The believer, if simple, passes, we may say, at once into sonship. If he is occupied with self, with his ordinances, with his church, or with any object to engage his soul other than Christ, he remains an infant and in no real sense full-grown.
God is not mocked, nor does He suffer even saints to slight or doubt the gospel with impunity. It is to prefer bondage when grace is proclaiming liberty and to need milk instead of that solid food which suits the full-grown, yet every Christian ought to be full-grown. Christ redeemed him to know the sonship of God in the power of His Spirit. [19]