What made us Christians? What brought us to Christ? Was it good sense to turn to God? No, we resisted him. Was it our good sense to repent and seek after him? No, it was the favour of God, lavished upon us, undeserved and unearned. ‘Grace be unto you, and peace’, reconciliation. We were reconciled to him and we came to know him. By the decree of God. There was a time when he decreed this man, this woman, is to be forgiven. I make him new. I make him a citizen of heaven. I bring him into the kingdom of God. A declaration of God justified us, makes us acceptable. It was brought about by the work of Christ, who came from heaven and went to Calvary's cross and suffered and died to bear the punishment that was mine and yours, if we know him, so that we could be forgiven and changed.