The Lord God gave us a free will; He didn’t want ‘robots’ that He forced to worship and obey Him, but a creation that would choose to love Him back for His love toward them.
The “God doesn’t want robots” argument doesn’t seem to stand up. Because that would seem to imply that we’ll be robots in heaven when we are perfect.
The human will is not sovereign, only God is sovereign. A God who isn’t sovereign over all isn’t much of a god. Thankfully, the God of the Bible is sovereign. The Bible makes it so clear.
“A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.” (Proverbs 16:9)
“It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Phil. 2: 13)
Scripture emphatically says, “It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy” (Rom. 9:16). Do we believe God or the free will preachers?
The Word expressly declares, “There is none that seeketh after God” (Rom. 3:11). If God didn’t violate the so-called freedom of some men, no one would ever be saved.
In and of himself the natural man has power to reject Christ; but in and of himself he lacks the power to receive Christ. And why? Because he has a mind that is “enmity against” Him (Rom. 8:7); because he has a heart that hates Him (John 15:18). Man chooses that which is according to his nature, and therefore before he will ever choose or prefer that which is Divine and spiritual a new nature must be imparted to him; in other words, he must be born again.
Jesus said, “No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me, draw him (John 6:44). “No man can”
God’s people must be made willing in the day of His power (Psa. 110:3).
For most of my years I too believed in man’s free will. Coming to understand divine sovereignty changed my life. I don’t want to argue over it and I can’t hang around to discuss it today, but if anyone is interested, I can suggest a number of free resources to help understand this from a biblical point of view. Divine sovereignty is perhaps the most comforting truth you will ever encounter.