TORN

Embracing the New Covenant in an Old Covenant World

Mike Manuel

• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781647731878
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theologie & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Are You Making the Tear Worse? Jesus' Warning Against Mixing the Old and New Covenants

Two thousand years after the initiation of the New Covenant, many Christians are still clinging to several of the rituals and traditions of the Old Covenant while trying to embrace most aspects of the New Covenant. This leads to a dysfunctional religious system that seems biblical but is the very thing Jesus warned us not to do.

"No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."

Jesus in Matthew 9: 16-17 NIV

In TORN, you will learn the difference between the two covenants and how to fully embrace the New Covenant so you can experience more of God's power in your life.

TORN

Embracing the New Covenant in an Old Covenant World

MIKE MANUEL

Acknowledgements

First and foremost, I want to acknowledge the Holy Spirit for His work in guiding me and illuminating God’s Word to me. I want to thank my friend, JC Ellender, for his encouragement in my life and in the writing of this book. Thanks also to my wife, Donna, for her support and encouragement. I also want to acknowledge Sarah Ebersole for her help in editing this manuscript. And finally, a big thanks to the great people who make up the local church that I pastor. They have not only graciously given me the time to work on this book but have also been a constructive sounding board for the ideas and concepts presented in TORN.

Table of Contents

A New Covenant 11

A New Standard 23

A New Church 35

A New Priesthood 45

A New Temple 57

A New Kingdom 65

A New Scapegoat 73

A New Access 79

A New Nature 89

A New Position 101

A New Generosity 109

A New Sabbath 115

A New Helper 125

A New Glory 139

INTRODUCTION

Much of Jesus’ earthly ministry centered around His announcement that He was ushering in the kingdom of God and a brand-new agreement between God and mankind, known as the New Covenant. This New Covenant was not simply a series of amendments to the 1,500-year-old Old Covenant, but rather an entirely new agreement that changed just about everything for God’s people.

Some responded very favorably to this new way of doing things and quickly embraced the New Covenant. Others, however, found Jesus’ new way of doing things offensive and even threatening to their current lifestyle. Another group of people embraced many aspects of the New Covenant, yet still held onto many rituals and traditions from the Old Covenant.

In a somewhat cryptic parable, Jesus warned against trying to mix the Old and New Covenants.

No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.

Matthew 9:16-17 NIV

In this parable, the Old Covenant is represented by an old garment that has a hole in it. If you patch it with a new piece of material, the new material will shrink when washed and will actually tear the garment as it shrinks. If you were wondering where the title for this book came from, now you know. Torn. Torn, because so many of us are trying to mix the new with the old. Jesus didn’t come to patch up the Old Covenant, because a patch wouldn’t fix it. It would actually make it worse. He came with a brand-new covenant.

In this same parable, Jesus also uses the illustration of putting new wine into old wineskins. New wine continues to ferment and to give off gas for quite some time. An old wineskin has already been stretched as far as it will stretch, so when it’s filled with new wine, there’s no stretch left for the expanding gases of the new wine. So, if you make the mistake of putting new wine into an old wineskin, it’s going to tear and you’re going to have a mess. Torn. Torn, because we’re trying to mix the new with the old.

Two thousand years after the initiation of the New Covenant, many Christians are still clinging to several of the rituals and traditions of the Old Covenant while trying to embrace certain aspects of the New Covenant. They’ve created a dysfunctional religious system that seems biblical, but is the very thing that Jesus warned us not to do.

In the following chapters of this book you will see much of what is new in the New Covenant that maybe you’ve overlooked. You may also discover some areas in your life where you’ve mixed in many Old Covenant practices.

When I look back on my own life as a Christian, I can now see where I attempted to mix the Old and New Covenants. That would explain why for several years my “religious system” seemed to be torn. God didn’t “fix” my old religious system; He gave me a brand-new one.

As you read this book, it’s my prayer that God would give you a new wineskin to hold His new wine.

TORN

Chapter 1

A New Covenant

I remember the day that I was given my first Bible. It was a maroon-colored Revised Standard Version, with my name printed in gold letters on the lower right side of the cover. Coming from a family of five kids, I remember being more impressed that I actually owned something with my name pre-printed on it than I was with the fact that I now had my very own Bible. Because I was raised in a church-going family, I knew that the Bible was an important book. But other than that, I had no real biblical knowledge nor any real desire to read it. That was pretty common among third grade boys in 1970.

Even though I had been in church almost every Sunday from the time I was born, I had never heard the message of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. What I heard was: Try really hard to be good so that maybe Jesus will let you into heaven. It was the summer after my fourth grade year that I accepted Jesus as my Savior at a summer Bible camp. Not only did I receive a clear explanation of what it meant to be saved, but I was also encouraged to begin reading my still-like-new Bible.

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