I reckon most folks want to go to
heaven when they die, even though they're runnin'
in herds to hell.
That Broadway that the world runs on is
very accommodating to herds.
In fact, there are all kinds of herds
runnin' on that road at this very moment,
runnin' and kickin' up dust while they're raisin'
hell.
Most folks are in a mad rush to
make a name for themselves, grab as much
money as they can for themselves, and gratify
themselves as much as they can with this
world, and then go on to hell when
they are done.
The title of my message today, friends, is,
Runnin' in Herds to Hell, and my text
can be found in Matthew's Gospel, in Chapter
8.
You can turn in your Bibles there now,
friends.
We will be in verses 28 through 32.
Let me read us a striking passage of
Scripture at this time.
And when he was come to the other
side, into the country of the Jerusalems, there
met him to possess with devils, coming out
of the tombs, exceeding fear, so that no
man might pass that way.
Let me pause here, friends, to say, I
believe that's true, because I've seen it for
myself.
At Bridge Street Cemetery, in Northampton, Massachusetts, there
lives a demon spirit among the tombs.
I have been to the grave of David
Brainerd numerous times throughout the years, and every
time I visit that cemetery, I encounter the
same demon spirit.
It is a laughing spirit, a mocking spirit,
about a hundred yards behind Brainerd's grave.
The first time I heard it, I walked
over to the sound of it, and nothing
was there.
When I walked away, it began laughing once
more.
No matter what time of year, year after
year, I encountered that bodiless demon among those
ancient tombs.
I told a fellow evangelist about it before
we traveled there together, and at first he
was skeptical, but when he heard that same
eerie voice himself, he wanted out of that
cemetery as fast as he could.
So here in our text we have two
possessed with devils among the tombs, and Jesus
confronts them.
And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have
we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son
of God?
Art thou come hither to torment us before
the time?
Let me pause here again, friends, to say,
that the devils know where they are heading,
and that a future judgment awaits them, if
only we could convince men of the same.
And there was a good way off from
them, a herd of many swine feeding.
So the devils besought him, saying, If thou
cast us out, suffer us to go away
into the herd of swine.
And he said unto them, Go.
And when they were come out, they went
into the herd of swine, and, behold, the
whole herd of swine ran violently down a
steep place into the sea, and perished in
the waters.
I will stop there.
What a terrible picture of lost humanity this
is—men and women, and boys and girls, running
in herds, crawling over each other's back in
a mad rush to destruction and perdition.
There are several herds running to hell right
now, friends.
I'm going to list six of them today,
which run along the road to hell.
Number one.
There is the herd of unbelief.
People in this herd don't believe in God,
and they don't believe in hell.
They are filled with atheism and unbelief, and
the herd they run in runs down a
steep cliff, just like those pigs in the
water that ran to their destruction.
Number two.
There is the herd of self-pleasure.
People in this herd are into self-gratification,
and it doesn't make a hill of beans
difference if they are outside the church or
in it as the chairman of the deacons.
Self is king in their lives, and self
must have its way.
This herd of self-pleasure will run over
anyone who gets in its way.
The crowd of men outside the door of
Lot and Sodom represents this crowd today, filled
with lust, and blind to God, and determined
to have its way.
Number three.
There is the herd of religion.
Whether you are a Buddhist, or a Muslim,
or a Mormon, or some other religion, people
in this herd wrap themselves in the garments
of their religion, and feel they are immune
to suffering in a place called hell, because
they are religious.
All the world religions run in this herd.
That is jam-packed on its way to
hell.
Number four.
There is a herd of ignorance.
People running in this herd are ignorant of
their danger, of downing their sins.
They are ignorant of a future judgment that
awaits all mankind, and they are ignorant of
the strictness and severity of the law of
God by which they will be judged.
They run along in blind ignorance together, like
those herd of swine dashing down that steep
cliff to be drowned in the sea.
These are people consumed with their careers or
business, focused on the accumulation of this world's
goods.
They are like the rich man in the
parable of building bigger barns to store his
vast goods, who was rich in the things
of this world, but not rich toward God.
This herd will dine their ignorance to spiritual
truths and to the reality of eternity.
Number five.
There is a herd of prestige.
People running in this herd seek a name
for themselves.
They seek the honor of men.
They want to leave their mark on this
world when they are gone out of it,
and leaving their mark is the symbol of
their prestige.
I used to run in a herd of
the country club set, which was comprised of
many society blue bloods, who were consumed with
the opinions of others toward them.
Their family name meant everything to them, as
they came from a long line of blue
bloods.
Listen to me, friends.
There's nothing wrong with being a blue blood,
so long as you get under the blood
of the slain lamb.
The Lord Jesus Christ.
But to run in a herd only, to
be part of that envied herd, is certain
destruction and a devil's hell.
Lastly, number six.
There is the herd of the holy huddle.
The Pharisees and the scribes ran in this
herd in third day.
The self-righteous people who run in this
herd run inside the doors of a church.
They serve on deacon committees, sing in the
choir, teach Sunday school, or do something in
some other capacity.
The folks in this herd have been baptized,
and they've joined the church, believing that church
membership is salvation.
Somewhere down the road, they made a profession
of faith and decided to become a Christian.
They look good on the outside, but they
have merely reformed themselves enough to pass muster
at church on Sunday.
The folks that run in this herd maintain
a good opinion of themselves, but they have
never experienced change from a work of grace
that God performs on the heart in regeneration.
Although they are baptized individuals, and they run
in a holy herd at church with their
church friends, they are not born from above
nor washed in the blood.
This herd comprises a good majority of our
church membership today.
Although each of these six herds differ somewhat
from the others, they still kick up the
dust and comprise one larger herd running to
hell.
Let me ask you, friend, what herd do
you run in?
Let us pray.