"The great theme of the Bible is salvation. If anybody ever asks you...the Bible is a big book, its got 66 books inside of it, what is the message of the Bible? You can tell them the message is salvation...that is the message. The message of the Bible is that God, the creator of the universe, graciously rescues doomed sinners from the eternal punishment of hell and brings them instead to the eternal joy of heaven. That’s the theme of the Bible. I’ll say it again...that God, the creator of the universe, graciously rescues doomed sinners from the eternal punishment of hell and brings them instead into the eternal joy of heaven. And from Genesis chapter 3 where man falls into sin, clear to Revelation chapter 22, the very end of the Bible, salvation is the theme of all 66 books of Scripture. Salvation from hell, salvation from sin is the one constant message throughout the Bible. To put it another way, God, the creator of the universe, for His own glory has chosen to create and gather to Himself a group of people to be the subjects of His eternal Kingdom who will praise, honor and serve Him forever while enjoying the full riches of His blessing. That’s the theme of the Bible.

And because all people are sinners and cannot save themselves from hell, cannot rescue themselves from the punishment that they deserve for their sin, God therefore must rescue them. God must devise a way in which to save sinners from sin and hell. God must come up with a plan by which He can forgive sinners for all their sin. In order for Him to do that, a just payment for sin has to be made, His justice has to be satisfied, there must be a payment for sin to satisfy His holy justice, while at the same time it can’t be the sinner who pays for his sin or he will be damned to hell, the only way he can pay the price for his sin. Therefore, God must come up with a substitute. God must have a substitute who can pay the penalty for the sins of His people. God has to find someone to die in the place of sinners, to feel the wrath of holy justice on sin. The Bible tells us that that One is the Son of God who is God who came into the world in human flesh to be the substitute who would bear the wrath of God and die in the place of sinners is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Throughout the Old Testament we’re told that He is coming, that the Son, the Savior is coming. He is the main person in the Old Testament by way of anticipation. The Old Testament begins to talk about Him in Genesis 3:15, He is referred to as the “seed of the woman, He who will bruise the serpent’s head.” He is the pierced one of Zechariah, to whom Israel turns and by whose death God opens the fountain of forgiveness for all who mourn over their sin and believe in Him. He is the one symbolized in all of the sacrifices of the Mosaic Law. He is the suffering servant, the suffering substitute of Isaiah and the other prophets who was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities and the chastening for our peace with God is laid on Him, by His stripes we are healed...

...When you think about the unconverted in the world, this is how you are to view them. They may, in fact, be rich. They may, in fact, be free. They may, in fact, have no physical infirmities whatsoever, let alone blindness. And they may appear to be on top of the world, eminently successful. But the fact of the matter is, any sinner falls into these categorizations. Apart from the salvation that Christ brings, they are poor, they are prisoners, they are blind and they are oppressed. This is the desperate condition of the sinner and until the sinner comes to a recognition of that condition, there will not be any compulsion to seek a solution. When we look at the world around us, we cannot look at them superficially. They may on the surface be rich, as I said, they may have what they believe to be absolutely unlimited freedom, which is the way most sinners in our society live, free to express themselves they think in any way they want. They may have great physical health and well-being, taking advantage of all the fitness and all the medical assistance they can get. They may think they’re on top of the world in terms of life style. But the fact is, spiritually they are poor, they are prisoners, they are blind and they are oppressed. They have to come to see that in order for them to turn to the One who can deliver them. Like the people we read about in Psalm 107, they have to realize that they are wandering in the desert, they have no water and no food and nowhere to find it. They have to realize that they have a blindness and a darkness and a shadow of death, a pall of death hanging over them they can’t do anything about. They have to realize that they are in a storm that they can’t cope with and the end of the storm can be their demise. They have to realize there are no personal resources to which they can turn to solve their imminent deadly dilemma. And that is the point of what Jesus is saying here as He opens the meaning of Isaiah 61...

...You know, there’s nothing probably truer of sinners today than that they think they are free. Would you say that’s true? They...in fact, they see Christianity as some kind of bondage, don’t they? And they think they’re free. This is all about rights, everybody’s got their rights and nobody is going to infringe on my rights, I can be what I want to be, I’m free to be myself. You hear that inane statement again and again and again. They are not free. The Bible would define them as prisoners. They are prisoners, sin has indebted them to God. They cannot pay that debt. They are held prisoner to God, really, by His justice and His holiness. They are in bondage and they are awaiting death. Satan wields, according to Hebrews 2:14 and 15, the power of death and holds them in bondage all their lifelong by the fear of death. They are the children of wrath, of Ephesians 2:1 and 2 says, they are under the power and authority of Satan. So there’s a sense in which they are captive to sin, captive to Satan and to the dominion of Satan, the prince of the power of the air, and yet all of that is only a sub-definition. The real sovereign over them, the real judge over them who has imprisoned them and held them guilty and sentenced them to death is God Himself...

...So naturally, just by virtue of being a fallen sinner, the sinner is blind. Judicially, another category of blindness, he’s also blind because God has blinded him. John 12:40, “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts lest they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn and be healed,” and that’s quoted from Isaiah 6. So God literally judicially blinds. So here is the natural mind blind to start with, then God compounds his blindness by sentencing him to blindness for a punishment for his sin. Isaiah 29:10, “The Lord has poured out on you the spirit of deep sleep and has closed your eyes.”
 

A man is further blinded by Satan. He’s blinded naturally. He’s blinded judicially by God. He’s blinded satanically. Second Corinthians 4, “Even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded.” So we’re talking about very, very comprehensive blindness. Blind naturally, blinded further by God judicially, blinded further by Satan who has blinded the eyes of those who don’t believe.

And then Romans 1 says this is the reason that when we know God we don’t honor Him as God and our foolish hearts are darkened. There are many other passages along that line. So the sinner is seen as a blind person...can’t see, can’t know the truth. That’s why you can take the greatest scientists in the world, you can bring them together, let them fuss around forever trying to discuss origins or anything else for that matter that relates to the creator God, that relates to the supernatural dimension and they are utterly unable to come to the right answer...to say nothing of salvation. The natural man cannot solve the dilemma of his blindness spiritually on his own. John said, “Unbelievers hate the light,” John 3:19 and 20, “because their deeds are evil and they love their evil deeds..."  End quote.

Read the complete transcript Jesus' Return to Nazareth Preaching in the Synagogue. 

"When people know about Jesus Christ and they know the facts of Jesus Christ and they don’t believe, there’s only one reason why they don’t believe. Everybody who rejects Jesus Christ as Messiah and Savior rejects Him for the very same reason..."  End quote.

What angered Jesus' friends and family, from His home town, so much that they tried to throw Him off a cliff?  Read John MacArthur's study Jesus' Return to Nazareth Rejection by the People.