The Well-Pleased Father, to the Well-Pleasing Son

Chris shared this message at the Mission, March 17, 2026, as part of the Matthew series.

Transcript:

Okay, let’s pray.

Father, thank you, God, so much for being present here tonight. Thank you for your word. Thank you for these guys who came here. Thank you that we can all be together, learn more about you, and hopefully grow closer to you tonight. Be with us, and direct our talk and everything we say in here. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Tonight, we’re going through Matthew 3 again. We’ve been going through the book of Matthew, and we’re now at Matthew 3. We talked about it last time, and we’re going to go through it a little bit more tonight, focusing on verses 13 through 17 in Matthew 3. So it’s this first section here.

Would someone like to stand up and read it? Sure, okay, yeah.

First…
Yeah, just Matthew 3, verses 13 through 17.

Okay, all right guys:

“Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him, but John tried to stop him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Allow it for now, because this is the way for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then John allowed him to be baptized. When Jesus was baptized, he immediately went up from the water. The heavens suddenly opened for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.’”

This passage is one of the key passages of the Bible. You may go through it really quickly, but it’s really important.

Right here in this passage, Jesus goes to John the Baptist, and John the Baptist is baptizing people. I don’t know if you guys remember John the Baptist. He was this guy who went out into the desert, and he ate locusts and wild honey, and he was telling people to repent of their evil ways, to turn toward God. And he said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: prepare the way for the Lord, make his paths straight.”

That was bringing about a new kingdom that Jesus was going to bring in.

Then this happens: Jesus goes up to John the Baptist and says, “John, I need to be baptized.” John’s like, “Whoa, I can’t baptize you. I need you to baptize me.” And Jesus says, “No, allow it for now, for this is the way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John allows him to be baptized.

So Jesus is baptized, and then what happens is in verse 16: when Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water. The heavens suddenly opened for him, and John saw the Spirit of God descend like a dove coming down on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

In this moment, Jesus is glorified in front of a person, maybe for the first time.

Jesus is baptized, and John gets to witness the Holy Spirit descending like a dove. Then he hears this voice from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son, and I am well pleased with him.”

In this passage, this is the first time in the Bible (the Bible’s this big, you’ve got the Old Testament over here and the New Testament here) that God describes a man as someone He is well pleased with.

God says He is pleased with the Son, with Jesus, the Son of God. He’s the beloved Son. So this is really important. And that’s probably why it’s one of the first passages in the New Testament that we read. Matthew, the writer, wants us to get a grip on this.

Jesus is not just an ordinary man who went and got baptized and then afterward became righteous. No. He didn’t even need to be baptized. But Jesus was modeling baptism for us. And in that moment, God the Father speaks: “This is my Son.”

John, you’ve been preparing the way for Him. Chris, listen up, this is my Son.

Did you say Chris?

To me? Oh yeah, that’s my name. I say it that way because I think it’s for me too. It’s for all of us.

So, God the Son is baptized. God the Holy Spirit descends like a dove. And God the Father speaks from heaven, and He is well pleased with His Son.

So, let’s go back to the beginning. Matthew ties all of the Old Testament to what Jesus brings. So let’s go back to Genesis.

In the very beginning, God created men and women, and He created them in His image. I don’t know if you guys know that, but God created us, and we learn about that in Genesis 1, 2, and 3. God created humans in His image.

Guess what He said when He created male and female? Does anybody know?

Very good. Yeah, it was very good.

So God created us, and He said we were very good because we were made in His image. But pretty soon, instead of being good, man rebelled against God. Does anybody know what happened to Adam and Eve?

Yeah, the one tree that God said not to touch.

The serpent came and deceived Eve, and she took from it and ate, and also gave some to Adam. The one law that the Lord placed over them in the garden, they broke.

Nick said it: there was one law that man and woman were given in the Garden of Eden, and it was not to eat of a specific tree in the middle of the garden. Eve was deceived by Satan, by the serpent. She took the fruit she was not supposed to eat and gave it to her husband Adam, and he ate it too.

So in that moment, humans rebel against God. From that moment on, we are expelled from the garden. We are separated from relationship with God, and humans begin offering sacrifices.

So we can read Genesis 4:1–5. After Adam and Eve are expelled from the Garden of Eden, Adam is with his wife Eve, and she conceives and gives birth to Cain. She also gives birth to Abel.

Abel became a shepherd of flocks, but Cain worked the ground. In the course of time, Cain presented some of the land’s produce as an offering to the Lord. Abel also presented an offering, some of the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions.

The Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but He did not have regard for Cain and his offering. Cain was furious and looked despondent.

This is the first sacrificial offering we see in the Bible. It’s very interesting because Cain offers what he has, and Abel offers what he has, and God is only satisfied with one of them. We’re not going to go into that too much tonight, but we do see something important:

Sin requires sacrifice.

It’s huge. It’s not just, “Oh, it’s a little sin.” Sin separates us from God in a massive way. Not just a little bit of food or a little bit of money can cover what we’ve done.

Another time is when Abraham was called. A few weeks ago we talked about the Abrahamic covenant and how this ties into Matthew.

God called a man named Abraham, a descendant of Adam. God called Abraham out of idolatry and said, “I will make you into a great nation.”

Years go by, and Abraham finally has a son after waiting a long time. He didn’t think it was possible, his wife was older, but she had a baby. Then God said, “Abraham, take your son, your only son, and go up the mountain, and you’re going to offer him as a sacrifice.”

Abraham obeys. He takes Isaac up the mountain. They get there, Abraham builds an altar, puts wood on it, binds his son, and lays him on top.

On the way up, Isaac asks, “Dad, where is the offering?” And Abraham replies, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”

Abraham prophesies: God will provide a lamb.

But when they get there, God stops him and provides a ram in the thicket. It wasn’t the lamb Abraham spoke of, it was a ram, and they offered the ram in place of Isaac.

That day, the lamb was not provided. Because it pointed to a time when God would provide the Lamb.

So let’s go to another place. In John 1:29–34, John the Baptist says:

“Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”

Jesus is the Lamb of God. The fulfillment of what Abraham spoke about. Jesus is the Lamb God provides, and He is the Lamb that God is well pleased with.

Colossians 1:15–20 says:

Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. Everything was created by Him, through Him, and for Him. He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He might have first place in everything. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile everything to Himself by making peace through His blood shed on the cross.

Jesus is the image of the eternal God. God was pleased to have His fullness dwell in Him.

And tonight, I want to invite you to put your trust in Jesus.

Because three years after this moment, Jesus went up a hill and offered Himself as the sacrifice for us. He put Himself on the altar in our place to rescue us.

Colossians 1:13 says: He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves. In Him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

When we trust in Jesus, we experience the love that the Father has for the Son. We experience that “well pleased” relationship because we are in Christ.

We are transferred from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of the Son He loves.

In Him, we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

That’s all I have tonight.

Come to Jesus. Trust in Jesus.

Father, thank you so much for loving us, so much that you sent your Son Jesus, whom you love, to live a perfect and righteous life. Thank you for showing us who you are through Him. Create in us clean hearts, God, hearts that are soft, that would love you, trust you, and rest in you and what you have done for us. Our trust is not in ourselves, not in our works, not in how we feel. Our trust is in you, in you, Jesus.

Thank you for saving us. Amen.

Amen. God bless you guys.