What happens when a person with a good veneer is confronted with God's demands?
When confronted with the demands of a loving God, a person with only a good veneer shows their true colors. The outward benevolence breaks down, revealing the old Adam within. They may react with hostility, even saying they hate God, because the lost person is an enemy of God not subject to His law.
Les explains that people can keep old Adam under control for a time, or put on a good veneer, but when they are really confronted with the demands of a loving God, they show their true colors. He illustrates this with a Yale revival account: a benevolent young lady helped anybody and was everybody's friend, yet showed no interest in salvation. When some girls invited her and said God loves you and wants to save you, her temper flared; she stamped her foot and said, "I hate God." Les says this is the perfect example of what we are often up against. The lost person, whether realizing it or admitting it, is an enemy of God, enmity, not subject to the law of God, and cannot please God. Believers, by contrast, are not in the flesh.