Can one who is under the bondage of sin and the power of its grasp free himself by his own power and have faith to serve another master?

Or does he need to be freed from the power of sin's grasp to serve a new master.

I heard an interesting lecture recently that said being born of the water was not necessarily the fleshly birth, but referred to the washing of regeneration by the Spirit. He went on to say that in Hebrew, it was common to use two different expressions to convey the same message. He was not speaking of baptismal regeneration as the papist or the Anglicans, but the spiritual water.

Wouldn't that be justification?

Here again I'll ask the question, for Jesus to satisfy the full justice of God for our sin debt, was it limited to just the crucifixion and physical death on the cross.

Our sins were imputed on Christ, who knew no sin, who did not have a sin nature, but was divinely conceived of the Holy Spirit.

2 Pet 1:20-21 "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation.
21. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were MOVED by the HOLY GHOST."

Heb 1:1 "God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,"

Luk 1:15 "For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, (speaking of John the Baptist) and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb."

Luk 1:67 "And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying,"

RK Borill is right, many have tried to give you scripture to prove that man is totally depraved of any moral goodness whereby to merit salvation and that without the divine intervention of God the Father, no unregenerate sinner, lost, dead in tresspasses and sin, will come to Christ on his own.

Unfortunately it was not to your liking, so at this point it doesn't really matter what anybody tells you, you will not except it because it doesn't fit your system.

I have also noticed that your responses to me have been getting more hostile as well as Yamils. If this keeps up then I have no choice but to discontinue our discussions. You have done nothing but to drive me further away from your hyper-dispensational fundamentalist theology.

"worketh" ενεργων From G1756; to be active, efficient: - do, (be) effectual (fervent), be mighty in, shew forth self, work (effectually in).

I find it interesting that JD believes that the doctrine of regeneration is only a New Testament doctrine. The problem is in John 3, he was talking to Nicodemus about the need for a spiritual birth. Nicodemus didn't understand what he was talking about. However Jesus replied "Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?" Evidently Nicodemus should have been aware of the doctrine of spiritual regeneration in the New Testament. The laver in the temple pictured the washing of regeneration by the Holy Spirit.

I will answer you one last time and then I am finished with you. You are trying what is left of my patience and getting on my last nerve.

I said in my last post concerning death. The person's inability is a result of death. Death is the absence of life so with the absence of life, the body is unable to respond to stimuli. I have a nephew who embalms dead bodies and he can give you a demonstration to prove my point.

Lazarus was dead 4 days in a grave. Jesus prayed to the Father prior to calling Lazarus to come forth. Because Lazarus was dead, he was unable to hear the command of Jesus. God the Father had to bring him to life to hear the call.

So dead = dead. It results in the inability. Death results when the life (soul) is removed from the body. The life (soul) is eternal and will spend eternity either in heaven or hell.

Spiritual death resuts when the life of the spirit (Holy Spirit) is separated our spirit.

Since the soul is made up of the will, intellect and emotions, it is guided by either the flesh or the spirit. The flesh is carnal and the spirit until regeneration is dead. So the will is under the bondage to the flesh. This is the natural man, the carnal man. To him spiritual things are foolishness.

(Gen 6:5) "And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."

(Jer 17:9) "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"

(Rom 3:10-18) "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11. There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 13. Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: 14. Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: 15. Their feet are swift to shed blood: 16. Destruction and misery are in their ways: 17. And the way of peace have they not known: 18. There is no fear of God before their eyes."

Moral ability?

If man had one ounce of moral ability, he could save himself without the merits of Christ. He coould reform every area of his life and be a model citizen. However all the works of righteousness as a result of our moral abilities are as filthy leperous putrified rags in the nostrils of God.

Moral ability?

Death is the cause of the inability.

You know, cause, effect.

You are unable to save yourself because you are spiritually dead.

How complicated is that.

Joh 6:44 "No man CAN COME to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day."

The word "can" implies "ability". No man is able to come to Christ, except the Father draws him.

If you could draw yourself, then you wouldn't need the power of God the Father.

If you are dead, you are dead. If you are dead physically, you are unable to move by your own power.

You die physically when the soul leaves the body. You are dead nonetheless. The soul is the life of the body, just as the Holy Spirit brings life to the spirit of man. Without the Holy Spirit, your spirit is dead. That is why it must be made alive.