…[the Holy Spirit] is the guarantee of our inheritance…. – Ephesians 1:14

Scripture reading: Ephesians 1:11-14

The Holy Spirit regenerates, but He also supplies assurance for our faith. When we know Christ as our Saviour and Lord, we confess that “Christ by His Holy Spirit assures us of eternal life” (Heidelberg Catechism, Question 1).

The Spirit’s very presence that enables us to make the good confession of Christ is an assurance to us of better things to come as Ephesians 1:13-14 remind us—the Holy Spirit is a seal and guarantee.

The Spirit assures us in various ways, but one of them is through the sacraments. Christians confess that the Holy Spirit “confirms [our faith] through our use of the holy sacraments” (Heidelberg Catechism, Question 65).

While “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom. 8:17), the Spirit uses the signs and seals of the sacraments to bolster the trustworthy word of God so that we might serve our God and Saviour with an assurance that contrasts the world of uncertainty.

God gives us two sacraments which are sufficient for the Spirit to assure us that the gospel is not just for us, but for all those He has called.

Suggestions for prayer

Pray with thanks to the Lord that you can live under the assurance of His grace, an assurance that the Holy Spirit promotes by the use of the sacraments in your life.

This daily devotional is available in a print edition you can buy at Nearer to God Devotional. John Vermeer is the pastor of Doon United Reformed Church in Doon, Iowa.