Maple St. Church of Christ

In John 9, we are told to abide in the doctrine of Christ. The Doctrine of Christ excludes such practices of the Old Law as (1) animal sacrifices, (2) the burning of incense, (3) going up to Jerusalem to worship, (4) circumcision as a sign of covenant relationship with God, (5) keeping the sabbath as a day of worship and (6) keeping feast days and new moons.

1. "For if the first had been faultless, then should no place have
     been sought for the ." (Hebrews 8:7)
     Those who still seek to serve God under the first covenant serve Him
     under a covenant that is not faultless. The covenant of Jesus Christ, the New
     Testament, has no fault, therefore we return to an inferior covenant when we go
     back to the Law of Moses for our law in this dispensation.

2. God said that the New Covenant would not be the Old. (Hebrews 8:9)

3. The Old Covenant was founded on the blood of and (Heb.9:11-14)

4. The New Testament or Covenant is founded on the blood of (Heb. 9:14)

5. Jesus Christ is the of the New Covenant.(Heb. 9:15)
     Christ is the only mediator that the Christian has or needs. There is no
     need for saints, popes or priests to be our mediators since Christ is
     perfectly capable of performing the task.

6. Paul declares that the blood of bulls and goats take away . (Heb. 10:4).
     The Old Covenant, founded upon the blood of bulls and goats, could not
     take away a sinner's guilt, but the New Testament, founded upon the blood of
     Christ can and does make the sinner righteous. Why go back to the Old
     Covenant?

7. Christ sealed the New Testament with His . (Heb. 9:14-23)
     The New Testament is the book of Law for the Christian today because it
     was made authoritative when Christ sealed it with His own blood.

8. The writer of the Hebrew letter declares that we should look to Jesus,
     the and of our faith. (Heb. 12:2). We are not to
     look to Moses or to the Old Testament but to because He is the
     author and finisher of our faith.

9. The Bible teaches that Christ became the of eternal salvation
     to all them that obey Him. (Heb. 5:9) We are, therefore, subject to .

10. The New Testament teaches that under New Covenant all children of God
     are married to Christ. Paul teaches in Rom. 7:4 that even the Jew had become
     to the before they could become married to
     another. In the same passage, Paul teaches that no man could be married to Christ
     until Christ was from the dead. This clearly shown that men become
     married to Christ or become Christians after the New Testament pattern when
     Christ was raised from the dead. Before the resurrection of Christ, men lived and
     died under the Old Covenant but after the resurrection men were made
     Christians according to the laws of the New Covenant.

The careful student will now know that we live under the last will and
testament of Jesus Christ; That He is the author of eternal salvation and that
we are children of New Covenant and the New Covenant only.

Paul plainly teaches that the Old Covenant was nailed to the cross.
Read Col. 2:14-17 and List four
(4) things that Paul uses to illustrate that the Old Law was nailed to the
cross....Four things that were in effect under the Old Law but that are not to
be used to judge the truthfulness of a man's religious convictions today.

(1)
(2) Example: drink
(3) or regarding a  (hint: 4 words)
(4) or 

THE PURPOSE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

There are those who will say,"If we do not live under the Old
Covenant, then why do we have it in the Bible today?" Why did not God destroy
it? The following reasons are given in the Bible for the Old Testament
scriptures:

(1)For their moral lessons (1 Cor. 10:6, 1 Cor. 10:11-23)
"Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted" "Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come" " Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall."

(2) To prove, by prophecy, that Christ is the Son of God.(2 Peter 1:19)
" And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts"

(3) To prove the New Testament system of faith by the type in the Old
Testament. (Heb. 10:1) "For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect"

We can now see that after these reasons are studied the Old Testament
is preserved for our good, but not for the faith once delivered. (Jude 3) We do
not find the doctrine and practice of Christ in the Old Testament but in the
New. God does not intend for His children to learn by trial and error. The Old
Testament contains moral examples that tell of 4,000 years of God's dealings
with His people.

Let us look to Christ, the author and finisher of our faith, and not
go back to the law of Moses. (Read Galatians 5:1-4) "1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. 2 Indeed I, Paul, say to you that cif you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. 3 And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. 4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace."

Colossians 2:14, "Having  the handwriting of that
was against us, which was to us, and he has taken it out of the
having nailed it to the ."

Here we learn that Moses' law, here referred to as requirements, was
taken away when Christ died on the cross. We live now under Christ's law, the
New Testament.

***All Bible texts and quotations are taken from the New King James Version.