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 realizes 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)
Luther teaches us as he wrote to Erasmus that a person must be humbled before salvation because God has promised grace to the humble. Until a person “realizes that his salvation is utterly beyond his own powers, counsels, efforts, will and works,” that person is not truly humbled. In other words, a person must come to the end of all that self is and all that self can do in order to be truly humbled. Until a person “depends absolutely on the will, counsel, pleasure and work of Another—God alone,” that person is not humbled. So to have true humility hinges on at least two things. It hinges on the inward self leaving all hope in self and resting in the sovereign grace of God. These are the two points that Luther hammers at.
The soul that does not rest in sovereign grace alone is the soul does not utterly despair of any hope in self and so has some hope that it can make the smallest contribution to salvation itself. Many souls, in other words, look to themselves for the tiniest act. It is “a position, an occasion, a work” that the soul has planned which shows that the soul does not depend on God and His grace alone but still has the tiniest reserve for self which is really a mountain of pride rather than a small amount. The mountain of pride still trusts in itself to so some little thing (in its own way of thinking) but in doing that it is refusing to give up all hope in self. In that case self has reserved some hope in itself and that reservoir of self and pride desires control and sufficiency. The truly humbled soul has finished with self to the point that it despairs of self. Only the soul that despairs of self can depend entirely on God and wait for God to work in it. Luther said that such a soul “is very near to grace for his salvation.”
This shows with great clarity why the twin truths of the enslavement of the will and the sovereign grace of God must be taught clearly and openly. Or, as Luther puts it, “these truths are published for the sake of the elect, that they may be humbled and brought down to nothing, and so saved.” These great truths are taught for the sake of the elect and not for those who will hate these things and leave religious organizations (called churches at times) over them. Of course unregenerate men who hate God will be offended by these truths which set out the helplessness of man and the sovereignty of grace which is the only kind of grace. But the truth must be taught so that some sinners will be saved. In our day, however, we are so afraid of offending anyone that the truth is watered down so that it is palatable to even very wicked people.
When people have a great sickness and are dying, it is not kind or loving to tell them some syrupy message that withholds the truth from them about their condition so that they can see what they need to be delivered. It is also far from kind and loving to refuse to tell people of the strong medication that is needed to cure their disease. We would think that physicians and nurses were monsters if they did this to dying people. Yet preachers across the land are doing this to the souls of people and they are far worse. The popular message of the day is positive and all within the power of man. It is nothing but poison to the soul, however. People love to hear things about how much is in their power if only they will do something or if they will only believe, but it is poison to their souls. Those who profess to be Reformed know these things intellectually, but for the sake of numbers they will not teach them clearly with sharp points to drive them into the souls of the hearers. This is to hold back necessary truths from souls. It is a monstrous wickedness.
The greatest criminals in our land are not the serial killers as they are called, but the smiling preachers who delude souls and deceive them about their salvation by not preaching the whole truth. People take oaths in our land when they are about to testify in court. They swear that they will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Yet ministers will stand before God and dying souls and tell jokes rather than the only antidote to the wrath of God that they are under. They will preach something about the Gospel but not the Gospel itself. They will preach about sin but not sin itself and not what must happen for true repentance to occur. Our land is full of preachers who may be orthodox in creed, but they still cry out peace, peace, when there is no peace. They are more concerned with the number of people in the pew and the dollars coming in than they are to preach the offensive Gospel. They are, behind their expensive suits, nice hair, and smiling faces, criminals of the worst kind. Their judgment will also be far worse than the ones they are deceiving. They are loved by all in this life, but in eternity they will suffer eternal shame and hatred by all. For eternity they will wish they had preached the whole truth and nothing but the truth. But for now, they love the honor of men more than the truth of the Gospel. They are vile and wretched criminals.
God Loves... Himself 
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