What illustration does Les use for the dead spirit in Adam?
The dead spirit in Adam is illustrated as a dead battery in a car. Cleaning the battery with water, soap, and a rag makes it shine but does not restore power; it remains dead until an outside source, like a jump cable, energizes it. Spiritually, only God's power can energize the dead spirit.
Les explains that when Adam sinned, his soul became a sin nature and the spirit part of him died, losing fellowship with its Creator. He compares that dead spirit in Adam to a dead battery in a car. Instead of asking for a jump cable to get energy from an outside source, a person might wash the old battery with water, soap, and a rag until it shines like a new dime. But turning the key produces nothing because the battery is still dead. Only when outside energy is brought in—through a jump or by generating the battery—does power come. Les says this is exactly how it is spiritually: we have been dead as a result of Adam's sin, and it takes an outside source of power, the power of God, to energize our spirit. When He energizes the spirit, He makes us a new person, or a new creation.