Nahum 3:19: On Whom Has Your Evil Not Fallen (Final Lesson)

Nahum’s Final Verse and the Wrath of God

We're going to read verses 15 through 19, and then do a little quick recap of the whole book, and then the lesson. So here's God's Word, starting at Nahum chapter 3 verse 15. Their fire will consume you.

The sword will cut you down. It will consume you as the locust does. Multiply yourself like the creeping locust. Multiply yourself like the swarming locust. You have increased your traitors more than the stars of heaven.

The creeping locust strips and flies away. Your guardsmen are like the swarming locust. Your marshals are like hordes of grasshoppers, settling in the stone walls on a cold day. The sun rises and they flee, and the place where they are is not known.

Your shepherds are sleeping, O Assyria. Your nobles are lying down. Your people are scattered on the mountains, and there is no one to gather them, regather them. There is no relief for your breakdown.

Your wound is incurable. All who hear about you will clap their hands over you, for on whom has not your evil passed continually?". Again, these are sobering words from the prophet Nahum with regards to who God is.

Nahum 1: A Jealous and Avenging God

So let's just do a quick recap of chapters 1, 2, and 3. It's going to be quick. Nahum 1 starts right out of the gate. A jealous and avenging God is the Lord. The Lord is avenging and wrathful. That's something that you don't hear too often preached or taught on in modern evangelical circles, but this is who he says he is.

The Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserves wrath for his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means lead the guilty unpunished. In whirlwind and storm is his way, and clouds are the dust beneath his feet.

Who can stand before his indignation, and who can endure the burning heat of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire. But God loves you and has a wonderful plan for you. Those two things just don't coincide when you hear them.

People have watered down who God is, okay, and tried to air-condition hell to make it more easy for people to enter into heaven. And in doing so, they water down the message and they misunderstand who God really is.

Nahum 1 7, the Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and he knows those who take refuge in him. You see, the wrath of God is designed to lead you to repentance so that you would take refuge in him, because he is good.

And I like the way Paul Washer says it, you should be afraid of God because he's good, and you're not. That's the problem. The problem is God's goodness. You're not going to be able to stand in the presence of a good God without being good yourself, okay.

So here we're going to see, we see the contrast. What God is going to do to his enemies, and then what God does for those who take refuge in him. Behold on the mountains the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace.

Celebrate your feasts, O Judah, pay your vows, for never again will the wicked one pass through you. He is cut off completely. What does the word Nahum mean, the name Nahum? Comfort, right. This is designed to give comfort to the people of Israel in Jerusalem.

They know that Assyria is there and is about to take over, but Babylon is going to come in and they're going to conquer the Assyrians. He wants them to know, continue being faithful to me, to the ones who were.

Many were not. And we have to remember that today, and what's going on in our country and around the world. We have to remain faithful to God. We have to continue to pay our vows, so to speak, to continue to worship and rejoice in him and find our refuge in him and not the things of the world.

Nahum 2 and God’s Judgment on Assyria

Nahum 2, the one who scatters has come up against you. Man the fortress, watch the road, strengthen your back, summon all your strength, for the Lord will restore the splendor of Jacob like the splendor of Israel, even though devastators have devastated them and destroyed their vine branches.

So just remember, even if the whole United States goes down, God judges us and the whole United States is wiped off the face of the map, the kingdom of heaven will not be taken over, right? God, Jesus is building his church and the gates of hell will not prevail.

Gates are designed to keep something out. It's not that the church is defending itself against the onslaught of Satan. The gates of hell are defending itself against the onslaught of the church. We're to be proactive.

We're going in and taking these people captive to the Word of God. So this is encouragement. Nahum 2 .13, this again is against the Assyrians. Behold, I am against you, declares the Lord. I will burn up her chariots in smoke.

A sword will devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the land and no longer will the voice of your messengers be heard. And to that we say, Amen, right? Those people who are enemies of God, God is against them.

But what does Romans 8 say about the saints, the believers? Say nothing will separate us. If I am for you, who could be against you? Right? Once you, you, you repent and you trust in the Lord for your salvation and you come under the Lordship of Christ, who can make a charge against you?

Right? If God is for you, who can be against you now? Nahum 3. Again, he says, behold, I am against you, declares the Lord of hosts. What does the title Lord of hosts mean? Lord of the armies. This is not a God who plays around, right?

He's the Lord of the armies. And I will lift up your skirts over your face and show the nations your nakedness and to the kingdoms, your disgrace. I will throw filth on you and make you vile and set you up as a spectacle.

How many people in a modern evangelical church would say this about God? I would say not many. I would encourage them to read the book of Nahum. Right? We need to, we need to know the full counsel of God.

Who is God based on what the scriptures say? And it will be, it will come about that all who see you will shrink from you and say, Nineveh is devastated. Who will grieve for her? Where will I see comforters for you?

Comforters? What's, what's the word for comforters? Nahum. Where will I seek or find comforters? Nahum's for you. That's us. We are the ones who have been reconciled to the one true living God and being given the ministry of reconciliation so that we can now go out and proclaim the gospel and see lives changed to see God gather his elect to himself so that his kingdom would manifest itself here on earth.

So we are those comforters. We are the hands and feet, the body of Christ who comes and brings the message of peace to the world. Nahum 315, their fire will consume you. The sword will cut you down. It will consume you as the locust does.

Multiply yourself like the creeping locust. Multiply yourself like the swarming locust. There is no relief for your breakdown. Your wound is incurable. All who hear about you will clap their hands over you for on whom has not your evil past continually.

The incurable wound, they've gone past the point. God has given them up over to the desires of their hearts. Okay, just like Esau who sought the blessing with tears, there was no room for it. God would not grant him that anymore.

This is what happened with Assyria. They've gone past the point of no return. So that was chapters one, two, three in a nutshell. And those are heavy words. That presents to you an avenging and wrathful God who's going to pour out his justice upon his enemies.

Yet it also shows you the kindness of a God who would spare his people in the midst of it, those who would take their refuge in him. Okay, so this is a slide from last week. What's one fact about the book of Nahum and Jonah that no other books in the Bible share now except for Callista because she's the only one who got it right.

All right. No, it was Callista. No, it was Callista. Who wants to take a shot at what what the one fact about both of those books are? Oh, only Callista. Yes, Erin. Yes, two people. They both end in a question.

Nahum and Jonah Both End With a Question

All right, the book of Nahum and the book of Jonah both end with a question. And this question becomes, as I looked into it, this these two questions become very, very telling. So Nahum's question is, for on whom has not your evil past continually?

And in Jonah's case, it's should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there's more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know the difference between their right hand, right and left hand, as well as many animals?

We got the animals in on the gig, right? So these are the two questions. So now what type of questions are these again? Rhetorical questions. Rhetorical is designed to make a point. It's telling, not asking, right?

It's telling you something, not necessarily expecting an answer in return. So these two questions are going to teach us something about the nature of God. Now, I put a little asterisk on this question, for on whom has not your evil past continually?

Anybody recognize a scripture where it talks about evil continually? No? Genesis 6, right? Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

And what happened after this? God flooded the entire earth. Then we have the Tower of Babel, and it's in the Tower of Babel that the people were supposed to be dispersed and scattered and bring, make a name for God.

Then they gathered together to make a name for themselves. And this is when, this gives birth to Nimrod, who sets up Nineveh. Okay, so this all ties right back into him. Okay, for on whom has not your evil past continually?

That's the question I want to talk about for the next couple of minutes. So what is this question telling us? Who is it addressing? Let me ask you that. Yes, Sarah, yeah. Right, and are the Assyrians believers or unbelievers?

Unbelievers. So this question is pertinent to the unbeliever, specific to Assyria and Nineveh. Again, those two words I use synonymously, Nineveh is the capital of Assyria, so it's one in the same. So this particular question is addressing the unbeliever.

So what is the answer to the question? For on whom has not your evil past continually? Go ahead, say it. Right, the answer to the question is no one. Everyone has had Assyria's evil wrath poured out to them.

They were wicked to all of the nations around them. So this is designed to the, relegated to the unbeliever, right, Assyria, and the answer to the question is no one. Their evil has been poured out continually on all the nations that surrounded them, right, and it wasn't just one person.

It was everyone. Every nation that surrounded them, they looked to conquer. They wanted to be the pinnacle. They wanted to rule the world, so to speak, and this is the plight of mankind. You look at Psalm 2, why do the nations rage?

Why did the Kings plot in vain? All of the world, all of the unbelievers want to overthrow God's kingdom here on earth, okay. So now was this like a one-off situation? Look at the question. Was this some of the time that Assyria did it?

Continually, right? It's on and on and on and on. It's not just one instance. This is who they were. They wanted to conquer all of the nations around them. This was how they operated, and it wasn't a mistake or a slip.

It was evil. What they were doing was evil. It wasn't that they accidentally conquered the nation that was next door to them. It wasn't that they accidentally flayed their enemies or accidentally crucified them.

This was intentional, so if you heard this question yourself, for on whom has not your evil passed continually, and you recognized that your evil, the evil that you did, affected people around you, what could you not claim at that point?

Anyone. Innocence. You cannot claim your own innocence or goodness. As much as the human being, the depraved human being, wants to, I'm good, I'm a good person, I haven't killed anyone. Praise God. You haven't killed anyone literally, but in your heart you've cursed people many, many times.

Have you ever driven on the LIE? You've cursed people. I know it, right? So you can't claim your own goodness. You can't claim your own innocence, Assyria. You're not going to get around this, right? So what is God telling them?

He's revealing their heart and their actions to them. He's presenting them. It's like the rich young ruler. Oh, you've done all those commandments? Go sell everything you have. Give it to the poor and then follow me.

He was identifying what his idol was, and here he's addressing the unbeliever. His evil is going to cause them a problem. His evil, Assyria's evil, was poured out on all of its neighbors. This is addressing a misunderstanding of God and sin.

How many people do you know, they think that God is not going to judge them? I believe in a forgiving God. He forgives, and He does. Based on what? Repentance and faith, right? Every sin in this world must be paid for.

It's either going to be paid for by you or someone else. His name is Jesus. So this question addresses and is letting people know, look, you are sinful before God, and that's a problem for you. You deserve what I'm going to do to you.

People are going to clap. Why? Because this is justice. I mean, we see this in so many of the movies that we watch. We see when, you know, the perpetrator comes, and he's killing all these people, and all of a sudden, you know, the hero of the story comes, and he's going to give him his, right?

And you see that revenge or vengeance is taken out on the guy who was the bad guy, right? There's an internal desire for justice and to see our enemies conquered, right? And we clap. We clap in the movie theater when these things happen, right?

So people are going to recognize, Israel is going to recognize that Nineveh is finally getting what it deserved, and there will be no relief. You will get justice, and what is justice? It's fairness. God is going to be fair with you, right?

He can show you fairness, or he can show you favor. Which do you want? So I've heard people when I've lined them up to the law, oh, I want God to judge me, and you just recognize in that moment that they have no clue of who God is, and they have no clue of who they are.

They have, they're blinded to their own sin. All right, so that's this question. Anything else that you guys see in here that I may have missed or something else? Yeah, this is a summary statement of who God is.

I'm a jealous and avenging God. You've sinned. You haven't repented. Your evil fell on everyone, and now you're going to get it. Very simple synopsis. Yes, Jerry? I think at this point, same as what happened, and this is a foreshadowing of what God did with Israel in destroying their temple, okay?

At that point, they were beyond salvation. Now, I don't say that any one person in and after that could have come to Jesus. God, in his purview, could have drew them to him, right? Yes. Okay, so now let's take a look at the next question, right?

Jonah’s Question and God’s Compassion on Nineveh

Jonah, should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city where there are more than 120 ,000 persons? All right, so who is this question addressed to? Yes, Sarah? Jonah, right? Jonah, at the end, is having a conversation with God, right?

And he's mad, right? He's under the tree, and the sun scorched the tree and burnt it down, and he's got no shade, and he's mad, and he doesn't want Nineveh to hear the gospel, although they've heard it already.

He doesn't want God to have compassion on him. So God says, should I not show compassion? Should I not have compassion on Nineveh? So this is addressing Jonah and his misunderstanding of God's sin and mercy, right?

Jonah's like, they don't deserve your compassion. What did he forget? No one deserves his compassion, right? And he tells Jonah, you shouldn't, this is kind of like him saying, you should know better.

The great city where there are more than 120 ,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right hand and the left hand, right? They don't know me the way you know me. What did the Israelites get?

They got the law, the patriarchs, the prophets, the temple worship. They had all that to instruct them so that they would be a light to the Gentiles and instruct the Gentiles. They saw it as, we're God's favorite.

We're not sharing him with anybody. Why do that? He might actually like them, which is why Jonah didn't go into Nineveh, because he knew Nineveh could repent and God would use Nineveh to come in and shame Israel.

So they don't know God the way Jonah did. Jonah's probably saying to himself, God should only show favor to good people, right? How many times has that crossed your mind? How many people do you think would think like that?

God should only favor to show, only show his favor to good people, you know, like me. He should only show, you know, his favor, his love. Santa Claus, Barney, right? Like me. Or, you know, some people are too bad for God to favor.

You know, have you seen what this guy did? Not like me, right? So what happens? I become the standard by which we judge who's good and who's bad, right? You're driving on the LIE, the guy in front of you is going slow.

Look at this jerk! Then you got the guy coming up behind you. Look at this maniac! If you're going slower than me, you're a jerk. If you're going faster than me, you're a maniac. I'm the standard. See?

Don't drive around me like that. Well, God should treat people fairly. You know, that's unfair that he likes, you know, that he'll save someone bad. Except for me, you know. It's okay that, you know, I have a relationship with God.

You know, how many times have I heard this? Oh, I have a relationship with God. Oh, so that excuses you doing the things that I know you do? Well, because I have a relationship with Him. Well, if you had a relationship with Him, you would love Him and look to please Him, not sin against Him, right?

What this question is addressing is God is merciful to whomever He pleases. And guess what? We should rejoice over that. Even when the Ninevites were saved, wicked people, we should still rejoice that God is merciful and loving and saving these people, steadfast in His love for His people.

We should not be upset when someone we don't like or we see maybe in the news is somebody that really rails against everything we stand for. If God was to save a person like that, your inclination should be to rejoice that God saved that soul for all eternity.

Why? Because that just as easily could have been me, right? Nineveh is a great city. God kept calling it the great city over and over and over. And every time He said great city, it grated on Jonah's nerves.

That great city, I hate these people. But why? Why is it a great city? It's filled with image-bearers of God, right? These are people who were created in the image of God who are supposed to properly represent Him to the people around them.

Every image-bearer of God is of infinite worth and value, and we should be upset when somebody passes into eternity that didn't know the Lord, regardless of our relationship with them, right? The people who we look at on, you know, in Hollywood and all these other places that were like, oh my goodness, I can't believe this person has this view.

And you start building up this righteous anger towards them. When that person dies, that's a tragedy. They don't know the Lord. So what's happening in the midst of this question? God is revealing Himself.

He's revealing His nature. He's revealing His action and His ability to save whomever He wants. He can save whoever He wants to save. Mercy and justice are God's prerogative and His purview, and we should rejoice when someone is saved.

We should do everything in our power to share the gospel and properly represent God to them, to show them that they're going to stand before a holy and righteous God. They're going to have to give an account of themselves.

You remember in Exodus, it says, the Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but He will know by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the trilloon to the third and fourth generation.

Then the prayer is, please pardon the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have forgiven this people from Egypt until now. That was in numbers, actually.

So that should be our prayer in the midst of unbelievers, whether it be at work, whether it be at home, wherever it is, our prayer should be that God would have mercy on these people, and we need to be agents of mercy, not agents of wrath.

God's angels take care of that, not you, okay? Humanity is in no condition to judge or question God. God does what He wants. What can God do? Whatever He pleases in the heavens and on earth and beneath the earth.

So aside from this, is there any other observations that you guys have that I maybe didn't put up here? Comments? Questions? All right, let's move on. Okay, humanity, the depraved heart. I just started thinking about what the depraved heart thinks and does.

The Depraved Heart and Human Self-Deception

The cry of the depraved heart is, I'm good. How many times when we're on the street in Port Jeff or elsewhere, you know, you ask that the person the question, so if God was to say, why should I let you into heaven, what would your answer be?

Oh, I'm a good person, right? I think it's in Proverbs that says, given an opportunity, a man will proclaim his own righteousness, his own trustworthiness, right? That's the cry of the human heart. I can't be bad.

The cry of the depraved heart is also, bad people should get punished, right? We also talk to people on the streets and talk to them about Hitler and ISIS and all these other groups. Oh yeah, God should punish them, for sure.

The depraved heart craves justice but doesn't acknowledge its own guilt. That's the problem. It's easy to see that someone else should be punished for their sin. It's not so easy to see that we should be punished for our own sin.

For some reason, we insulate ourselves from that. We think, oh, that's for them, not me. Me. Depraved hearts elevate themselves and degrade others, right? You've seen me do this before. You, me. You, me.

You're always trying to do something to push someone else down and really you don't have to be good enough yourself, right? Let's say you're wicked. If you could just make the other person look more wicked, that elevates you.

Well, I'm not as wicked as him. I'm up a step. The problem is, Jesus is infinitely good and you're infinitely wicked, right? You're not gonna be measured against another guy, another woman. You're gonna be measured against the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, who's sinless, spotless, son of God, son of man, right?

Depraved hearts quickly recognize sin in others but not in themselves. Like Brother John says, I hate it when you commit my sins, right? When you see somebody else commit the sins that you usually get, you don't like it.

But then you look at yourself and you're like, oh my goodness, I do the same thing. Hopefully you say that, right? Depraved hearts gloat over people's failure while excusing their own sin. Like I'm thinking, a lot of people came down hard on Matt Chandler and Matt Chandler is a pastor in Texas and based on the office he's in, he needs to be above reproach.

He had a mishap and is being dealt with because of it. But I can't tell you how many people online were like happy. Oh, he's gonna get what he deserves. Is this how a brother, you're gonna treat a brother in Christ who's done incredible things for the kingdom of God?

Who is in the crosshairs of the enemy? Like the enemy would love to pick this guy off. Our job is to pray for him, to help restore him. I mean, we don't know the details of the whole situation, but we need to be in prayer for guys like that.

We need to be in prayer for each other, recognizing that the devil prowls around like a lion, right? Waiting to devour somebody. Our goal, our intention should be to see our brothers and sisters restored, not condemned.

The prayer talks thinks they deserve heaven for their good behavior. Look at all the good things I've done. You know, I'm a good dad, I'm a good husband. I often tell people, you're supposed to be a good dad, you're supposed to be a good husband.

That's like stopping at every stop sign. Hey, I stopped at every stop sign. You know, you stop at 20, they send you a coupon, you can pass the next two for nothing. Like you're supposed to stop at the stop sign.

You don't get a reward for that. The prayer talks think others deserve punishment, hell, for their behavior, right? So quick, we look at somebody in judgment, oh, that guy's going to hell. How dare, how dare we say something like that, not recognizing our own weak condition.

Now, may they go to hell? Yes, they might, and it's our job to warn people that outside of Christ, you're going to have an issue. But it's not our job to condemn them to hell. Only God, only the judge does that.

We do not judge that. God judges that. Our job is to come alongside them like a physician and present them the cure. The prayer talks hearts think heaven's a place for people who've done good, right? I was at a funeral once and the priest said, heaven is a place where good people go to continue doing good things.

And I'm like, you just have no clue, no clue of the gospel, no clue of heaven, no clue of who God is. Again, these two questions are designed to show you the nature of God and the nature of man. The prayer talks think God would never send them to hell.

Oh no, God's a forgiving God, and I have a relationship with him. How could he send me to hell? Deceived. The prayer talks think, the prayer talks think God should send sinners, bad people, to hell. Again, they're right, but they don't recognize their own badness, their own wickedness.

The prayer talks misunderstand the cross of Jesus Christ. This is what it comes down to. They do not understand wrath is going to be poured out on them. But for Jesus and God's wrath being poured out on him and absorbed by him, God's wrath will be poured out on you.

You need a Savior. The prayer talks think they're not sinners. The prayer talks are self-deceived. All right, this all points to the depravity of man's heart. And Ligonier just did a survey, and you know what 65 of evangelicals said?

It is unsurprising that most US adults believe that humans are born innocent, given the influence of humanistic philosophies and worldviews that teach self-determinism and a view of mankind as basically good.

Statement number 15, everyone is born innocent in the eyes of God. 65 of evangelicals agree with that statement. That's the church. The church is saying you're born good. That's why it's up to us as a church to teach them differently.

We're born in sin, right? We need to be rescued out of that condition. So said. So these two questions, for on whom has not your evil past continually, and should I not have compassion on that great Nineveh, that great city?

They address the most basic misunderstanding of mankind about their own condition and their misunderstanding about the God of the Bible. To Assyria, you think your actions are beyond my justice? They're not.

You think you can murder and mutilate image-bearers of God? You can't. You think I don't know every single thing you've done? I do. You think you can get away with what you've done? You won't. You think sinful, earthly conquest warrants heavenly rewards?

It doesn't. You think that your strength can compare to mine? It won't. Ask yourself these questions. Do any of these apply to you? Do you think that your actions are beyond God's justice? Do you think that your love for the things of the world is going to be okay because you have a relationship with God?

This is what Romans, this is what Paul says, and since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetedness, malice.

They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

Though they knew God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. That's the resume of humanity. So Jonah, you think the Ninevites are too bad to save?

Why? Oh, you're so much better than them? You think that you're better than someone else? You think that your behavior, your behavior warrants my blessing? Oh, you've done so good that I shall reward you with heaven?

You think your behavior doesn't warrant my justice? You think they are inferior to you? Oh, they're not like me. You know, I'm the standard. You think that I think more of you than of me and my glory?

Ask yourself those questions. Do you think that you're better than unbelievers? Do you think that unbelievers are inferior to you? Do you think God thinks more of you than of his own glory? Here's how Paul would counter that.

Therefore, you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another, you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice things, those things.

Do you suppose, O man, you who judge those who practice such things, and yet do them yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

Now Paul was addressing the Jews, okay, who had the law, and he contrasted them with the Gentiles, who don't have the law on tablets, but have it written on their heart, where the Jews would condemn the Gentiles, the Goyim, for their sin, yet not recognizing their own.

Here he's addressing the Jews, and he's addressing all those who think that they're better than other people. What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means, for he says to Moses, I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

So then, it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy. Thank you, Lord, that my horrendous behavior doesn't exclude me from the kingdom of God because of Jesus. It's a grace walk.

What does he say to Micah? He has told you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God. Never gloat, never be arrogant towards unbelievers.

Those are image bearers of God, and in God's purview, if he chooses to save them and use you as the vessel to bring them the message, praise God. You're not in a position to condemn them, all right? You can warn them that their behavior will be judged by God, a righteous and holy judge, but you cannot condemn them.

That's God's purview. The gospel for the unbeliever. The Lord diagnoses the illness, and the gospel presents the cure. Acknowledge your rebellion, your sin, and its harm to yourself and others. Turn from it.

Trust, rely, depend on Jesus as the payment for your sins. That is the only way of escape, right? The Lord knows those who are His, and those who take refuge in Him. God wants you to take refuge in Jesus for your sins.

The gospel for the believer. You are more sinful and wicked than you could ever dare imagine, but you are more loved and accepted than you could ever dare hope at the same time. Just because God has saved you doesn't mean your behavior is a hundred percent righteous.