What do people try to do instead of letting God cover them with His righteousness?
Instead of receiving God's covering, people try to put on their own veneer, attempting to fix themselves up and build their own reputation or self-made righteousness over a whole lifetime. That veneer cannot hide the old nature; when they rely on it, God still sees the open sepulcher.
Les explains that the opposite of the sinful condition described—throats like open sepulchers, mouths full of cursing, hearts full of envy and deceit—is the righteousness of God. Yet people try to put on their own veneer instead of God's covering, and they work out that veneer for a whole lifetime. He illustrates this with his mother's warning that it can take a lifetime to build a reputation and five minutes to destroy it. Many try to manage their own righteousness, but eventually their old Adam gets the best of them; a successful, wealthy businessman can be caught in sin and cheating, ending up in federal prison with life destroyed. When a person is covered with the righteousness of God, those things do not happen, though a believer can still sin—it is a whole different ballgame. Les points to the garments of salvation and the robe of righteousness in Isaiah verse 10, where a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments and a bride adorns herself with jewels. That is how a believer looks in God's sight when he lets Him cover him. But when people try to veneer themselves or fix themselves up, all God sees again is that open sepulcher.