure, He is always sure.
The Lord our God knows everything. And that gives us confidence in Him.
Mary heard the message of the angel. She knew the prophecies. She understood the pronouncement in general. But she must have had a thousands questions!
We love that song “Mary did you know” this time of year. You know what, there were some things she understood, some things she thought she knew, and some things she didn’t know at all.
But Mary could quickly respond with willingness and joy to God’s difficult assignment for her because she knew that, whatever she couldn’t know about her future, God already knew. And she also believed…
- God is all-sufficient.
We are not all-sufficient. We have needs that must be provided outside of our own abilities. We do not have limitless resources and endless supply.
But God is all-sufficient. He has absolutely no needs at all. When He wants to do something, He has everything He needs to get it done. In fact, He is the Creator of all things – seen and unseen, visible and invisible. It all exists by Him, for Him, through Him, and because of Him. He is preeminent in all things!
That is even declared in how the scripture reveals Jesus as “the root of David”. He is not the fruit of David’s tree, He is the root. The root is the life-giving source of the tree.
Yes, He was born of David in His humanity. But in His deity, He is the life-giving source of David. He is the Lord over David, and David himself even declared His coming descendant as his Lord! Remember what Jesus said that stumped the Pharisees?
Matthew 22:41-46
41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, 42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” 43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying,
44 “‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet”’?
45 If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” 46 And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.
They could not understand how David’s descendant could be his Lord! But Jesus knew He was not only born of the line of David through Mary… He was born of the seed of God!
Remember the words of the angel?
Luke 1:34-35
34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.”
David didn’t create Jesus… Jesus created David and proceeded from David according to His divine will!
God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-sufficient. He doesn’t need anyone or anything outside Himself. He is God and we are not…
- And He is always good.
This one is critical for us to believe. This all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-sufficient God can be completely trusted because He is also always good.
What God was asking Mary to do was incredibly difficult! But once Mary discerned this was from God, she was quick to obey and even rejoiced! Why? Because she knew that the best thing that could happen to her was to be found right in the center of God’s will… because He Who is Lord is also always good.
Because Mary believed these things about the Lord her God, this difficult assignment wasn’t an inconvenience, it was an incredible opportunity she didn’t want to miss!
No matter what happened, Mary knew…
- God was in control
- God knew the outcome
- God would be her sufficient supply, her all in all
- God would bring about her good
To believe Jesus is Lord of all is to have complete confidence in who He is and what He is able to do.
The battle is already won!
The outcome is already secure!
The victory is already ours!
We can only lose if Jesus loses!
When we believe Jesus is Lord of all, we will be like Mary! What’s missing? What do we need to see to see God’s difficult assignments from Mary’s perspective.
We must believe what Mary believed.
We must believe that He is Lord of all.
CONCLUSION
Do you believe that He is Lord of all?
And have you surrendered your life to Him as Lord?
He is Lord over you whether you believe it or not. And if you have not believed in Him, His favor is upon you this morning, because He is giving you the opportunity to recognize who He is and declare Him as Lord right now.
INVITATION – LOST
I’m talking now to the person here this morning who came today unsure of their relationship with God. I’m here to tell you good news! Through Jesus, God has made a way for your sins to be forgiven and for you to be made right with Him!
You’ve been trusting in yourself as lord of your own life. Will you repent of your unbelief and believe that Jesus is Lord? If you will, God will save you from your sins and give you new life in Jesus!
Romans 10:9,13
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
It is the nature of every human being to declare themselves as Lord over their own life – to do what they please, to live the way they want, and to reject the authority and commands of God. We sin when we do not do what God says and when we do what He forbids.
By God’s grace, are you realizing this morning that He is Lord of all? If that is you, you can be saved right now! Saved from your sin and made right with God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Will you bow in prayer with me?
PRAY
BAPTISM
INVITATION – SAVED
If you have already believed that Jesus is Lord of all, and if you’ve already put your faith in Him, and if you’ve already been baptized, would you raise your hand and profess Him as Lord again this morning?
If that is you, how does God want to use this message in your life to increase your faith today?
What difficult assignment has God given you?
- Is there an assignment you never asked for?
- A sacrifice you didn’t expect to make?
- Are there circumstances outside your control?
- Fears your being called to face?
- Uncomfortable environments that stretch you outside your comfort zone?
- Callings from God that will change your whole life?
Recently, my small group sat in a circle and remembered times God gave us difficult assignments and we said “yes” to Him. As each person shared, we realized each story had something in common: there wasn’t one time we said “yes” that we regrated that choice.
Jesus is Lord of all, and He can be completely trusted.
Whatever the assignment, will you share Mary’s perspective? Will you have faith that He is Lord of all and say “yes” to Him? You won’t regret it.
It really comes down to one simple question, doesn’t it?
Do I believe He is Lord of all?
I want to invite you to say “yes” to the Lord this morning.
- If He has been prompting you already to do something specific, will you say “yes” to Him?
- And if you aren’t sure what assignment He wants to give you right now, will you reaffirm that you will say “yes” to whatever He asks you to do?
If we believe He is Lord of all, we believe He is worthy!
Worthy of our “yes” and our very lives.
Worthy of our worship, adoration, and praise.
Worthy of all blessing and honor and glory.
There’s a song we love to sing called “Is He Worthy”.
We’re going to close the service with that song. I want to ask you to sing it out with your whole heart to the Lord. The song asks over and over “Is He Worthy?” Will you answer that question in your heart this morning as we sing together to the Lord?