In order to repair the damage, God had to send a son. He couldn't send angels in to fix it up. He had to send a son, because the son needed to do what Adam didn't do. Jesus came to do what Adam didn't do, which was to be fully obedient to his father, and therefore by yielding his life to serve his father, he was able to rescue us all. Amazing. You give Jesus all the honor. Jesus revealed exactly what the father is like.
John 14:9 - "If you've seen me, you've seen the father", and: "The works I do, My father in me is doing them".
He's the perfect representative. That's why He says: this is eternal life, that they know you, the one true God, and your representative; because if you reject the representative, you reject the one who sent them. If you reject Jesus, there is no way into heaven, there is no way into the kingdom. He is the only way, because He is the representative. You can't say: I've got a different plan. I want to park Jesus over there as a good guy, and I've got another plan to get there. Sorry, it's not going to work that way, because your father has not got a second plan. He's got no alternative routes. If there was an alternative route, Jesus wouldn't have had to die. He would have taken the easy way.
There is only one way. Jesus said: "I am the way, no man comes to the father, but by me. To reject Jesus, is to reject the fatherhood of God. People don't like to hear that. They want to hear there's many ways, but really what they're saying is: I reject the authority of God to declare the way; I want to make up my own salvation. That's what all religions are all about - making up our own way towards a relationship being restored with God again.
He said: there's only one way - it's by His death, as our representative.
Ephesians 2:18 - "we have access to the father by Him (by Jesus Christ) through the spirit of God".
There is no other way of accessing God as your father again, except through Jesus Christ. We come to Christ, then the spirit of God is put into our heart. Now we're born again. We can begin the journey of discovering and fulfilling what God called us to be. That brings us down to then 3 areas of sonship, three words that you need to really think of.
1) I need a Relationship with God.
2) I need to become Responsible, stop playing the victim; be responsible, not just for my life, but for what God called me to do.
3) I need to live my life as the Representative of another, not just doing my own thing.
Having a relationship is a priority, because a relationship opens up a life flow to you. Relationship means you're connecting to someone. It means there's an interaction between you. To know, that word know - this is eternal life, that they know you. That word know means a personal, intimate knowledge, gained through experience. God wants you to have experiential knowledge; not just know about Him. You need encounters, experiences with Him, where he reveals himself to you. That knowledge is progressively developed. Don't think that because you got to know Jesus years ago, that's the end of it. It talks about the unsearchable depths and riches; it's an ongoing thing. Every son makes a relationship with God, their priority.
The first thing to look at is: how is your relationship with God going? A relationship with God would consist of three things:
1) Personal intimacy; drawing close, experiencing being near, and belonging to Him.
Intimacy would mean getting to know someone progressively, because more of your life is being shared, and more of Him is being shared with you. That's what intimacy looks like: it's a progressive opening of your life, your fears, your doubts, your struggles - you're bringing God into each part of your life; you're becoming intimate. It's developed through worship, and listening to God. Another aspect of that intimacy: it starts by receiving Jesus Christ into your life as your savior. That's the start point of intimacy with God: I receive Christ to become born again, filled with the spirit of God; now I must then build my relationship. No one is responsible but you to build it. You build it through daily encounters with God. You build it through fellowship, sharing your life with Him. You build it through hunger, developing a hunger for Him, and you develop it by surrendering, yielding to his spirit.