Renewal, sanctification, love, virtue, and good works cannot and should not be drawn into, or mixed in with, the article of justification before God...

Here belongs also what St. Paul writes in Romans 4:3.  Abraham was justified before God through faith alone, for the sake of the Mediator, without the cooperation of his works.  This was true not only when Abraham was first converted from idolatry and had no good works, but also afterward, when he had been renewed by the Holy Spirit and adorned with many excellent good works.  Paul asked the following question in Romans 4:1-3:  At that time, on what did Abraham's righteousness before God rest for everlasting life, by which he had a gracious God and was pleasing and acceptable to Him?

He answers:

To the one who does not work but trusts Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works. (Romans 4:5-6)

Therefore, even though people who are converted and believe in Christ have the beginning of renewal, sanctification, love, virtue, and good works, these cannot and should not be drawn into, or mixed in with, the article of justification before God. This is so the honor due to Christ may remain with Christ the Redeemer and tempted consciences may have a sure consolation, since our new obedience is incomplete and impure.
~BOC, FSD, III, 33-35

The natural free will according to its perverted disposition and nature is strong and active only to do what is displeasing and contrary to God...

In spiritual and divine things the unregenerate person's intellect, heart, and will are utterly unable, by his natural powers, to understand, believe, accept, think, will, begin, effect, do, work, or concur in working anything.  They are entirely dead to what is good.  They are corrupt.  So in mankind's nature since the fall, before regeneration, there is not the least spark of spiritual power remaining or present.  No person can prepare himself for God's grace or accept the grace God offers.  A person is not capable of grace for and of himself.  He cannot apply or accommodate himself to it.  By his own powers he is not able to aid, do, work, or agree in working anything toward his conversion.  He cannot do this fully, halfway, or even in part--not the smallest or most trivial part.  he is sin's servant and the devil's captive, by whom he is moved.  Therefore, the natural free will according to its perverted disposition and nature is strong and active only to do what is displeasing and contrary to God.
~BOC, FSD, II, 7

Not every thing that belongs in conversion also belongs in the article of justification...

If the article of justification is to remain pure, the greatest attention must be given with special diligence.  Otherwise, what comes before faith, and what follows after it, will be mixed together or inserted into the article of justification as necessary and belonging to it.  For it is not one and the same thing to talk about conversion and to talk about justification.

Not every thing that belongs in conversion also belongs in the article of justification.  Only God's grace, Christ's merit, and faith belong and are necessary to the article of justification.  Faith receives these blessings in the promise of the Gospel, by which Christ's righteousness is credited to us.  From this we receive and have forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with God, sonship, and are made heirs of eternal life.
~BOC, FSD, III, 24-25

The Holy Spirit lays hold of a person's will and works in him the new birth and conversion...

Dr. Luther has written that a person's will in his conversion is purely passive, that is, that it does nothing at all.  This is to be understood with respect to divine grace in the kindling of the new movements, that is, when God's Spirit, through the heard Word or the use of the holy Sacraments, lays hold of a person's will and works in him the new birth and conversion.  When the Holy Spirit has worked and accomplish this, and a person's will has been changed and renewed by His divine power and working alone, then the new will of that person is an instrument and organ of God the Holy Spirit.  So that person not only accepts grace, but he cooperates with the Holy Spirit in the works that follow.

~BOC, FE, II, 18

A truly Christian life is nothing other than a daily Baptism...

Lastly, we must also know what Baptism signifies and why God has ordained just this outward sign and ceremony for the Sacrament by which we are first received into the Christian Church.  The act or ceremony is this: we are sunk under the water, which passes over us, and afterward are drawn out again.  These two parts, (a) to be sunk under the water and (b) drawn out again, signify Baptism's power and work.  It is nothing other than putting to death the old Adam and affecting the new man's resurrection after that.  Both of these things must take place in us all our lives.  So, a truly Christian life is nothing other than a daily Baptism, once begun and ever to be continued.  For this must be done without ceasing, that we always keep purging away whatever belongs to the old Adam.  Then what belongs to the new man may come forth.

~BOC, LC, IV, 64-65

Without His grace, all our willing and running, our planting, sowing and watering--are all nothing...

Also Romans 10:17 says, "Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ."  It is God's will that His Word should be heard and that a person's ears should not be closed.  With this Word the Holy Spirit is present and opens hearts, so that people pay attention to it and are converted only through the Holy Spirit's grace and power, who alone does the work of converting a person.  For without His grace, and if He does not grant the increase, all our willing and running, our planting, sowing, and watering--are all nothing.  As Christ says, in John 15:5 "Apart from me you can do nothing."  With these brief words the Spirit denies free will its powers and ascribes everything to God's grace, in order that no one may boast before God.
~BOC, FE, II, 5-6

The glorious consolation of the doctrine of predestination...

This is how much of the mystery of predestination is revealed to us in God’s Word. If we abide by this teaching and cling to it, is a very useful, saving, consoling teaching. It establishes very effectively the article that we are justified and saved without any works and merits of ours, purely out of grace alone, for Christ’s sake. Before the time of the world, before we existed, yes, even before the foundation of the world was laid--when, of course, we could do nothing good--we were chosen by grace in Christ to salvation, according to God’s purpose. Furthermore, all opinions and erroneous teachings about the powers of our natural will are overthrown by this. God in His counsel, before the time of the world, decided and ordained that He Himself would produce and work in us by His Holy Spirit’s power. Through the Word, He would do everything that belongs to our conversion.

This doctrine also provides the excellent glorious consolation that God was greatly concerned about the conversion, righteousness, and salvation of every Christian. He so faithfully provided for it that even before the foundation of the world was laid, He considered it, and in His purpose ordained how He would bring me to salvation and preserve me in salvation. He wanted to secure my salvation so well and so certainly, since through the weakness and wickedness of our flesh salvation could easily be lost from our hands or through the devil’s and the world’s craft and might it could be snatched and taken from us. Therefore He ordained in His eternal purpose what cannot fail or be overthrown. He placed salvation for safekeeping in this almighty hand of our Savior, Jesus Christ, from which no one can snatch us. Therefore, Paul asks in Romans, because we “are called according to his purpose” (8:28), who “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord”? (8:39).

Furthermore, this doctrine provides glorious consolation under the cross and amid temptations. In other words, God in His counsel before the time of the world, determined and decreed that He would assist us in all distresses. He determined to grant patience, give consolation, nourish and encourage hope, and produce an outcome for us that would contribute to our salvation. Also, Paul teaches this in a very consoling way. He explains that God in His purpose has ordained before the time of the world by what crosses and sufferings He would conform every one of His elect to the image of His Son. His cross shall and must work together for good for everyone, because they are called according to God’s purpose. Therefore Paul has concluded that it certain and beyond doubt that neither “tribulation, or distress,” neither “death nor life,” or other such things “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our lord.”
~BOC, FSD, XI 43-49