Acts 16..
You don't choose Jesus, but God chooses you to believe in Jesus
John 15:16
GGod gives you the gift of grace and mercy.
Eph 2:8
God has to drag you to Christ..
John 6:44
God has to grant you the ability to believe
John 6:65
Only His sheep hear His voice.
John 10:26
Your dead in your sins and trespasses and God needs to quicken you
Eph 2:5
Let's take a look at the assumptions being made above:
Jn 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit -- that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.
God chooses us, and even appoints us to bear fruit, yet there is still that second sentence about the Father giving us whatever
we ask
in His name!! If we don't then ask anything of Him, or doing anything in HIs name what then? We have choices to make. WE can choose to seek the Lord in the morning and serve Him, talk to Him, and help others, or not! The Israelites were a chosen people, but what happened? They said at the mountain, "Let God not speak to us."
Deut 14:02 for you are a people holy to the Lord your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the Lord has chosen you to be his treasures possession.
There is an assumption made that if a person or a people are chosen by God that those people will be faithful! The Israelites and the Old testament serve as a glaring example of how people act!! You can be chosen, you can be dragged through the desert for forty years and still not make it to the promised land!! Or didn't we read the Old Testament also?
Jn 10:26,27 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep
listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
So it does that mean that "Only His sheep hear His voice."?
Rev 3:20 Behold I stand at the door and knock, and if
anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
Jesus is standing there knocking with HIs voice and
anyone could hear HIs voice and open the door. That doesn't mean just anyone will, but it is available to
anyone.
Romans 10:18 But I say, surely they have never heard, have they?
Indeed they have; "THEIR VOICE HAS GONE OUT INTO ALL THE EARTH, AND THEIR WORDS TO THE ENDS OF THE WORLD."
People, all people are responsible for having believed and thus having listened to God, and then doing what He says. And they have ears to hear, even if they won't hear! His sheep do hear, and it is that hearing that has them following the Lord. And yes, God chooses them and He gives mercy and grace out as He wishes. He is God. but that doesn't mean they haven't heard, but that they don't listen with the ears that they do have.
We all have shut out others that were talking in the same room as were in at times. We heard them, but we didn't listen to them. We ignored them and paid no attention to them. We do that with God and His kingdom. The other person could come up and tap on our shoulder or I suppose even kick us to get our attention, or perhaps they won't. And that is how it is with God. None of us turn and listen to God, but some He comes us and perhaps kicks us, or screams in our spiritual ear, and some He doesn't. He can do what He wishes, because He is God. He can have mercy and grace on who He wishes, but that doesn't mean that every one in the room didn't hear. They all heard, but they didn't all listen.
It seems "heard' and "listen" gets a little confusing. My wife sometimes tells me I didn't hear her. Of course I heard he, but perhaps I didn't listen to what she was saying like I should have. That gets me in trouble. And not listening, as in choosing to actually listen to the Lord through out the day tends to get me in trouble with that marriage also. When I do choose to listen to the One who talks to me I get understanding and knowledge.
Prov 2:6 For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.
If you have indeed been listening, you certainly have seen that He choose you first, but you can get up in the morning and faithfully seek Him and choose to pay attention to Him. If you don't He might do something like start waking you up in the middle of the night to get your attention, or He might not and just let you suffer a bit for not paying attention to Him. We know that right? May some do and some don't, according to His desecration, but everyone has the choice even if none make that choice, and even if none are righteous, and even if all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.