Walther and Gerhard

Rather, He [the Holy Spirit] actually works through the means of the hearing, reading, and contemplation of the divine Word and through the Holy Sacrament—just so long as a person does not willfully resist His most gracious workings.—Johann Gerhard, Schola Pietatis II:141. 

To be sure, believing Christians still find themselves in the Egypt of this world, where the hellish Pharaoh has erected his throne. But by the blood of their Easter Lamb, they are free, not from the devil’s temptations, but from his tyranny. Believing Christians also retain their disposition to sin, but the Lamb’s blood gives them the power to resist and overcome their sinful desires.—C. F. W. Walther, God Grant It!, p. 355.