The Gospel For Those Broken By The Church
NRP has made an agreement with South Orange County Outreach (SOCO) and we are thrilled to be able to offer you Dr. Rosenbladt’s presentation The Gospel For Those Broken By The Church absolutely free!
As Faith Lutheran Church in Capistrano Beach, California prepares to provide an HD video of Dr. Rosenbladt re-delivering his seminal work, we have tied in with their efforts and are likewise making our materials from this presentation free to everyone.
You may download the MP3 and the PDFs and share them in any way you see fit, without restriction. We invite you to post the audio or text, or portions thereof, on your blog or website as you see necessary. (Please note: modifications to this material in any way are strictly prohibited.)
We would only ask that you provide a link to the New Reformation Press website if you are going to quote and/or make available for download or to listen to this presentation on a website. If you can include our website on any printed material, we would appreciate that as well.
If you have ever purchased either the MP3 or the PDF version of The Gospel For Those Broken By The Church, we would also like to offer you a coupon for store credit for your next purchase here at NRP. Please contact us with your order number and we will set it up for you.
We are also including commentary on this page and we invite you to leave your comments about this presentation whatever they may be. We will let the comments on this page remain here and build over time.
If you are new to this presentation, we will include the original product description below. We hope you enjoy it!
This MP3 of the recording of Dr. Rosenbladt’s presentation is tailor-made for all those folks who are “mad” at and “sad” about Christianity BECAUSE they have been “baited and switched” by the church.
If the Ten Commandments were not impossible enough, the preaching of Christian behavior, of Christian ethics, of Christian living, can drive a Christian into despairing unbelief. Not happy unbelief. Tragic, despairing, sad unbelief. (It is not unlike the [unhappy] Christian equivalent of “Jack Mormons” – those who finally admit to themselves and others that they can’t live up to the demands of this non-Christian cult’s laws, and excuse themselves from the whole sheebang.) A diet of this stuff from pulpit, from curriculum, from a Christian reading list, can do a work on a Christian that is (at least over the long haul) “faith destroying.”
In this staggeringly potent presentation, Dr. Rosenbladt tackles what plagues many ‘recovering Christians’. Sticking to his unchanging theme of 200-proof Gospel, using his own history as an agnostic “outsider” to Christianity, Dr. Rosenbladt delivers the grace of the cross with all its potency, undiluted.
If you’ve struggled with your faith in your church because of what you’re seeing and hearing (and maybe don’t even go to church anymore), you don’t want to miss this powerful address – an unabashed analysis of the church today and what it is doing to many believers – from one who has experienced it himself.
Are we Christians saved the same way we were when we were baptized into Christ, or when we came to acknowledge Christ’s shed blood and His righteousness as all we had in the face of God’s holy law? That all of our supposed “virtue” – Christian or pagan – is just like so many old menstrual garments (to use the Bible phrase)? But that God imputes to those who trust Christ’s cross the true righteousness of Christ Himself? We are pretty sure that unbelievers who come to believe this are instantly justified in God’s sight, declared as if innocent, adopted as sons or daughters, forgiven of all sin, given eternal life, etc. But are Christians still saved that freely? Or are we not? We are pretty clear that imputed righteousness saves sinners. But can the imputed righteousness of Christ save a Christian? And can it save him or her all by itself? Or no?
For all of you who have been given morality lessons instead of the Gospel, hear how Dr. Rod Rosenbladt succinctly presents Christianity as first and foremost a genuine truth claim about Christ as our righteous substitute, instead of a never ending list of popular religious recipes for personal success.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
(We will link to the new video when Faith Lutheran Church has made it available online. It should be available in the fall or winter of 2010.)
Download the PDF formatted for a regular sheet of paper.
Download the PDF formatted for a booklet.
Thank you for making these available to a wider audience. Will the video also be published for free?
Yes, it will also be available for free, through Faith Lutheran Church. We will announce and link to it when it is released. Expect it this coming fall or winter.
[...] Reformation Press – The Gospel For Those Broken By The Church – The guys over at the New Reformation Press are giving away mp3 downloads of Dr. Rod [...]
Many thanks for the offer of The Gospel for Those Broken by The Church.
Unfortunately, I am unable to download it from your site and Monergism.
Any idea why?
Again, thanks.
Dan,
Sorry you’re having trouble! We’ve linked directly to the MP3 file itself (Monergism is using the same link directly to our servers as well), so I’m not sure what the problem could be. If you’re using a Windows computer, have you tried right-clicking and trying to save the link as a file on your computer? On a Mac, I believe it’s option-click to get this menu.
That would be my first thought. I’ll leave this comment up for the moment, but why don’t you email us if you continue to have trouble and I’ll discuss it with you there. Thanks!
wittenberg -at- newreformationpress dot com
Awesome recording!
It should be subtitled “A Primer for anyone dealing with someone broken by the church”.
It is just as good for believers helping others on this journey!
Thanks for making it available for free!
by the way, you may keep the $3.45 that I spent for the original download.
It is worth many times that!!!
Thanks, Jim. We agree. I can’t tell you how thrilled we are to be able to get it out there for free. Of all the things we’ve been making available, for sale or for free, this one is standing out as a ‘don’t miss’ for so many.
Oh, and for anyone who is worried that at some point this presentation will be something for which we once again charge, don’t worry. We don’t go backwards. When we’ve cut the price on something, we try to make sure it’s a permanent move. We will never charge for this presentation again. (This wasn’t in response to your comment, Jim, but to another one I’ve seen.)
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Lisa Stapp, Michael Scolare. Michael Scolare said: For my friends who won't be in church tomorrow for one reason or another, read the pdf or listen to the audio http://tinyurl.com/3xdayhs [...]
[...] this nice little summary list of scripture verses in a great essay by Rod Rosenbladt called "The Gospel for Those Broken by the Church". • “Be of good cheer, my son. Your sins are forgiven.” • “The [...]
[...] Rosenbladt’s message, “The Gospel For Those Broken by The Church” is flat out good stuff. And I think he’s been reading my mail. This is about the best [...]
While I worry that the message could be taken as a nod in the direction of antinomianism, overall the message is excellent. It is too true that the gospel is considered something for conversion only, and then forgotten about afterward. We need to get back to gospel-centered preaching from the pulpits.
Yes, we’re used to hearing the concern regarding antinomianism. And, actually, we consider it a compliment. That may sound a little strange, but consider this story.
Dr. Norman Nagel used to interview new professorial candidates and ask them this question: “If you were to be accused of any heresy, which one would you choose?”
Now, think about that for a moment. Which one would you choose if you were asked such a thing?
The answer he was looking for was ‘antinomianism’. Why? Because if someone gave that answer, they probably ‘got’ the Gospel.
This sort of thing has been on my mind a lot lately, and I think I’ll write a full blog post on it to extrapolate further. I’ll leave you with this: where else in life do we receive unadulterated grace, aside from the Gospel?
I would proffer that we are so used to being immersed in law, God’s law as well as the civic law of this kingdom, and that the Gospel is so foreign (alien) to us that any significant amount of it causes us to have a snap reaction and say that it’s too much and call it antinomianism. If someone appears to be ‘too free in the grace’, they’re called antinomian. But I say that such a person is typically not an antinomian, but someone who really ‘gets’ the Gospel.
More to come.
I would be very interested in reading a full blog post on it :D And, to make clear, I’m willing to bet that neither you nor Dr. Rosenbladt are antinomians, nor do you endorse antinomianism-if I recall correctly, both Luther and Walther had harsh words against antinomianism.
Thank you for making this available! And thank you for taking the time to put it in booklet form as well! I have printed it out to put out in our (presbyterian) church’s foyer (with credit of course).
I thought it was an excellent talk, and very helpful. From the Reformed side, I often give folks an old Puritan book by Richard Sibbes called “The Bruised Reed,” which says much the same thing.
My only concern is that, pastorally speaking, I think he may have missed one pertinent category of person. And that is the person who SAYS they are broken by the Church, and so make themselves out to be a “bruised reed,” but frankly just want to go their own way, and so find an excuse to reject the Gospel, and so they blame the “rules” of Christianity for their decision to leave. When in fact, what they really want to do is live like the world and not follow Christ at all.
Their problem is not an over application of the third use of the Law, but that subjectively, they have never experienced the second use. (Well, first use in Calvin’s scheme — the convicting use.) They have never been broken by the Law in the first place, and are in fact unconverted.
In my experience, they can usually recite the facts of the Gospel, but their disbelief comes from a greater commitment to their own sin rather than a logical rejection of the facts of the Resurrection, etc. “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.” (I John 2:19).
Now, I know some will say this is just pietism; and I also know that Lutherans and Reformed differ somewhat on this point. And I also know Dr. Rosenbladt could not possibly say all things in one talk. So maybe this talk was not even meant to address this kind of person. But I don’t think we should just assume that everyone who says they are broken are really broken. Perhaps some need the Young Ruler treatment before they can really “get” the Gospel.
And then when they tell me that they can’t do it (e.g. be faithful to their wives), and are truly broken by that fact, then they can receive the full forgiveness and grace of the Gospel. But I will give no assurance of salvation to someone who is actively committed to adultery, for instance. That is no bruised reed, but someone rejecting the free grace of justification because they want to have no part in the fruit which will inevitably result.
So, no, we don’t give this person more Law, which is the point of the talk, but the Gospel; and yet they reject the Gospel precisely because they are not broken by their inability to keep the Law in the first place. I think a paragraph on this possibilty would have been useful; but again, I realize no one can say everything at once.
I downloaded this a few years ago and listened to it at least once a month before finally leaving the “church” we attended for over 11 years. We now attend a wonderful church that does not confuse law and gospel and where Christ and him crucified is consistently preached.
Thank you Dr. Rosenbladt, if you only knew how much this has ministered to me and my family.
This is a fantastic presentation that is so excellent and needed. Rod was very helpful to me when I was making my transition from Evangelicalism to the reformation many years ago.
My question … is there a way of getting Mr. Parton’s presentation that was a follow up to Rod’s lecture?
Thank you so very much!
[...] June 15, 2010 The Gospel for Those Broken by the Church — Free Download Posted by Tapani under Gospel, Resources | Tags: Church, free download, Gospel, rod rosenbladt | Leave a Comment New Reformation Press has made the classic Rod Rosenbladt lecture, The Gospel for Those Broken by the Church, available as a free download (it used to be for sale only). You can get both the audio (mp3) and the text (pdf) from here. [...]
[...] http://www.newreformationpress.com/blog/nrp-freebies/the-gospel-for-those-broken-by-the-church/ [...]
Thanks for the free offer! I’d had this product’s browser tab open for over half a year as part of a list of things to eventually buy when my fight with the credit card company is over, so it was both surprising and refreshing to re-visit the page and see it offered for free – that’s one item off my long list.
[...] [...]