Ezra rehearses the commandments: showing the blatant nature of Israel’s sin, and how inexcusable it is. He feels this so deeply.
Well it applies today. Apply these words to the world. Child of God, you have been saved by grace out of the world, and I send you for the time being back into the world to win the world. But be careful: ‘the land unto which ye go to possess it’ – to win souls, to pray for people – ‘is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands.’ Satan is the prince of the power of the air. Everything he does in the culture is to bring down souls. In the entertainment world everything that's going on is to pollute. And you as a Christian are going to adopt the culture of the world, and live as [indistinguishable] from a worldling? What a sin that would be: to renounce distinctiveness for Christ. Modesty, humility, cleanliness, avoidance of all that is designed to promote sex and drugs and rebellion and all the rest of it.