I'm not sure if you are missing something or perhaps it was too trivial for you to write it down explicitely. :D
Anyway what is the group operation on $S_X$? It is the function composition. So in order to show that $f$ is a group homomorphism you have to show that $\theta_{g_1g_2}=\theta_{g_1}\circ\theta_{g_2}$ where $\circ$ is the function composition. You show equality of functions by showing that they are equal on every element. So pick $x\in X$. Then
$$\theta_{g_1g_2}(x)=(g_1g_2)\cdot x=g_1\cdot(g_2\cdot x)=\theta_{g_1}(g_2\cdot x)=\theta_{g_1}(\theta_{g_2}(x))=(\theta_{g_1}\circ\theta_{g_2})(x)$$
So first equality by definition. Second since the action of $G$ on $X$ is associative. The rest of equalities are by definition.
Since $x$ was chosen arbitrarly, then $\theta_{g_1g_2}=\theta_{g_1}\circ\theta_{g_2}$. $\Box$
BTW "Permutations" is not necessarly a good word if you are dealing with possibly infinite set $X$ (most commonly a permutation is a bijective function that "moves" only finitely many elements). Just "bijections" will do.