You were found in Christ - from eternity - before you were ever lost in Adam. He loved and chose you before you were born. As Paul puts it:
"God chose us before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will."
Ephesians 1:4-7
Your repentance didn't save you.
Your faith didn't save you.
God the Father, by the Spirit, through Jesus saved and adopted you 2,000 years ago.
We repent and believe the good news in order to say yes to his eternal YES.
Your decision to follow Jesus is your accepting God's previous acceptance of you. It's you saying yes to his eternal YES.
When the prodigal returned home, he sought to work for his acceptance. He said,
"Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me one of your hired men."
Luke 15:18-19
The prodigal thought he had succeeded in un-son-ing himself and had to work for some lesser level of acceptance. What he discovered is that he didn't have the ability to un-son himself. The father dismissed his so called repentance and threw a party in honor of the true son that he was, with all the honor & privileges of a beloved child.
The Father alone decides who are his sons and daughters and to our relief, he decided to adopt you through Christ before he even created the physical universe.
You can foolishly resist his acceptance and YES, for a time. But when you truly hear how good the good news is, how can you say no? The life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus announces to you and every person in the world,
"It's safe to come home."
