Eph 277 5/4/86, 506 3/18/87

DOCTRINE OF SELECTION

A. Introduction. Since God knew in eternity past that you were going to be a member of the human race, and He knew simultaneously in His omniscience that you would believe in Jesus Christ, God selected you before He elected you. Selection must precede election.

B. Definition.

1. Selection is a technical term related to the divine imputation of human life at the point of physical birth. (See Doctrine of the Origin of Life to substantiate that there is no life in the womb.)

2. God is the inventor of human life, just as He is the creator. At the moment of physical birth, God imputes human life to the format soul, at which point the individual becomes alive. That is selection

. 3. God did not have to impute life to you but He did. Therefore, life has meaning, purpose, and definition for everyone, regardless of environment or circumstances, historical prosperity or historical adversity.

4. Simultaneously Adam’s original sin was imputed to the genetically- formed old sin nature resulting in spiritual death. So when we are selected we are spiritually dead.

5. Our personal sins were never imputed to us for judgment. Instead, they were collected and imputed to Christ on the cross. Our sins were judged at the cross. Jesus Christ took our place; He is our substitute, and His spiritual death was efficacious.

C. Selection and Election.

1. Selection is the sovereign decision to impute human life at the point of physical birth.

2. Election is a term relating to the spiritual birth or regeneration. For while God provided election as one of your computer assets in your portfolio of invisible assets in eternity past, you receive election at the point of your salvation.

3. Regeneration is the divine imputation of eternal life to the Spirit-created human spirit. Being “born again” refers to regeneration. Regeneration is the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in creating the human spirit for the imputation of eternal life at the point of salvation. Therefore, regeneration is one of forty things that God does for every believer at the point of salvation.

4. Principle: Selection precedes election.

5. The very fact that when a person is born he receives the imputation of human life from God, when he might have been a squirrel, a pig, a cat, or any other type of lower creation, or forever non-existent, means God selected you as category homo sapien, a rational creature, when He imputed life to you. It means God has a purpose for every member of the human race with no exceptions, for both believers and unbelievers.

6. When God selects, He does so from His perfect decision-making process, which is called His sovereignty.

7. Selection occurs when the sovereignty of God imputes human life to the soul at birth. Election becomes a reality when any person believes in Christ for salvation. At the moment you receive the imputation of eternal life, you also receive your computer assets, election and predestination. But awareness that God has a marvelous plan for your life comes gradually through learning doctrine.

8. The fact that any person is born again through faith in Christ when he might have been forever under condemnation is the motivational challenge of election which follows selection.

9. The fact that selection at birth and election at regeneration occur for every believer opens the door for the greatest opportunity ever extended to the human race, an opportunity for invisible but real historical impact, and blessing by association - to name only two. You have the greatest opportunity ever extended by God to any member of the human race! You have a greater opportunity than the greatest rulers and leaders of the past. Potentially, your influence, while invisible, is far, far greater than any success factor in history.

10. This opportunity is described by two words: election and predestination. So great is the opportunity of these two computer assets, and so fantastic is the grace principle behind it all, (for we cannot earn or deserve any of it), that it is almost beyond description! God provided everything for you to execute His plan. And He provided it knowing that you would have an old sin nature, knowing its every manifestation and your every failure. Yet He still selected us at birth and He still gave us election at regeneration.

11. Your first clue to this grace process is the sole requirement of non-meritorious faith in Christ for salvation. It is never the subject but the object who has the merit in faith. In salvation, faith in Christ attributes all the merit to Christ. You’re not saved by anything you can think, say, or do.

12. Likewise, none of us earn or deserve our computer assets. None of us are any better than anyone else in the light of grace. Only God can invent equality of opportunity! Man can’t do it! But it belongs to you from your computer assets. So that there is no such thing as a handicap, whether environmental, volitional, or genetic; you have the same privileges and opportunities as every other believer, for you are royal family of God. The only distinguishing factor among believers in the royal family of God is the personnel assets, i.e., different spiritual gifts. You live in the dispensation of the Church, the royal family of God. You have the same privileges and opportunities to receive the conveyance of your escrow blessings as every other believer.

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