Job 20:12-14

12 Though wickedness [ra`] be sweet [mathaq] in his mouth [peh], though he hide [kachad] it under his tongue [lashown];

13 Though he spare [chamal] it, and forsake [`azab] it not; but keep it still [mana`] within [tavek] his mouth [chek]:

14 Yet his meat [lechem] in his bowels [me`ah] is turned [haphak], it is the gall [marorah] of asps [pethen] within [qereb] him. KJV-Interlinear

12 'Though evil is sweet in his mouth, And he hides it under his tongue, 13 Though he desires it and will not let it go, But holds it in his mouth, 14 Yet his food in his stomach is changed To the venom of cobras within him. NASB

There are only two views in existence - Gods, and everything else. Gods views are truth. Everything else, which excludes Gods views, is sin.

If you have not believed in Christ, then you are not saved and have no spiritual life functioning within you. You are by definition, a wicked person. Your beliefs, your personality, everything about you is irrelevant.

If you have believed in Christ, but do not practice your confession (to God the Father) regularly (see 1, 2, 3^rd John), then you spend no time in fellowship and your spiritual life is not functioning as it should. You are by definition, a wicked person, one who imitates the unbeliever. You act just like them. And again, your personality, your beliefs, everything about you is irrelevant.

Wickedness is any function while out of fellowship. This applies to anyone who is out of fellowship, while they are out of fellowship. It applies to all unbelievers all of the time, and to all believers when they sin and fail to confess their sins.

The only way to avoid wickedness in your life, is to be a believer and to confess regularly in order to develop a pattern for your life. A pattern, which becomes your alertness (a soldier on his watch) for maintaining your life in fellowship with God.

But sin is a tease. Sin is driven by the sin nature, which is resident in all of us. We can never rid ourselves of the sin nature while in these earthly bodies, but God has given us a mechanism for controlling it, through confession.

Sin is further driven by the senses we possess. Our senses of touch, taste, sight, hearing and smell are all there to serve us, but they are often used for pleasures. Pleasures that are often misinterpreted for happiness, but are nothing more than temporary exercises in self-gratification.

And so now Zophar explains the nature of the sins of the wicked person. The one who disregards Gods Word in his life, in exchange for the sensual pleasures of life. These pleasures can range from the many lusts for money, power, or criminal activities, to the simple pleasures of foods, drinks, or drugs and such.

Even dreams or daydreams, or any form of entertainment can become distractions away from reality, a sort of procrastination away from applying truth to ones life. Or an irresponsibility away from ones spiritual life.

Temptation comes easy in life, but temptation is not a sin until you invite that temptation into your soul and begin to entertain yourself, spend your time, with it.

And now we have Zophars explanation.

Like really good foods, sin is something that you can place in your mouth, and because it tastes soooo good, you want to hold it in your mouth for as long as possible before swallowing it. You chew it and chew it and roll it around your tongue, and you become absorbed with its pleasantness. That is sin. That is all of life outside of the fellowship sphere.

Now note something here. Confession of sin is the easiest thing in the world. You merely tell God the Father, in your confession prayer, for that is what confession is, a prayer, that you did this or that. And that is all there is to confession. 'Father, I did this or that.' Then your sin is forgiven. You are placed immediately back into fellowship and your forget your sins.

Your initial faith in Christ was easy, 'Father, I believe in Christ.' And so too is confession, easy. But how many folks refuse to so these simple things, which are nothing more than mere thoughts, brief thoughts at that?

Such is the power of sin, which becomes even more powerful by ones drive for pleasure. Pleasure is not happiness.

Sin replaces and prevents your spiritual function. Your spiritual function in life is your investment for eternity. Eliminating your eternal investment, means that you are investing your life in something that amounts to nothing. Sin is the biggest nothing that can exist.

But pleasures drive sin on and on such that when it finally is swallowed, or becomes an entrenched committed pattern for your life, then its poison becomes far worse than any poisonous snake. Bitten because of ones commitment, the poison is injected into your life and becomes fatal.

The pleasures, the desires, the goals, the attitudes, the beliefs, which you thought were happiness, which you thought were your duties or goals, suddenly surprise you with their deadly poison. And a lifetime of consuming deadly poison becomes almost, and repeat this, almost, irreversible.

With God anything is possible, but with man, on his own, changing an entrenched way of life is impossible.

To get out of life's death row, you have to turn your life toward God, which means getting with some serious daily Bible study, and then patience, lots of patience, as God works His miracle in your sorry you know what.

Now is the time to post a prayer.