Is it by Grace that he calls us to forgiveness and then we receive faith?
Mat 5:45
That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Isn't this grace?
I'm asking
The ordo salutis is a fruitful study if not already familiar. Keep in mind there are different orders whether or not Reformed:
The Ordo Salutis (The Order of Salvation) | Monergism Answers
Consider,
Ephesians 2:8 "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves; it is the gift of God."
This or that not from yourselves depending on translation, refers back to Ephesians 1:
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing gin the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth in him.
11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard ethe word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it,6 to the praise of his glory.
None of this was of our works.
And to answer your question directly,
@Ziggy regeneration precedes faith. The natural man is dead in sin and trespass, and dead men can do nothing for themselves. Therefore, G-d must replace the heart of stone with a heart of flesh, a heart like David's, if you will, a heart after G-d.
Ephesians 2:
And
you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even
when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—