God's people are saved from the world by His judgment on it. With what does God save us from the condemned world? With the same thing by which He judged the world. The flood that God used to execute His judgment upon the ancient world saved Noah from that world. The Red Sea that God used to judge the Egyptians saved the children of Israel from the evil power of the Egyptians. The cross by which God judged Satan and his world also saves us from this condemned world.
We Christians are saved by the judging cross of Christ. The cross executed God's judgment upon Satan and the world. We have been saved from God's judgment by the redeeming blood of Christ (Rom. 5:9). We were saved from the condemned world by the judging death of Christ. Galatians 1:4 says, "Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might rescue us out of the present evil age." Although Christ died for our sins, the goal was to deliver us from this present evil age. I have heard many messages concerning Christ's death as a salvation from sin, but I have hardly heard a message telling me that the goal of Christ's death was to save me from the present evil age.
Galatians 6:14 says, "But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world." To Paul, the world was on the cross, and to the world, Paul was on the cross. Is the world on the cross to you? Are you on the cross to the world? In our eyes, the world should be on the cross. It has been crucified. Do you love something that has been crucified? To the world, we are on the cross. Many times I have heard the parents of a saint say, "My son is dead." Some husbands may say that their wives are dead, and some wives may say that their husbands are dead. That is correct. All the Christian husbands, wives, sons, and daughters are dead. We are dead to the world, and the world is dead to us through the judging death of Christ.
When you are baptized, you are buried. Nothing can remove people out of the world so effectively as a burial. Likewise, what can get you out of the world more effectively than baptism? Suppose a certain man loves the world very much. He has many attachments in the world. His wife, children, and all his relatives love him. He has money in the bank and several businesses under his control. How can such a man get out of the world? The easiest way is for him to be buried. Once his relatives have given him a good funeral, he will be through with the world. Thus, nothing separates a person from the world more than his burial.
What is baptism? I am sorry to say that many people think of it as a ritual which makes a person a nominal member of a so-called church. Before I experienced genuine baptism, I underwent such a ritual. We should never baptize people in a ritualistic way. Whenever we are going to baptize people, we must pray and exercise our spirit with authority and with the powerful name of the Lord Jesus. Then we baptize people, putting them into a "tomb" and burying them. This burial separates them from the world.
We have been baptized into Christ's death (Rom. 6:3). We have been buried with Christ in baptism (Col. 2:12). We are dead and buried from the rudiments of this world (Col. 2:20). We have passed through the flood waters and the Red Sea. The flood waters that judged Noah's generation rescued him, and the Red Sea that judged the Egyptians rescued the Israelites. This is the salvation that we need today. Every Christian needs the second aspect of God's full salvation. Have you enjoyed this aspect of His salvation? I can shout and declare, "I have been separated from Egypt! I have been separated from this evil, crooked, and perverse generation!"