God does not keep us from sinning, He does not put unpassable roadblocks up, He does not make it so that we are unable to sin. “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” (1 Cor. 10:13) He shows us the way not to sin, He offers alternatives.
Adam sinned in the garden of his own free will, the commandment was given concerning the fruit of the tree, the alternative was to disobey, he listened as Satan spoke to his wife, he weighed the known options, and when his wife spoke to him, he harkened to her. (Gen. 3:17) It was a free will decision; he choose the alternative. Adam walked with God in the garden, the Lord could have quite easily strolled up at that very moment, but He choose not to, free will is one of the greatest gifts that man has ever received, without it, the cross would not have been necessary, without it, love, the love that we are to have towards our Lord, would not be possible.
The expression of love is obedience, no matter the circumstances, no matter the possible consequences to ourselves, there is no alternative. To be obedient in love, one must have a choice, at least two options must be made available, God does not keep us from sinning, but He has allowed this world to exist in the way that it does so that a choice is available to us.
The world is evil, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (1 John 2:15) The influences, the offerings of this world have one intent, to attempt to beguile us into acting, into behaving in a way that is disobedient to the Lord. Everything is offered to us, all that a man could desire is there for the taking, but we are not to use our free will to disobey, we are to keep ourselves unspotted from the world, (James 1:27) we are to obey.
A man who has no choice in a matter does not need to obey, his heart can be against the Lord as he sits in the church pew, he can stand in defiance even as he rises to sing the hymns. “But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.” (1 Sam. 16:7) The choices we make we will be held accountable for, and we will be rewarded for those choices whose sole intent was that the name of Jesus Christ would be glorified, each is a decision that we have been given the free will to choose from. No one is going to be able to say, “Satan made me do it,” no one will be able to say that God withheld the opportunity for me to choose, all is available, but we are responsible for our own actions.
The world of course, especially in these last days, is attempting to say otherwise, people are not only allowed, but encouraged to believe they are something that they are not, blaming others is the normal path of society today, and the Lord allows this, because free will must know no reins, it must be allowed to express itself fully, or it is not free to do as it chooses. God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, (John 3:16) because we would not freely give to Him the love, honor and praise that is rightfully His, because mankind chooses his own path, the path of sin.
Disobedience is sin, love is the expression of obedience, and the decision to choose one or the other has been left entirely up to us. This is the closest point where the Sovereignty of the Lord meets the free will of man, this is where He who rules and created all that is has shown of the greatest gifts to mankind, the ability to choose whom we will serve. God does not stop us from sinning, Satan cannot force us to, every decision that we have ever made we are responsible for, and no matter what choice we have made, we will be held accountable for it. You may offer the Lord your love through your obedience, or you can choose not to, there are rewards for both.
