What does the Holy Spirit convict us of when He begins to work on our dead spirit?
When the Holy Spirit begins to work on the dormant, dead spirit, He convicts the person that they are indeed a sinner and have broken God's Law—the law that the soul that sinneth must surely die. God has provided someone who died that death in their place.
Les explains that the Holy Spirit begins to work on the dormant, dead spirit once a person is old enough to understand these things. The Spirit convicts us that we are indeed sinners and that we have broken that Law which says, "the soul that sinneth must surely die." Les then notes God's tremendous loophole: yes, I have to die because I have sinned—that is the first Law—but God has provided someone who died that death in my place. This connects with the preaching of the cross, which is foolishness to those who perish but the power of God to those who are saved.