When God chose Abraham, He was chosen not because of his morality or great power.

Abraham was chosen by God to be the “Father of nations” when he was not capable of having children.

Romans 4 “¹⁸ Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” ¹⁹ Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. ²⁰ Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, ²¹ being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. ²² This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.””

God chose Abraham and his descendants, the Jews to be the “holy nation”.

This was not because Israel was a great nation but because they were small compared to the other great kingdoms of the world.

Deuteronomy 7 “⁷ The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.”

God judged the Gentile kingdoms of Egypt, the Canaanites and 7 nations to give Israel the promised land.

But God did NOT give them the land because Israel was righteous by works!

Deuteronomy 9 “Hear, Israel: You are now about to cross the Jordan to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you,……⁵ It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; “

In the Old Covenant God chose Israel as His holy nation and rejected the Gentiles.

Israel would have been God’s kingdom IF they obeyed the law but they failed.

That is why Paul said this:

Romans 2-3 “¹² All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. …. For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles ALIKE are all under the power of sin. ¹⁰ As it is written: No one is righteous, not one!….There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, “

The Jews were under the law and thought that they were righteous. But they were equally sinful as the Gentiles who did not even try to keep the law!

Romans 9 30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. 32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works.”

The Jews wrote the Bible and yet most of them rejected Jesus.

Its because they wanted the righteousness of works (law).

But God chose the Gentiles because we did not run after works but He chose us by GRACE.

Under the Old Covenant, God had mercy on Israel but rejected the Gentiles.

Romans 9 ““I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.

But now on the Cross, the Law and its commands ended, so that we are Righteous by faith in Jesus and not works!

Romans 3 “²¹ But now apart from the law the righteousness of God…is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. ²⁵ God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith.”

So you see, the Grace of God is not based on human efforts. Jesus chose us by His grace and we did not choose Him by our works.

John 15 “16 You did not choose me, but I chose you “

Christ chose us and gave us His Righteousness by faith.

He is the Grace.

He is the faith.

He is the LIFE.

Ephesians 2 “⁸ For it is by GRACE you have been saved, through FAITH—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast……As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins…..⁴ But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us ALIVE with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by GRACE you have been saved. ⁶ And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus”

He did everything.

Jesus is our Righteousness, Holiness, Perfection.

He lives in us by faith. Christ in us – the Glory of God.