So many people think of the Old Testament as outdated, obsolete, expired and replaced. The Old Testament is none of those things. It is essential, foundational, timeless, and instructive. It is our schoolmaster teaching us about what constitutes sin and it does it in great detail leaving no doubts. The prophecies within help us realize that Jesus is who He says He is. We get to know Father God. He is all-knowing, ever-present, protective and just. He set up guidelines in which we should live and He expects obedience. Without obedience, there is punishment. He is a just God and He keeps His promises. The choices are ours -- obey or not. He is loving enough to offer His only son to be a sacrifice for our sins. The only way into heaven is through Jesus. We must have a strong bond with Him -- an abiding, loving allegiance that includes trust and obedience. If we do not love the Son, we do not love the Father and vice versa.
II Timothy 3:14-17
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.Romans 15:4
For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.
Matthew 5:17-20
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”
I Corinthians 10:
Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.” We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel. These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!
He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
Why do we keep some of the Old Testament laws and not all of them? Here is my study from 1992. I had to clean it up because it was taken from an old floppy disk and transferred with a lot of encoding.
‘92
Most of the "laws" mentioned in Leviticus were preparations for ceremonial cleansing. There were, also, instructions for worship, and commandments of behavior, or moral laws, under which category homosexuality and other sexual immorality falls. Because the Israelites were "unclean" before God, who cannot look upon sin, they were required to cleanse themselves before approaching God's "house." God knew about germs and bacteria long before man, so even though the ceremonial cleansing was symbolic, the outward body was made clean. Still, both body and soul were only temporarily cleansed. This is why Christ came (Heb.9:9-14). He became the priest (Heb.2:17) and the atoning sacrifice (Heb.7:23-28). The rules of worship taught the Israelites the concepts of purity, obedience, and self-discipline and were analogies or symbols (prophetic acts) of things to come. For instance, pork, considered ceremonially unclean in the O.T., is symbolic of Gentiles, also considered unclean. Both are "made clean" by Christ in the N.T.(Acts 10:9-28). At Christ's death, prophesies were fulfilled, and a new covenant was established. The physical acts of worship were replaced with spiritual acts of worship. Jesus declared all foods clean in Mark 7:19. The commandments of behavior, or moral laws, including homosexuality, bestiality, incest, etc., continued to be condemned in the N.T. (Rom.1:24-27, I Cor. 6:9-10). Incidently, these scriptures specifically condemn women exchanging natural relations for unnatural ones.
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