Moreover, since Christ is said to be ‘the way, the truth, and the life’ (John 14:6), and that categorically, so that whatever is not Christ is not the way, but error, not truth, but untruth, not life, but death, it follows of necessity that ‘free-will’, inasmuch as it neither is Christ, not is in Christ, is bound in error, and untruth, and death. Where and whence, then, comes your intermediate, neutral entity (I mean, the power of ‘free-will’) which, though it is not Christ (that is, the way, the truth and the life), should not be error, or untruth or death? If all the things that are said of Christ and of grace were not said categorically, so that they may be contrasted with their opposites…what, I ask you, would be the use of all the apostolic discourses and, indeed, of the entire Scriptures? (Luther, The Bondage of the Will)
Luther’s point about the ‘free-will’ being an intermediate, neutral entity is a powerful shot against the doctrine of ‘free-will’. The will that is free is somewhere between (logically) being dead in sin and having life. The will that is free (logically) is not totally depraved but not totally free. The will that is free (logically) is not bound by sin or by grace. It is in some neutral area and can choose anything it wants at any point. This is basically a denial of total depravity and of a free and sovereign grace.
For the will to be free to be able to choose Christ or sin before regeneration (at least) the will has to be able to be neutral at some point and in some way. This is quite contrary to Scripture. Passage after passage of Scripture teaches us that men are slaves of sin and are in bondage to sin. The will is not in some mythical category of neutrality, if the person has not been born again that person cannot see the kingdom of God and that person “enslaved to various lusts and pleasures”. God Himself blinds people to spiritual truth and also hardens their hearts and turns them over to sin. A hardened heart that has been turned over to sin is not a heart that is neutral.
John 8:34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Proverbs 5:22 His own iniquities will capture the wicked, And he will be held with the cords of his sin.
Acts 8:23 “For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity.”
Romans 6:6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;
Romans 6:20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
Titus 3:3 For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ comes to sinners who are dead, blind, and in bondage to sin and the devil and it will only deliver helpless sinners who are beyond their own help and will not trust in anything or anyone but Christ alone. Sinners must not look to their own so-called neutral will to help them do something so that God will save them, but they must die to their own ability and look to Christ who will save by grace and grace alone. The doctrine of free-will basically teaches people to look to themselves and trust in themselves to do something. Jesus told His disciples that with men salvation was impossible (Matthew 19:26), yet those who espouse or even tolerate ‘free-will’ must deny that to be consistent.
Scripture teaches that God makes sinners who are dead in sin alive by grace alone. Scripture teaches that God must deliver sinners from the dominion of the evil one and He does that by grace alone. Scripture teaches that God must deliver sinners from their bondage to sin and He does that by grace alone. The proponents of ‘free-will’ are adding what must be a neutral entity into the mix and having men look to their own will for something. But when that is done, they make grace no longer to be grace (Rom 11:6). Adding something to grace is a denial of grace alone.
God Loves... Himself 
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