How is it possible though for somebody to be unsaved and be sure that they're saved?

They have a misunderstanding of either the terms of salvation or a misunderstanding of their own self-evaluation of whether or not they've met those terms. The Apostle Peter commands us to make our calling an election sure.

So you and I having assurance of our salvation is important. You're listening to renewing

your mind and I'm glad that you're with us this Thursday. Because assurance is an

important topic and has so many practical implications for our growth in the

Christian life. Today and tomorrow we'll be exploring assurance in depth. These messages

are from Arce Sprawl's 12-part series, developing Christian character.

And it can be yours on DVD, along with the digital study guide

when you give a gift of any amount at renewing or mind dot org. So why do some people think

they're saved when they're not and why do some sincere Christians wrestle with doubts?

Here's Dr. Sprawl with the

study, first part of our study and why it's so important to understand the doctrine of justification

if we're to have genuine assurance.

When we deal with the whole question of salvation,

it is customary in theology to look at salvation in the broad sense

and then sort of carve it up into its constituent parts and part of systematic

theology is to examine what we call technically the ordo salutus which is simply a fancy way of saying the

order of salvation because the whole of salvation is made up of individual parts that happen in sequence consecutively.

We begin our Christian life when God breathes into us the life of the spirit and causes us

to be born again and out of that regeneration comes the human response of faith and repentance.

And as soon as we believe in Christ and embrace Christ and repent of our sins,

the next great moment in our

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