Truth and the Imitators of God
Sermon Notes & Devotional
Truth and the Imitators of God
A Sermon on Ephesians 5:1–10
Pastor Matthew Diehl • Round Top Church Christian Fellowship
May 10, 2026 • Nineteenth Lord’s Day in the Year of Our Lord 2026
Part 2: Deceptions, Disobedience - vs. – Truth & Children of Light
Listen to the Sermon
Truth & Children of Light
Romans 1 declares that we can know the truth about God and His creation.
We ended last week’s sermon by sharing Ephesians 5:6-10. Today, we will focus on “truth” in verse 9.
Ephesians 5:6-10
Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
Therefore, do not be partakers with them; for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light.
For the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth, trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.
The Fallout into Atheism
We have all heard that some people say there is no truth, that everything is subjective, based on what we physically see, hear, smell, and touch, and that it is experienced individually and filtered through each person’s history.
Therefore, each person can develop their own truth, what is good for them; there are no universal truths, a main plank in atheism.
Who are a few of the main men in the Age of Enlightenment who laid the foundations of contemporary atheism and the idea that there is no truth?
David Hume doubted the assumption of a necessary link between cause and effect. Hume was the first post-medieval philosopher to “reformulate” the skepticism of the ancients.
Another contributor to contemporary atheism was Auguste Comte, who taught that true freedom is found in subjecting oneself to scientific laws.
Comte’s teaching became known as scientism, meaning that the search for truth can only be discovered through the scientific method, at the exclusion of all other efforts.
Truth Involves Trust
We apply truth to every aspect of our lives.
We make everyday decisions based on what we perceive to be reliable information, from driving a car to engaging with every person we talk to.
Truth involves trust.
We trust someone to tell us the truth so we can make decisions at work or school. We trust the pharmaceutical industry made our prescription correctly, or we could die.
We make plans to go on a trip by automobile or airplane and physically place our bodies inside these machines.
We trust professionals to do their jobs, but we do not think about it too much.
The overall point is that without trusting that we are told the truth, we could not function.
How Can We Know Truth?
There is a system of explaining how we can know the truth.
The correspondence theory of truth says that truth is correspondence to reality, which is to say, a statement is true inasmuch as it aligns with or is in accord with what is actually the case.
Regarding logic, we realize that truth claims cannot conflict with each other.
The most basic law is the law of noncontradiction. It says that contradictory statements cannot both be true at the same time and in the same sense or false at the same time and in the same sense.
What we should realize and accept is that our five physical senses function together with our intellect to determine truth.
The knowledge of what a basic tree looks and feels like represents a basic knowledge of trees that is universally understood. This is an example of a universal truth.
God’s Wisdom Is Good
Philosophy has been assigned a negative connotation due to a misreading of the Apostle Paul’s words in Colossians 2:8.
Paul further states in 2 Thessalonians 2:15, “So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us.”
And in 1 Corinthians 11:2, “Now I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold firmly to the traditions, just as I delivered them to you.”
From an inclusion of Paul’s other letters, we see that the philosophies from the traditions according to Christ were to be followed.
So, God’s wisdom is good.
The question is: “How do we see God’s wisdom?”
God created all things for good, and the whole creation speaks of His being and glory.
Thomas Aquinas developed a theological system that synthesized Western Christian theology with the philosophy of the ancient Greek thinkers, particularly Aristotle.
Aquinas took the Greek observations and looked at them through the lens of Romans 1 and other Scriptures. Therefore, Aquinas came to different conclusions.
Aquinas’ views were then, and are now, useful to all Christians in teaching that truth can be known and, therefore, that God can be known and interacted with.
Many people are deceived by their man-made wisdom. But God’s wisdom is good.
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1 that Christ is “the power of God and the wisdom of God.”
How Do We Fight Deception?
Deception is Satan’s tool to tempt people away from God.
We see this deception starting with Adam and Eve in the Garden and continuing today.
Satan comes to the incarnate God, as Jesus, in the wilderness with three tests in Matthew 4.
Jesus rejects Satan by quoting Scripture.
When challenged to turn stones to bread, Jesus rejects Satan by quoting Deuteronomy 8:3: man lives on the Word of God.
When Satan challenged Him to throw Himself off the Temple pinnacle, Jesus rejected him by quoting Deuteronomy 6:16: “Do not test the Lord God.”
When Satan offered the world if Jesus would worship him, Jesus rejected him by quoting Deuteronomy 6:13: worship the Lord God only.
Jesus’ Scriptural witness to Satan in Matthew 4 is our Spiritual map to victory when Satan attempts to deceive us.
Satan Will Spin God’s Word Into Deception
What are some of the biggest deceptions with which Satan challenges us?
Like Adam and Eve, Satan will test and tempt us to think selfishly.
Satan desires for us to separate ourselves from God, that we do not need Him, and can have everything we want without Him in our lives.
Satan pushes us to advance our standing in life ahead of God. This is called “selfish-pride.”
Satan will spin God’s Word into deception.
Satan told Eve, “You shall not eat from any tree of the Garden.”
Eve responded that it was from only the forbidden tree they were not to eat from because they would die if they did.
Satan crafted a direct lie as a response: “You surely will not die.”
Satan followed with a divisive view of God’s instruction.
Deception is a lie that rationalizes the situation in life and challenges us to think and act with a “me-first” attitude.
To counter Satan’s constant attacks, we need to make our decisions by pursuing the plan God has for our lives.
We need to protect our thoughts.
Jesus – The Way to the Truth and God’s Oneness With Us
Remember, Jesus is the way to the truth to eternal life.
Jesus is also the Word, which was present on earth with people for over thirty-three years.
The Apostle John refers to Jesus as the Word who became flesh and lived with us.
John 1:1-2
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
And John 1:14 tells us:
John 1:14
“The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
After the Resurrection, Jesus sent His Holy Spirit, the Helper, to indwell us.
Jesus made the point that He, the Father, and the disciples were all one.
We have the opportunity to witness all these truths and hold close to our hearts the words of Jesus at the Great Commission:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Amen.
In Summary
Truth is not something we each invent for ourselves. It corresponds to reality, and God has made it knowable — our senses and our intellect were designed to work together so that we might know Him and His creation. The world’s philosophies may deny that any universal truth exists, but God’s wisdom is good, and in Christ that wisdom took on flesh and dwelt among us.
Satan’s oldest weapon is deception — twisting God’s Word to pull us toward a “me-first” life apart from Him, just as he did with Adam and Eve. Yet Jesus showed us the way to answer him: with the Word of God. As children of Light, we are called to guard our thoughts, hold firmly to the truth, and pursue the plan God has for our lives.
“Walk as children of Light... trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.”
Ephesians 5:8–10
Round Top Church Christian Fellowship
440 East Mill Street • Round Top, Texas
