"If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will happen to the ungodly and the sinner?"
Christians in any age would do well to ponder the warning here. If sin is so disgusting, so bad, that God even disciplines His own to purify them, how much more severe will be His punishment of the wicked and those who just do not obey the gospel (Proverbs 11:31). The primary reference here is to the impending trial that was about to come upon them, but certainly there is a wide application for all ages of time.