What is a person like before he is saved?
Before salvation, a person is only body and soul, with the sin nature ruling supreme. He is not in control but in bondage to the sin nature and to Satan, whose influence governs the world. He cannot clean himself up; like a dead battery, he remains spiritually dead until God infuses divine life and power.
Les explains this with the illustration of a dead battery: you can wash it, wax it, and make it sparkle on the outside, but when you turn the key nothing happens because it is still dead until outside power is brought in. That is exactly what salvation is. You and I cannot clean up our life to become Christians; God takes us just where we are, as sinners, and He is the One who infuses the divine life and power that comes with salvation. Before salvation, the person is only body and soul, the sin nature is ruling supreme, and for the most part he cannot control what he does. He is in bondage to the sin nature and to the sin nature's god, Satan. Many people today do not like to give much credit to Satan, but Les gives him full credit: Satan is powerful, though controlled only by the more powerful, sovereign God, and the world is operating under his influence.