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Everyone is a slave in the spiritual sense. We are either slaves to sin, which is our natural state, or we are slaves to Christ. The writers of the New Testament willingly declared their status as slaves of Christ. Paul opens his letter to the Romans by referring to himself as a “slave of Jesus Christ” (Romans 1:1) and his letter to Titus by calling himself a “slave of God” (Titus 1:1). James opens his epistle the same way, “James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ” (James 1:1). Most translations say “servant” or “bond-servant” in these passages, but the Greek word doulas means literally, a slave.
Before we are saved we are unable to resist sin, and sin seems good to us because it rules us. We need a different Spirit, and a new heart. We need to be born again.
John 14:17
the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
Hell was not originally made for man, but for the Devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41).
Knowledge of sin is supposed to make us see our insufficiency, our inability to do what God wants us to do, and your need for a savior.
Romans 3:20
Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.
By our own good actions we are not able to come to God.
Isaiah 64:6
All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
We need to be washed clean, and since we ourselves can not wash away the stains of sin on ourselves, we need someone else to do it.
Revelation 7:14
I answered, "Sir, you know." And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
In Acts 16 verse 29 Paul and Silas is asked by their jailer what he must do to be saved. The answer is “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”
All you must do is receive, in faith, the salvation God offers (Ephesians 2:8-9). Fully trust in Jesus alone as the payment for your sins. Believe in Him, and you will not perish (John 3:16). God is offering you salvation as a gift. All you have to do is accept it. Jesus is the way of salvation (John 14:6).
Call out to God and ask Him for forgiveness. Faith comes from God in the form of a gift (Ephesians 2:8.) Ask Him to give you faith. We can do nothing to earn our salvation, it is a free gift. You have to open your hand to receive it. No Christian can brag about anything, because God is the one working in him. God is the one who gave us faith, not because we deserved it, but because it pleased Him to do so. He is the one who has prepared good works for the Christian to walk in through Jesus. We are credited Jesus righteousness (Romans 4:24), through faith. Salvation is the complete work of God. That you are aware that you need forgiveness as you have expressed in your post is revealed to you by God (1 Corinthians 2:14).
Acts 2:21
And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'
Romans 10:9
If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Galatians 5:16-17
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.…
John 1:12
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
I don't know John MacArthur personally, but I have watched a couple sermons of his.
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