Who are you? If you were asked to describe who you are today,
how would you describe yourself. Would it be with your mom and
dad, your job, your church, your school, your husband or wife,
or what would it be? 

	There has been much discussion by  psychologists and
psychiatrists about identity, and the bearing that is has on
mental health. In one text on behavioral disorders, the
following statement is made:

	"Our grandparents had less trouble than we do in finding
themselves. There were lost souls, to be sure, but no lost
generation. More commonly then than now a young man followed his
father, in character as in vocation' and often so naturally as
to be unaware  of having made a choice. Sooner rather than later
one found his calling; and and, having found it, failure did not
readily cause one to reconsider, but often was a goad to greater
efforts.

"Many of us still remember the bearded old men; the country
doctor, the circuit rider, the blacksmith, the farmer. They were
old when we were young and they are dead now. We remember the
high shoes, the heavy watch chain, the chewing tobacco, the
shiny black suit on Sunday, The costume and make-up may still be
seen, as they turn up in plays now and then. The character that
went with them is disappearing, and soon even its memory will be
lost.

"Now days the sense of self is deficient, The questions of
adolescence.  Who am I, Where am I going? What is the meaning of
life? -- receive no final answers. Nor can they be laid aside.
The Uncertainty persists.

"Identity is a coherent sense of self. I depends upon awareness
of one's self. It depend, upon stable values. It is a sense of
wholeness, of integrator, of knowing what is right and what is
wrong, and of being able to choose.

"Identity can survive major conflict provided the supporting
structure of life is stable, but when the framework is lost
there is nothing to back up on. One cannot exert leverage except
from a fixed point. Putting ones shoulder against the wheel 
presupposes a patch of solid ground to stand on. Many persons
today can find no firm footing; and if everything is open to
question, no question can be answered. The past. half century
has encompassed enormous gains in understanding and in mastery,
but many of the old fixed points of reference have been lost,
and have not been replaced."

	Well. That says quite a bit, doesn't it? I believe that this
book points out quite well the problems that many are having in
their life.  I suppose that every person who has lived on the
earth since the fall has had some kind  of an identity crisis at
some time in their life, that is every one except our Savior.

	There are many examples in scripture of people who could not
get their identity straightened out correctly. Probably one of
the best known was Solomon, who had  knowledge, but only
achieved wisdom later in life. In his search for identity, as he
later records in Ecclesiastes 1:12-14, he says "I applied myself
to search for understanding about everything in the universe. I
discovered that the lot of man, which God has deft to him, is
not a happy one. It is foolishness, chasing the wind."

But the thing upon which I want to focus today is a story of a
crisis in identity which was extreme, one in which a person was
held captive. And this story is found three places in the
gospels: Matthew 8, Luke 5, and Luke 8. 

I like to think that it was early morning. The wind was still,
and the boat was rocking slightly as it neared the shore. It had
been a very exciting day and night. For yesterday, Christ spoke
in parables to a huge crowd of people. The disciples had been
elated at the popular support that their teacher had been
receiving. Surely soon he would have enough popularity to return
the kingdom to the control of the Jews. That night their fatigue
at the excitement of the days events was translated into
overpowering fear when a storm suddenly

arise and seemed to be destined to send them to the bottom of
the lake. When Christ stilled the storm, the disciples were once
more elated at this leader who could control the weather. But
the greatest event of all is yet to come.

As the boat comes closer to the shore, a lonely ragged figure
has taken note and is making his way down through the tomb
stones and the rocks to the shore. There is something peculiar
about this man, for he is wearing nothing, that is nothing
except the  remnants of the shackles which had been used in an
unsuccessful attempt to bind him down. His long matted beard is
spotted with spittle. His dark hair has the semblance to some
kind of a disorganized bird's nest, for it is full of grass,
seeds, and sticks. His eyes have a strange, wild, unhealthy
appearance. His body is covered with cuts and scratches, some of
them fresh, and still oozing blood.

As the little party reaches the shore, and recognize their
apparent danger it vaporizes, the disciples hastily making their
way back to the little boat. As they turn to find the Savior,
they spot him just in time to see the demoniac charge the last
few feet up to Him, and throw himself down at his feet shouting,
"What do you want with me, Jesus, son of God Most High? Please,
I beg you, oh don't torment me.."

The scriptures indicate that at the same time that this was
taking place that Jesus was commanding the evil spirits to leave
the man. What is your name? Christ demands of the evil spirits
that were inhabiting this man.

Legion, for we are many, came the reply. But do not send us to
the Bottomless pit. You have no right to torment us yet. Let us
go into that herd of pigs  that are rooting in the hill side
over there. 

Jesus gives the demons permission to go over and invade the
hogs. When they do, the hogs behave no better than the man who
had been possessed by those same demons, and squealing, as only
a tormented hog can squeal, they rush head-long into the waters
of the lake.  The keepers of the hogs ran to the villages where
owners of the hogs lived.  The news spread like wildfire. The
hogs were gone, the evil spirits chased the into the lake. Soon
a crowd  pushed their way to the lake from all directions, to
see this man who had wrecked their herd of swine.  They were
also interested in seeing if the man who they had feared for so
long was really safe to be around now. This man who was so
terrifying that they had avoided the graveyard. This man who was
so ferocious that they only traveled past his known habitat in
group to avoid being maimed. This man who had broken the chains
that they had tried to bind him with. This man who was sitting
at the feet of the master in grateful adoration, perfectly sane,
and clothed.  

This is very frightening to them. Like we sometimes become, they
were used to seeing that which was unwholesome and unclean, that
when they they were confronted with purity they were
uncomfortable.

	Besides that they were frightened, and not a little upset, at
having lost those hogs.  All the while the herdsmen loudly and
importantly retelling the story again and again, and the crowd
pleads with Jesus to leave that area and leave them alone.

Christ, never being one to force himself upon another, began to
wade back out to the boat. The once crazed man clings to the
robe of Jesus. Please let me go with you,  he pleads. Let me go
along and get to know you better'

No," Jesus replies. Go home to your friends and tell them what
wonderful things God has done for you, and how merciful he has
been."

The Gospel of Luke records that "He went through the countryside
telling everyone about Jesus' great miracle. 

Now, you may ask, what does this story have to do with identity?
Well, since you asked, let us look at the story a bit at a time.

Turn with me in your Bibles to Mark 5. Verse 2. And when he was
come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs
a man with an unclean spirit. 

Note that because of the evil spirit within this man, that he
identified with the dead. He made his home among the rotting
flesh of lifeless humanity. For all practical purposes he was
dead, for the God-given reason which he was created with had
been squelched by the power of Satan's angels. That kind of
makes m have second thought about groups who claim to be singing
and have such names as grateful dead. Oh, I know, you don't
listen to those groups, but do you associate willingly with
death in other respects' The scripture tells us that the wages
of sin is death, that the soul. that sins will die.

We go on to read that this man could not be bound with chains.
At least not chains of iron. But he was chained with chains
within that he could not break. And we wander today if people
are still possessed by the evil angels.

	We don't see a lot of them running around naked, cutting
themselves with bits of broken glass, but we to see them in
mental institutions. Instead of seeking to free those purchased
of the Lord, we attempt to also physically restrain them. And in
our lives if we will not let the savior come in and tear the
chains apart that bind us in our hearts, we will before long be
bound in an everlasting death. 

	Next we read that night and day he restlessly wandered in the
wilderness: and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with
rocks. Each person who is bound with the chains of sin is
wandering in the wilderness, aimlessly, without purpose between
death and desolation. And many of these are crying, begging,
pleading for someone to show them the way out.

I don't know what it was that made this man recognize Christ. I
don't know why the demons even let him come to the savior, but
in his deep desire to be free of this plague that was ruining
his mind and body, he made his way to Jesus. He wasn't even able
to address him properly. Instead of pleading, he practically
cursed the one, the only one that could sane him. But Jesus
recognized the real need of this man, just as he knows what we
need even before we ask.

	Then Jesus commanded those demons to leave and give up the
possession of the man. The evil spirits, knowing who Jesus was,
begged for mercy from him. Don't send us back to the Bottomless
pit. You cannot torment us yet.

	This tells us that perhaps the demons have read scripture, and
realize that their time is coming, a time will come when they
will be tormented by good. A time when they will be destroyed.
That has got to be a fearful life. And in this story one can
almost pity these evil spirits, for they indeed are existing
hopelessly. And perhaps Christ also felt this way, for at one
time these had been his angels, and they were the work of his
hand. It must have pained him to see the level to which they had
sunk. So he allows them the option of going into the hogs. And
and when the swine become possess by these demons, they run into
the lake and drown.

When the villagers return, they find a sane man listening to the
master. How many times today do we scoff or snicker when someone
is sitting at the feet of the master? How many times have we
dismissed such a person as a fanatic, or as even a little bit
off? Who is regarded as a little nuts even in our church than
someone who is completely wrapped up in the savior? And how many
times are our pigs more important to us than the souls of
despairing mankind? Would that we all were sitting at the feet
of Jesus, freed from the devils which trouble our life. Its
enough to make the world afraid. It is enough to cause
persecution and ridicule. Its enough to.....

Well, lets see what it is enough to do. Jesus is preparing to
leave. The man wants to follow. It is the most natural thing in
the world to want be with one who has saved you from hell. Its
the most natural thing to want to be with the one who created
and recreated you., and who loves you. Perhaps the man was even
feeling a little bit of apprehension at being left alone, and
felt that around Jesus ~e would ever be safe from the inhabiting
imps of the

devil.

	But the Savior says no. Stay here and work with your people.
These are people who can only be reached by you. I came here,
and before they knew what it I was all about they asked me to
leave. But there are good people here. there are people  who
need to know of the freedom of the Gospel. There are  more who
are possessed by the evil one who need to know freedom, and you
are the only one that can tell them. Tell the people what I have
done for you, and how I had compassion on you. Tell them of
these great things.

As we have already noted, this is exactly what the man did. No
longer did he have an identity crisis. No longer was his
personality obscured by Satan's hosts. He was free. And the
change was so great that all those who had known of this man
before were amazed and had to admit that something real had
happened in his lite. Before he didn't even know who he was. But
now he knew Whose he was and it made all the difference in the
world.

I would also like for you to note that this man was one of the
first Christian traveling evangelists. And like Jonah the
prophet centuries before, he had a simple message. It was not a
complicated formula which told how to reach the kingdom. He
merely repeated the experience that the had with Christ. Can you
imagine what this man could have possibly said besides that? For
only a few hours was he able to sit at the feet of the master.
For only a few precious minutes. There he found his identity.
Turn with Me to Mark 6:53-56  cf Gospel and end time.

Let me read another thought from the book that I opened with. 

"A firm sense of identity provides both a compass to determine
one's course in life and ballast to keep one steady."

This world is adrift.  (Talking with a young man the other day--
 no hope)  Even the church is side-tracked from her mission. We
need an identity. And that identity is found at the feet of the
master. We need an identity, and that identity is found in
telling others of what we know from our own experience with
Christ.  We need an identity that provides us with a message and
a driving desire to let everyone know of the one who has done so
much for us.

We see something happening through out the world now. We see it
in Islam. Having been bombarded by change and modernization for
nearly a century, they revolted in some areas and went back to
what had served them as the basis of their identity for
centuries.

We have seen it in Great Britain, where the government under
Margaret Thatcher went through a phase of trying to undo what
had been created by a generation of free thinkers. In the United
States, many are calling the nation to turn to the old values
once again.  The same is happening here among some in Canada

In the Seventh-day Adventist church we see some people turning
to the old values to seek a source for identity.

In a way this is good and in a way it is disastrous.. For the
old way did provide stability for economies. It did provide
cohesion for nations. And it did serve to bind people together
in denominations.

But today, if we in the SDA church seek identity merely in
traditional Adventism, we are seeking for it in the wrong place.
If we seek for identity in the so-called neo-orthodox Adventism,
we are looking for it in the wrong place. If we are looking for
identity by any other method than sitting at the feet of the
master, the Savior, the King, then we are setting up a false
identity. That is why I like to hear people say that they are
Christian Seventh-day Adventists. For if this church has not the
message of Christ to preach it has no message. If this church
cannot show the world that an experience with Christ changes you
completely, not just what you eat and when you go to church, but
completely, then it has no message for a world which has lost
all sense of direction. 

Our message is not that we have a prophet. Our message is to
uphold the hands of that messenger of God  when she proclaims
that God is love, and that he is ready to set us free from sin.
Our message is not that we go to church on Saturday, but rather
that God set aside this day specially so that we might grow
closer to him, that we might identify with our heritage right
back to when the Lord began this human race with a ball of mud.
That's why it is important to us.

In closing, lets get personal. What is your source of identity?
Again I ask, Who are you?   Are you a engineer, a student, a
secretary, a wife or husband. Or are you a Christian. Are you a
SDA? Examine how you really feel about yourself. Go home today
and make a list of things that describe yourself.  Put them in
order of their real importance in your life. Then check that
list against your performance. If you are a Christian, how much
time do you spend at the feet of the master? If you are a
student, how much time do you spend

with your books. If you are a mother of father, how much time do
you spend in that capacity with your children? Think about it
carefully. Does your identity include plans for the future, if
so what are you doing to further those plans. If you are a
child, how are you filling that responsibility? 

	And when you have done this do some reading- out of the 7th
through the 10th chapters in Steps to Christ. If anyone does not
have one, see me or one of the elders after church.

  	 Close  312  Near the Cross