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  A SACRIFICIAL HEAD
  by Selwyn Hughes
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Summary: The sermon emphasizes the importance of sacrificial love as the
highest law of life, demonstrated through the cross of Calvary, which
reveals God's character and nature.

Topics: "Sacrificial Love", "Self Denial"
Scripture References: Luke 9:24, John 12:24, John 15:13, Philippians 2:3, 1 John 3:16

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DESCRIPTION
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Selwyn Hughes preaches on the principle of self-sacrifice and losing
one's life for the sake of Christ, emphasizing that true life and
purpose are found in surrendering to God's will and serving others
selflessly. He illustrates this with examples of a seed that must die to
produce a harvest and a mother's sacrificial love for her child. Hughes
highlights that sacrificial love is the most beautiful and elevating
aspect of life, reflecting God's sacrificial nature seen in Jesus' death
on the cross.

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CONTENT
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"For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his
life for me will save it." (v. 24)

For reading & meditation:

Luke 9:18-27

Suppose a tiny seed had a will of its own and decided to save itself by
refusing to be buried. It would abide alone. It would save itself but
would not save others. When it decided to be buried and die, then the
result would be a golden harvest. Take a mother: she goes down into the
valley of the shadow of death to bring a child into the world. When the
child becomes ill, a loving mother forgets herself and spends her
strength to give everything she has to the child. The spirit of self-
giving is the most beautiful thing in life. Through it life rises to the
highest level. "The extent of the elevation of an animal and of course
any free moral agent," said Pascal, the great French Christian and
philosopher, "can be infallibly measured"by the degree to which
sacrificial love for others controls that being." Here is a law by which
life may be evaluated and judged. When the sacrificial spirit is absent
from life, that life is of the lowest kind; where it is perfectly
embodied, that life is highest on the scale of being. Is this law to be
found in God also? I believe it is. If this law holds true on earth but
is reversed in relation to God, then laws are meaningless and the
universe is without a Head. Then the highest in mankind would be better
than God. But such is not the case. God is not a disappointment. The
cross shouts out to all who will hear that the universe has a
sacrificial Head.

O Father, how could I know that there is an unseen cross lying in Your
heart unless You had shown me by the outer cross raised up on Calvary?
Such revelation is almost too much for me to comprehend. Yet it is true.
My gratitude will just not go into words. Amen.

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Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/selwyn-hughes/a-sacrificial-head/
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