“You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that – and shudder” (James 2:19).

There is not one demon who does not know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

There is not one demon who does not know that God is the creator of the world.

There is not one demon who does not know that Jesus will come again to judge the world.

Satan and his demons know who Jesus is.

Knowing Jesus cannot save. It is in receiving and believing in Jesus as Lord and Savior that saves.

So, then, what is the difference between knowing and believing?

In modern day English, belief has a different meaning than what it did to the Jews during the days of Jesus. One could not believe something without acting and living out that belief. If one’s actions did not demonstrate the belief, it was the same as unbelief. If you believe it, you live it.

Satan and his demons know who Jesus is. But satan and his demons would never put their trust and reliance on Jesus.

That’s the difference between knowing and believing.

I am grateful that God does not expect us to be perfect in our obedience and reliance. Though we are not expected to be perfect in obedience and reliance on Jesus, we are, nevertheless, called to obey and trust.

The hymn writer has it right. Trust and obey, for there is no way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

“Shortly after dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. ‘It’s a ghost,’ they said, and cried out in fear.

“But Jesus immediately said to them: ‘Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.’

“‘Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, ‘tell me to come to you on the water.’

“‘Come,” he said.

“Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, ‘Lord, save me!'”

“Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. ‘You of little faith,’ he said, ‘why did you doubt?'”

(Matthew 14:25-31).

It was a cold morning. There was a mist rising from the lake as the sun’s rays began shining its light on the dark waters. The disciples were barely awake when they saw something that shouldn’t be…There was a human figure walking on the lake.

The disciples didn’t know how to make sense of what they were seeing. They screamed out, “It’s a ghost!”

Jesus tells them that it is he. Peter asks, if it really is Jesus, to walk to Jesus on the water and Jesus tells him to come.

For the first time in all of human history, when Peter stepped out of the boat, instead of his feet sinking he hit solid water! Yeah. You read that right. Solid water!

Just like solid ground, the water sustained his weight. He was walking on water!

But, as soon as Peter took his eyes off Jesus, Peter began to sink.

You see, the devil doesn’t have to defeat us to defeat us. All he has to do is to distract us. The moment we take our eyes off Jesus, we are sunk. We are defeated.

Keep your eyes on Jesus.

I know. Particularly this time of the year there are a whole lot of distractions. There are all kinds of shiny toys and fancy clothes. It doesn’t take much to distract us.

Keep your eyes on Jesus. Stay focused. Remember who you are because of who Jesus is.

Keep your eyes on Jesus.

“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

The devil lies. The devil is the father of lies. The devil wants us to focus on our sins. The Holy Spirit beckons us to focus on our Savior.

So, how can we have victory over the devil? How do we overcome the schemes of the devil?

We can’t. Not on our own. The devil is a whole lot smarter, more crafty, and more powerful than you or me.

Although we cannot defeat the devil our Savior can. The devil has no chance against Jesus.

That’s why our text says to “resist the devil.” And our text tells us that the way we resist the devil is by “submitting ourselves to God. We resist by submitting. When we submit to Christ, Christ kicks the devil’s butt!

Isn’t that a great picture? Love the imagery of the devil getting his butt kicked because he’s had plenty of opportunities to kick my butt.

Submit to Christ. That’s how we resist the devil. And when we submit to Christ, the devil flees.

One final note about submitting to Christ. Submitting to Christ is not a one time decision. It’s kind of like breathing. It can’t be a one time event. If you want to live, you gotta keep breathing. If you want to thrive as a Christian, you gotta keep submitting.

Submitting to Christ is more a compass heading than a decision. It is choosing to head in a particular direction – the direction that takes us nearer to Christ.

We cannot defeat the devil but Christ already has. So, submit to Christ.