Why can't the Old Testament be dismissed as irrelevant to Christians?
The Old Testament cannot be dismissed because the New Testament does not begin something totally different; Matthew 1:1 presents Jesus Christ as the Son of David and Son of Abraham, tying Him directly to Old Testament lineage and promises, so cutting off the Old Testament contradicts Scripture.
Les teaches that many people imagine a great big wall between the Old Testament and the New Testament, and some feel the Old Testament can simply be cut out because it has nothing to do with us. He says nothing could be further from the truth. Matthew 1:1 immediately proves you cannot do that, because it calls Jesus Christ the Son of David and the Son of Abraham. Matthew stops there and does not go back before Abraham, while Luke's genealogy goes all the way to Adam. Matthew depicts Christ as the King, which is why the Kingdom of Heaven terminology is unique to Matthew. Thus the New Testament does not suddenly start something totally different.
The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.