Welcome to the Refuge Radio frequently asked questions page. Please feel free to browse through the questions and answers and if you find that we haven’t answered your question already, please contact us with your questions and we will do our best to respond immediately to your question.
Salvation: How do I become saved? What is being Saved? Why do I need to be saved? What am I saved from?
There are different ways to say what salvation means; deliverance from danger or difficulty, preservation from destruction or failure, liberation from ignorance or illusion and ultimately the way Christians define salvation is deliverance from the power and effects of sin. Sin, literally means to miss the mark as in the archer who misses the bulls eye. God’s bulls eye is perfection, His standard is so high that anyone who misses the mark (which is everyone other than Jesus Christ) is punished with death and eternal separation from God. God is also loving and desires a relationship with us so He sent His son, Jesus to earth, supernaturally impregnated and born of a virgin, that he would die bearing the consequences of every person already born and all those yet to be born on himself to pay the just penalty for us all. God raised Jesus from the dead after 3 days. From that point on anyone who puts their faith in Jesus as the one and only savior will be “born again” of the Spirit of God and have eternal life.
We must be saved because we cannot earn salvation by good deeds, we cannot claim ignorance before God, especially if we have heard that Jesus is the only way to heaven. We must be saved because God loves us and desires a relationship with us and to spend eternity with us, not to allow us to choose to go to hell, a place of eternal perpetual torment for the sins we committed here on Earth. Hell is a real place full of the worst things we could imagine, complete loneliness, agony, fear, and worst of all complete and total separation from God.
The way we enter salvation is simple, it is surrendering to God all of yourself in the understanding that Jesus is the only perfect one who died to pay the just penalty for your sins. That is the beginning to a wonderful relationship with God. We confess to God our sins and ask for his forgiveness in prayer. Prayer is simply talking to God like he is your best friend sitting next to you.
How to know God.
the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You
have sent.” – John 17:3
Our greatest desire is for people to come to know God personally. The simple truth is that there is a God who created you and loves you very much. (Genesis 1:1) He gave us life and deserves our gratitude and love.
We, however, have chosen to disobey Him and sin against Him; all of us have done wrong and failed to do what is right. (Romans 3:23) We may not be more sinful than our neighbour, or we may be far worse than anyone we know, it does not matter. Either way, we are guilty before God. (1 John 1:8)
- God is perfect, completely good, always right and fair. He cannot tolerate sin. He cannot simply overlook the fact that we have chosen to disobey Him. The Bible says “the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23) This means that the fair payment for our rebellion against God is death. It is the punishment that we deserve.
- Jesus, the one and only Son of God, came to earth and lived a perfect sinless life. He was crucified even though He was completely innocent. He received the punishment that we deserved. He was the perfect sacrifice; He was put into our place and took on Himself the sentence of death that should have been ours. (Romans 5:8)
- Jesus did not remain dead. After three days, He rose from the grave and later ascended into heaven. He will return for all those who are trusting in Him as their Saviour.
Jesus died for you. You can be saved by asking Him for forgiveness from your sins. If you are willing to repent of your sin, He is waiting to forgive you. It doesn’t matter what you have done in the past, if you cry out to Jesus for forgiveness, He will not reject you. The word “repent” literally means “to turn away from.” You need to look at your life, admit that you are a sinner, genuinely desire to turn your back on that sin, and ask Him to forgive you. If you do this, He promises to forgive you.
True Christianity is not about attending a particular church, or how your parents raised you, or what country you were born in. Being a Christian means that you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, that He is your Saviour. It’s not good enough that your priest, pastor, mother, or aunt knows Jesus, you must know Him for yourself. They cannot believe in Him for you, you must believe for yourself. They cannot repent for you, you must repent for yourself.
Jesus is everywhere all the time. He can hear you now if you ask Him for forgiveness. Please turn your life over to Him NOW. Time slips by so quickly, don’t miss this opportunity. If you want to pray and ask Jesus to be your Saviour, you can say a prayer something like this:
“Jesus, I know that I have sinned against you. I know the truth is that I have sinned by my own choice, and I am the one responsible for it. I know that I have earned punishment from You, and that the fair punishment would be death. Jesus, I believe that You died in my place. Forgive me for my sin. I cannot cover or take my sin away, I am relying completely on You and You alone. You are the only one who can save me. I reject my sin, I turn away from it, I repent. Come into my life, take away my sin, and show me how to live my life in a way that is right and pleasing to You.”
If you have prayed this, YOU ARE SAVED! You are now completely forgiven, a new creation, innocent in the eyes of God. Welcome to the family of God!