AndThisGospel
Member
Yet God says, "I will take you, one from a city, two from a family and bring you to Zion" (Jeremiah 3:14). The Holy Spirit also says that, 'not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called........etc.' (1 Corinthians 1:26-28). Even in 1 Corinthians 6:9, God is discriminating against unrighteous people..
There's one way to heaven, through Christ. Any other method is futile. We are all unrighteous, the issue is what do we do with Jesus?
- Accept Him as our righteousness or
- Reject Him as our righteousness
That is the issue in Romans 9:12,16
"...not by works but by him who calls...It (salvation) does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy."
If you come to God and say, "God, you give your law and I'll keep it and in return you owe me heaven", God will say "No way! Only through My Son can you come to me."
That is the condition that God, in His Sovereignty, has made. Otherwise God will say to you, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
That's the proper context of understanding Romans chapter 9