Daily Bible Reading 16th September 2024 // Ephesians 1:13-14

13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

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Commitment to Christ is of the essence of faith and trust in Him. There is a wellknown word in Romans 6:17 which underlines this. Paul says, 'But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine (teaching) which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin ye became the servants of righteousness.' Here, in other words, we have what Paul is saying in these verses in Ephesians. It is a great and comprehensive statement. The 'form of doctrine', or pattern of teaching, corresponds to the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation'. 'Obeying from the heart' is the effect that the hearing of the Word of truth had upon them. And if we look more closely at the words, we shall see just what is involved in the response that is made to the word of salvation.

First of all, the mind is involved. It is by the mind that the form of doctrine, the pattern of teaching, is grasped. It makes its appeal to our minds, it engages our thinking, and indeed it is usually the case that when the gospel grips a man it sends him home thinking furiously.

In the second place, it makes its appeal to the heart. When we ponder in our minds the story of a God Who came down to die for sinful men our hearts begin to burn within us, and we cry with Wesley,

Amazing love! How can it be That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

Thirdly, the will is involved. They obeyed! There was a surrender of the will, as the result of their minds being gripped and their hearts stirred. In other words, hearing the word of salvation brought them to the point of true committal to Jesus Christ. That is what 'trusting Him' means. Is this how it has been with us?