All these events are wholly outside of our experience. Just as all men are condemned by the disobedience of our first father Adam, so are all of God's people saved by the obedience of the second and innocent Adam, Christ, an obedience and innocence which are wholly outside of us. The Gospel is truth, not fiction. The Gospel is history, not personal experience. The Gospel is what Christ did for his people, not what they must do for him.
Sinners can do nothing to merit or earn their salvation.
They cannot even prepare themselves for salvation, for they are dead in sin. The Gospel is good news because it is the news that salvation is absolutely certain for God's people. It is not merely possible salvation, not merely probable salvation, it is certain salvation. Christ, in dying for his people took the punishment they deserve for their sins and actually achieved their salvation. He did not merely open a door to Heaven that they might enter when and if they please.