God threatens to punish all those who transgress these commandments; we should therefore dread His displeasure and not act contrarily to these commandments. But He promises grace and every blessing to all who keep them; we should therefore love and trust in him, and cheerfully do what he has commanded us.
A JEALOUS GOD. God claims our highest love, and is grieved and offended if we turn our affections away from Him and disobey His law. He will punish or bless men according as they hate or love Him: [Rom. 2:6-10, Deut. 11:26-28, Gal. 6:7-8] "to the third and fourth generation of them that hate him," and "unto thousands of them that love Him and keep His commandments."
I. PUNISHMENT.
GOD THREATENS TO PUNISH
1. Whom? ALL THOSE WHO TRANSGRESS THESE COMMANDMENTS [Rom: 1:18+, Lev 26:14-15, Isa 59:2, Ezek. 18:4+, Rom. 6:23+] by commission, (doing what is forbidden) or omission (not doing what is commanded), whether it be transgression by deed or word or thought. Every transgression, great or small, is sin, and makes men guilty and punishable. [Gal. 3:10]
2. Why? Because justice demands it. [Gal. 6:7+] God cannot be unjust. He cannot overlook or excuse sin. [Eccl. 11:9] Earthly governments must and do punish offenders, or they would be unjust to those persons who obey the law. A law without a penalty would amount to nothing. God, who governs the universe, is and must be just. [Gen. 18:25+]
3. How?
In this World God punishes sin by Pangs of Conscience; [Matt. 26:75, Matt. 27:3-4] Pains and Sufferings which are the results of wrong-doing, [Jer. 17:10] e.g., the results of drunkenness and licentiousness; Legal Penalties which the State, as God's servant to punish crime, inflicts by fines, imprisonment and hanging; [Rom. 13:4] Special Judgments upon individuals [1 Cor. 10:5] in the form of sickness, accidents and reverses, though we must remember that afflictions are not always a judgment, but are often sent upon the godly as a chastening; [Heb. 12:6+] General Judgments upon wicked communities, such as that which God sent upon Sodom and Gomorrah. [Gen. 19:24]
Children are often obliged to suffer for the sins of their parents. [Jer. 31:29] If the children also are wicked, their sufferings are a punishment; [Ezek. 18:20, Prov. 3:12, Rom. 8:28] if they are godly, their sufferings are a chastening.