The teaching ministry of Nick Batzig
When self is ultimate, then feelings and intuition are the supreme determiner of reality. When feelings take center stage in the societal consciousness, people embraces the notion that “evil is often just a bad day.” ...
There is nothing greater that a believer can fix his or her mind upon than the expansiveness of the love of God to sinners. We do not meditate enough on all that the Scriptures teach about the love that Christ has to sinners who are undeserving of that love. In fact, many believer struggle to be assured of the love of God for them because of the greatness of their sin. Nevetheless, Scripture constantly unites these two things when speaking of the love of God in Christ: God loved us when we were ungodly and sent His Son to die for us when we were still sinners; and, Christ loves sinners and gave himself freely for us when there was nothing lovely in us. Since Jesus loved us when we were in that condition, we can be assured that he will never stop loving us despite all of our sinful failures after he redeemed us....
The signs and seals of the New Testament are rooted in the symbolism of the types and shadows of the Old Testament. Taken together, we come to see more clearly the Christ to whom the sacraments point. ...
Those who have the highest esteem for the word of God––affirming its inspiration, inerrancy, and infallibility––can sometimes fail to recognize the power of the word when it is accompanied by the working of the Holy Spirit. Scripture is not merely a religious text to be defended, it is God’s living revelation that works in the lives of God’s people. The written word is the inspired revelation of the living Word, Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is accompanied by all of the divine power with which it is invested. This is true in God’s ad extra works of creation and redemption. The word of God’s power is manifest in His work of creation, and it is made known in the preaching of Christ crucified in the work of redemption....
Pastors need the saints’ prayers because they are ever the object of the flaming arrows of the evil one. In addition, the world is eager to run them over at any opportunity. As one of my seminary professors so illustratively put it, “Ministers have a bull’s eye on their back and footprints up their chest.” Sadly, this is even a reality for pastors within the context of the local church....
When we think of the many calls in Scripture for the people of God to be singing joyful praises to the Lord for His majesty, as well as for His redeeming mercies and providential care, we should long to do so thoughtfully. We should meditate on the words of the Psalms, making them our own. We should think carefully about the words of the hymns we sing, ensuring that we are singing them "with grace in our hearts to the Lord" (Col. 3:16). We shoudl care far more about what we are singing in worship than how these songs are being performed. It is incumbent on us to think about how we are teaching and admonishing other believers with the word of Christ in our songs, and how we are singing those words from our hearts to the Lord. What a powerful means of imparting grace to one another through the ministry of singing the words of Christ together. ...
May we be strengthened to hold fast to the promises of God by trusting fully in the unchangeable God of promise. If He has promised, has bound Himself to that promise by covenant oath, and has fulfilled those promises in Christ, then we have every reason to believe that He will bring those promises to fruition throughout our lives and for eternity. ...
The entire life of David was a series of typological deaths and resurrections until he was delivered and exalted. The whole of Christ’s life was one of suffering followed by resurrection glory. Jesus is “the root and the descendant of David” (Rev. 22:16), the One “who has the key of David” (Rev. 3:7). Christ has been exalted to the right hand of God to rule on the throne of David (Luke 1:32). The crucified, risen, and exalted son of David rules forever over the kingdom of God in righteousness, truth, and grace as the new David....
If we treated the quest for unity in our marriage as being more important than the quest for truth, duplicity, deceit, and infidelity would run rapid and ultimately destroy any and all unity. It is unimaginable that any Christian would desire anything less than loving unity in truth with his or her spouse. How equally zealous ought we to be for loving unity in truth in the Church of God, the bride of Christ which He purchased with His own blood!...
Jesus' victory over the evil one surfaces at three periods of his Messianic ministry––at the beginning of his ministry when he was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, at the point of Peter's confession of Christ's messianic identity at Caesarea Philippi, and at at the close of his ministry in the garden and on the cross. While we often meditate on how Christ overcame Satan by his obedience to his Father in the wilderness and in his ultimate victory over the evil one on the cross, it is possible that we have not given adequate attention to the fact that Jesus was conquering the devil with every conscious act of obedience to the will of his Father. ...
Whenever we are tempted to think that no one understands our sorrows, our fears, our needs, we should reflect on how the Son of God coming into the womb of the virgin Mary teaches us--that from the very beginning of the incarnation––God understands our frailties, weaknesses, and needs. Christmas means we can never say, "No one understands what I am going through." The ...
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For believers, meals together in this life (both in worship and in our homes) are preparing us for that day when we will spiritually feast together in the presence of God. The food we consume, the table around which we sit, and the companions with whom we gather have as their end the spiritual communion that we enjoy with one another and with the triune God. ...
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Whether one takes the phrase, "the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified," in Hebrews 10:29 to be a reference to Christ himself or to those who, having once professed faith in him and departed from the covenant community makes little difference. The same truth is taught in accord with the analogy of faith. Both are doctrinally sound interpretations. The author ...
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The flesh of Jesus torn apart under the judgment of God on the cross is the portal back to paradise....
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As a means of grace, baptism becomes effectual in the lives of the elect by the sovereign regeneration of the Holy Spirit. This may occur in the life of an individual “whether of age or infants.” However, that regeneration is wrought in the lives of the elect by the free and unmerited work of the Spirit of God on the hearts of the elect. If an individual was baptized a...
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It should sadden us to learn that the church of our day has neglected one of the greatest treasures God has given her to worship Him--namely, the Psalter. The living God has breathed out an entire book of truth for us to sing back to Him whenever we gather together in corporate worship. Perhaps such a neglect has occurred on account of antiquated translations, difficult ac...
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Certain practices have become so familiar among Christians that believers can be in danger of thoughtlessly performing them. We are all prone to simply going through the motions in our Christian lives. For instance, how often have we prayed the Lord’s Prayer without reflecting on the petitions that we are presenting to God? How often have we recited the Apostles’ Creed...
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As we continue on in our journey to the celestial city, we are called to constantly hear the warnings of God's word so as to help us on our way. These warnings, as severe as they are in fact, are meant to be gracious tools in the hand of the Savior to help us persevere in the faith. ...
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In all our deliberations, we must remember that church courts can and will err in this fallen world. There is no perfect justice in this life. Ultimately, there is only one Lawgiver and Judge (James 4:12), who will perfectly execute justice in the divine tribunal on the last day (Deut. 32:35; Rom. 12:17–19). At present, however, the ecclesiastical court is the only court...
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Many professing believers content themselves with a mere cursory knowledge of Scripture, while filling their minds, hearts, and conversations with a knowledge of politics, literature, sports, entertainment, exercise, travel, and food. They are content to know little of Scripture while giving a deep dive into these other areas of interest. This is no phenomenon unique to ou...
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