God draws the elect through His Word and Sacraments...

Furthermore, the declaration in John 6:44 is right and true, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who send Me draws him."  However, the Father will not do this without means, but has ordained His Word and Sacraments for this purpose as ordinary means and instruments.  It is not the will of the Father or of the Son that a person should not hear or should despite the preaching of His Word and with for the drawing of the Father without the Word and sacraments.  For the Father draws indeed by the power of His Holy Spirit.  However, He works according to His usual way.  He works by the hearing of His holy, divine Word, as with a net, by which the elect are plucked from the devil's jaws.  Every poor sinner should therefore attend to the Word, hear it attentively, and not doubt the Father's drawing.  For the Holy Spirit will be with His world in His power, and will work by it.  That is the Father's drawing.
~FSD, XI, 76-77

Absolution, a Sacrament of repentance...

Furthermore, the Power of the Keys administers and presents the Gospel through Absolution, which is the true voice of the Gospel.  We also include Absolution when we speak of faith, because "faith comes from hearing," as Paul says in Romans 10:17.  When the Gospel is heard and the Absolution is heard, the conscience is encouraged and receives comfort.  Because God truly brings a person to life through the Word, the Keys truly forgive sins before God.  According to Luke 10:16, "The one who hears you hears Me."  Therefore, the voice of the one absolving must be believed no differently than we would believe a voice from heaven.  Absolution can properly be called a Sacrament of repentance, as even the more learned scholastic theologians say.  Meanwhile, in temptations this faith is nourished in a variety of ways: through the declaration of the Gospel and the use of the Sacraments.  For these are signs of the New Testament, that is, signs of the forgiveness of sins.  They offer the forgiveness of sins as the words of the Lord's Supper clearly testify, "This is My body, which is given for you.  This is the cup of the New Testament," and so on.  So faith is conceived and strengthened through Absolution, through the hearing of the Gospel, through the use of the Sacraments, so that it may not give in to the terrors of sin and death while it struggles.  This method of repentance is plain and clear.  It increases the worth of the Power of the Keys and of the Sacraments. It illumines Christ's benefit and teaches us to make use of Christ as Mediator and the Atoning Sacrifice.

~BOC, AP, XII (V), 39-43

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