Sermons to the Natural Man

"Sermons to the Natural Man" by William G. T. Shedd is a set of late 19th-century speeches about religion that look at what it means to be human through the Bible, especially focusing on how sin affects us and why we need kindness to be saved. Shedd wants to show how people naturally lean toward doing wrong and why it's so important to understand our own mistakes before we can truly understand God's forgiveness and salvation. The book starts with a serious introduction where Shedd talks about how important these speeches are, saying that people urgently need to realize they are sinful and what that means for them. He believes that before talking about being saved, we have to figure out what's wrong with our hearts, reminding people of old religious ideas about sin and rules. He uses Bible stories, like the Sermon on the Mount, to show how important it is to take responsibility for ourselves and know when we're doing wrong, setting up the rest of the speeches to explore different parts of being human in relation to God's laws and decisions, and to help readers honestly look at their own spiritual condition.