What does God still see in people who think they are good?

Les teaches that God is not impressed by human goodness or a good record. He still looks at the inward man and sees a throat like an open sepulcher, a mouth full of cursing, and thought processes as immoral as anybody's. These come out of old Adam. Les illustrates this with bootlegging days: you could outlaw alcohol but people would still get it; the only solution was to destroy the stills. Likewise, old Adam is like a still, constantly producing sin, and covering it up won't work until we deal with old Adam. He also stresses that by the deeds of the law no one can approach God on merit; we can do nothing to merit favor. Abraham believed God, and his believing caused God to call him righteous.