3 Nephi 24

13 Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord. Yet ye say: What have we spoken against thee?
14 Ye have said: It is vain to serve God, and what doth it profit that we have kept his ordinances and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of Hosts?

I can see how those people got to this point. I remember in the Bible that there were times when they would fast and try and look weak for the vanity of it. But then, it's an excuse for them to do what they want and that's the problem.

15 And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.
16 Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard; and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name.

I read through this about 5 times. What else was I supposed to learn? I feel like I missed something.