There probably never was a time in the history of the world when men were more averse than they now are to all authority. Anarchists accept no government, so that they may do as they please. Children rebel against parental rule. Schoolmasters must not lift the hand against a vicious pupil, and law and order are flouted on every hand.
In the same way, it is permissible for God to send His rain upon the earth to bless man. He may shower upon him all manner of good; He is permitted to provide a lovely heaven at last to receive him into when he has wasted his life here in sin! But God must not speak of judgment; He must not think of His own holiness, nor of that eternal justice which marks all His doings. Above all, He must not speak of the fire that is not quenched, nor of the worm that never dies. Rebellious man prohibits God's authority.
Reader, you will find plenty of men nowadays who profess to speak for God who will talk to you in that way. If you would be deceived, just listen to them. Try to comfort yourself with the comfort of fools. You might as well hearken to one who preaches that robbing and killing your neighbor will have no bad end: you would find yourself just as certainly in the hands of justice, condemned and executed as a criminal. The judge would not listen to the nonsense to which you have listened. He is the minister of justice, and justice will have its course.
It is definitely asserted in Scripture that God is just. He is no respecter of persons. Nor will He ask you, or any man, in the day when He judges, what is the proper measure of penalty which is to be inflicted. He has said it; and depend upon it, He will not change it: "These shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal." Men may twist and turn to get away from it and dismiss it from their minds; but there it stands, and none but fools will try to run against the just decrees of the God of heaven.
Reader, God gave the Son of His love to atone for sin by the death of the cross. Could that mean that the consequences of sin are a small matter with God? They may appear inconsequential to you; but be assured that when you meet God face to face, you and your thoughts will not prevail.
Believe God now as to the punishment which awaits sinners. Turn to the Savior for deliverance from it, while it is still the day of grace. That very death of Christ, which proves the awful consequences and end of sin, is also what removes its penalty from every repentant and believing sinner.