There are two considerations which require the preaching of these truths. The first is the humbling of our pride, and the comprehending of the grace of God; the second is the nature of Christian faith. For the
first; God has surely promised His grace to the humbled; that is, to those who mourn over and despair of themselves. But a man cannot be thoroughly humbled till he realises that his salvation is utterly beyond his own powers, counsels, efforts, will and works, and depends absolutely on the will, counsel, pleasure and work of Another—God alone. As long as he is persuaded that he can make even the smallest contribution to his salvation, he remains self-confident and does not utterly despair of himself, and so is not humbled before God; but plans out for himself (or at least hopes and longs for) a position, an occasion, a work, which shall bring him final salvation. But he who is out of doubt that his destiny depends entirely on the will of God despairs entirely of himself, chooses nothing for himself, but waits for God to work in him; and such a man is very near to grace for his salvation. So these truths are published for the sake of the elect, that they may be humbled and brought down to nothing, and so saved. The rest of men resist this humiliation; indeed, they condemn the teaching of self-despair; they want a little something left that they can do for themselves. Secretly they continue proud, and enemies of the grace of God. This, I repeat, is one reason—that those who fear God might in humility comprehend, claim and receive His gracious promise.
(Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will)
This is one of the most powerful arguments presented by Luther and which shatters the thought that travels through much of modern preaching and evangelism. For Luther free-will was not only something that should not be preached in the Gospel, but the opposite must be preached in order for men to be saved. In Luther’s way of thinking the enslaved will must be taught so that men could be humbled from their pride and then they could comprehend the grace of God. So apart from teaching the enslavement of the will and men’s utter helplessness in sin men will not be humbled from their pride and so will not rest in sovereign grace alone.
If Luther was and is correct about this, the ramifications for the modern day are beyond enormous. Across America there seems to be but very few who teach what Luther said was utterly necessary. Pelagianism and Arminianism make up the vast majority, but those who claim to be Reformed are just like the Arminians when it comes to preaching and evangelism. It seems as if the vast majority of the professing Reformed will even argue against telling people that they are dead in their sins in evangelism. It is not enough to just tell a person that s/he is dead in sins and trespasses as information alone is not enough. It is not enough for a person just to be able to repeat that s/he is dead in sins and trespasses. The person must come to an experiential understanding of what that means and from the depths of the heart bow before the one and only sovereign God as dead and utterly helpless before Him. It is not enough for a person to hear or even believe that s/he is proud in heart, but a person must come to the experiential understanding of that. A person must feel the weight of pride in the heart and come to hate that pride in his or her own heart. It is only then that a person can really be turned from pride.
The promises of God are only to the humble. The proud soul, then, must be humbled to obtain the promises of God. Yet this is denied when people say that all a person must do is believe. It is true that a person must believe, but a proud person cannot believe. Only the humble truly believe in and on Christ. It is the humble and contrite that God is said to dwell with (Isa 57:15) and to look on with favor (Isa 66:2). Jesus called those who were weary and heavy-laden to Himself (Mat 11:25-30). He said that only those who were turned and become like children would enter the kingdom (Mat 18:1-3). There are not promises to the proud and that includes those who believe in some way in Christ and yet have not repented of a proud heart. Pride kills true faith (Hab 2:4) while it breeds many kinds and types of faith that deceives hearts that are full of pride even if that pride is covered in a false humility with acts of false love. The heart is wicked and deceptive and only God can open it to where the truth of it can be seen.
Grace is promised to the humble alone. The proud will not and cannot receive grace. The proud will stand upon their own faith, their own love, and their own humility and ways. The proud will stand on their own doctrine whether it is Pelagian, Arminian, or Reformed. It is their doctrine and it is their way. But the inward work of sovereign grace is not truly loved by the proud regardless of the doctrinal stance. The professing Calvinist can hate the sovereignty of God in truth while professing love for it at conferences and in public. A person must be saved by the inward working of grace and not just profess to believe certain things about it. Only the humble do that.
God Loves... Himself 
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