1. “’I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy’…So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy”—Rom. 9:15a, 16:
1. Mercy is the most far-reaching of God’s attributes, going further than His grace and love—Matt. 9:13:
1. According to our natural condition, we were far removed from God, totally unworthy of His grace; we were eligible only to receive His mercy—Eph. 2:4.
2. Our disobedience affords God’s mercy an opportunity, and God’s mercy brings us to salvation—Rom. 11:32.
2. Our concept is that the one who wills will gain what he wills to obtain and that the one who runs will gain what he runs after—Rom. 9:16:
1. If this were the case, God’s selection would be according to our effort and labor.
2. On the contrary, God’s selection is of God who shows mercy; we do not need to will or to run, for God has mercy on us.
3. If we know God’s mercy, we will neither trust in our effort nor be disappointed by our failures; the hope for our wretched condition is in God’s mercy—Eph. 2:4.
3. If we would serve God in His New Testament economy, we need to know that it is wholly a matter of God’s sovereign mercy—Rom. 9:15-16; Heb. 4:16:
1. If we know God’s sovereignty, we will thank Him for His mercy:
1. The expression sovereign mercy means that God’s mercy is absolutely a matter of God’s sovereignty.
2. Being a vessel of mercy is not the result of our choice; it originates with God’s sovereignty—Rom. 9:18, 23.
3. God’s mercy is in His sovereignty; the only thing we can say to explain God’s mercy to us is that in His sovereignty, He has chosen to be merciful to us—Rom. 15-16, 23.
1. In God’s sovereign mercy, our hearts are inclined toward Him; because of His mercy to us, we seek Him day by day—Jer. 29:13; Deut. 4:29; Isa. 55:6.
2. The more we see that everything related to us is a matter of God’s mercy, the more we will bear our responsibility before the Lord; however, even our willingness to bear responsibility is of God’s mercy.
3. Because of God’s mercy, we responded to His gospel when others did not, we received a word about Christ as life when others refused to receive it, and we took the way of the Lord’s recovery when others drew back from taking this way.
4. Regarding His recovery, God has mercy on whom He will have mercy.
4. Romans 9 reveals the principle that everything depends on God’s mercy—Rom. 15-16:
1. The apostle Paul applies this principle to the Israelites, showing us that everything that happened to them was of God’s mercy—Rom. 16, 23.
2. There must be at least one time when we see God’s mercy and definitely touch His mercy—Eph. 2:4; Matt. 9:13:
1. Concerning this matter, our eyes need to be opened to see that everything depends on God’s mercy.
2. Whether we see this all at once, or we realize it through a process, the minute we touch this matter, we touch not a feeling but a fact; this fact is that everything depends on God’s mercy.
5. “Let us therefore come forward with boldness to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help”—Heb. 4:16:
1. Both God’s mercy and His grace are the expression of His love.
2. When we are in a pitiful condition, first His mercy reaches us and brings us into a state where God is able to favor us with His grace.
3. God’s mercy and grace are always available to us; however, we need to receive and find them by exercising our spirit to come forward to the throne of grace—Heb. 4:16.
6. In His sovereignty God the Father has had mercy on us; therefore, we must praise and worship Him for His sovereign mercy:
1. “Father, we enjoy Thy mercy, ⁄ Ever fresh and ever new; ⁄ Every morning shed upon us, ⁄ It refreshes as the dew. ⁄ How we taste it! How we taste it! ⁄ Giving Thee the praises due”—Hymns, #26, stanza 5.
2. “Father, Thy mercy with Thy love and grace ⁄ Did we obtain; ⁄ And in Thy mercy, with Thee face to face, ⁄ We’ll e’er remain; ⁄ And for Thy mercy we would worship Thee ⁄ Through all our days and through eternity”—Hymns, #25, stanza 3.

Hymns: 26

Message 4: Blessed Are the Merciful, for They Shall Be Shown Mercy and Receive Mercy

2025 ITERO-F 4c

2. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy”—Matt. 5:7:
1. To be righteous is to give one what he deserves, whereas to be merciful is to give someone better than he deserves.
2. For the kingdom of the heavens, we need to be not only righteous but also merciful.
3. To receive mercy is to receive what we do not deserve.
4. If we are merciful to others, the Lord will give us mercy, especially at His judgment seat—2 Tim. 1:16, 18; James 2:12-13.
5. We must learn to be righteous with ourselves and merciful toward others.
3. “Grace, mercy, peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord”—2 Tim. 1:2:
1. Only in 1 and 2 Timothy, among all his Epistles, did the apostle include God’s mercy in the opening greeting.
2. God’s mercy reaches farther than His grace.
3. In the degraded situation of the churches, God’s mercy is needed.
4. This mercy brings in God’s rich grace, which is sufficient to deal with any degradation.
4. “The judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment”—James 2:13:
1. To despise a poor brother is to have no mercy.
2. Anyone who despises a poor brother in this way will not receive mercy when he appears before the judgment seat of Christ—Rom. 14:10; 2 Cor. 5:10:
1. When we come before the Lord to be judged, He will not show mercy to us, because we have not shown mercy to our brother.
2. We need to show mercy, for mercy triumphs over judgment.
3. If we have mercy on our brother today, we will receive mercy from the Lord at His judgment seat.
5. We should bow down before the Lord and worship Him for His mercy—Psa. 145; Isa. 63:9; John 10:10; Rom. 3:24; 11:32; 2 Cor. 4:1; Eph. 2:4-5:
1. The more we worship the Lord for His mercy, the more we will be uplifted.
2. What a mercy that God has selected us, predestinated us, called us, and placed us in His recovery!
3. For the future we trust not in ourselves but in Him and in His marvelous mercy.
4. Our going on with the Lord is a matter not of our willing or running but of God’s mercy.
5. God’s mercy works in a wonderful way.

Message 4 (Cont.)

2025 ITERO-F 4c

1. “’I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy’…So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy”
1. Our natural being were totally unworthy of God’s grace; we were eligible only to receive His mercy—the most far-reaching of God’s attributes that goes beyond His grace and love so that by His mercy, we can have grace to bring us from our disobedience to salvation. Contrary to our natural thinking that the one who wills or runs will obtain what they are after, God’s selection is of God who shows mercy on us that we do not need to will or to run. Knowing God’s mercy will render us not to trust in our effort nor be disappointed by our failures but the hope for our wretched condition is in God’s mercy.
2. If we would serve God in His New Testament economy, we need to know that it is wholly a matter of God’s sovereign mercy and not the result of our choice; it originates with God’s sovereignty that He has chosen to be merciful to us. We should be thankful to Him for making us a vessel of mercy. Unlike others that of His sovereign mercy, we responded to His gospel; we received the word about Christ as life; our hearts are inclined toward Him that we seek Him day by day; even our willingness to bear responsibility before the Lord is of His mercy; that we took the way of the Lord’s recovery when others drew back from taking this way.
3. As shown by Israelites’ history, Paul reveals to us in Romans 9 that everything depends on God’s mercy, that our eyes need to be opened to see and realize this principle is not just a feeling but a fact. We therefore need to come forward from our pitiful condition with boldness to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy to bring us into a state where God is able to favor us with His grace for timely help. God’s mercy and grace are the expression of His love and are always available to us, however, we need to receive and find them by exercising our spirit to come forward to the throne of grace. In His sovereignty God the Father has had mercy on us, ⁄ Ever fresh and ever new, ⁄ Every morning shed upon us, ⁄ Thy mercy with Thy love and grace ⁄ Did we obtain, ⁄ And in Thy mercy, with Thee face to face, ⁄ And for Thy mercy we would worship Thee ⁄ Through all our days and through eternity—Hymns, #25. [Eph. 2:4] But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us. [Matt. 9:13] …"I desire mercy and not sacrifice," for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners. [Rom. 9:15-16] For to Moses He says, "I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion." So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. [Rom. 9:18] So then He has mercy on whom He wills, and He hardens whom He wills. [Rom. 9:23] In order that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He had before prepared unto glory. [Heb. 4:16] Let us therefore come forward with boldness to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help.
2. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy”
1. For the kingdom of the heavens, we need to be not only righteous, giving someone what he deserves, but also merciful, giving someone better than he deserves. If we are merciful to others, the Lord will give us mercy, especially at His judgment seat. We must learn to be righteous with ourselves and merciful toward others. [Matt. 5:7] Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy.
3. “Grace, mercy, peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord”
1. In the degraded situation of the churches during the time of the books of 1 and 2 Timothy, the apostle include God’s mercy in the opening greeting as it is needed to bring in God’s rich grace, which is sufficient to deal with any degradation. [2 Tim. 1:2] To Timothy, beloved child: Grace, mercy, peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. [2 Tim. 1:16] May the Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain. [2 Tim. 1:18] May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord in that day …
4. “The judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment”
1. Only when we do not despise but have mercy on our poor brother today that we will receive mercy from the Lord at His judgment seat.

[James 2:13] For the judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.

5. We should bow down before the Lord and worship Him for His mercy
1. It is God’s mercy that He has selected, predestinated, called, and placed us in His recovery that the more we worship Him for His mercy, the more we will be uplifted; that we no longer trust in ourselves but in Him and in His marvelous mercy; that we go on by God’s mercy working in a wonderful way and not of our willing or running. [Eph 2:4-5] But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, Even when we were dead in offenses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)

Bird’s-eye View for Prophesying, a Sample

Message 4: Blessed Are the Merciful, for They Shall Be Shown Mercy and Receive Mercy

2025 ITERO-F 4c Musing Abstract

Message 4: Appendix

If you know yourself, whenever someone fails, you will say, “Lord, have mercy on me and on my brother. We all are weak vessels and cannot fulfill Your requirements. Lord, even though my brother has offended me, I would still be merciful toward him.” If you have never failed, you will never be merciful. If you are always successful in your pursuit of holiness and perfection, you will have no sympathy toward others when they fail. You will always condemn them. But if you know how weak you are and how many mistakes you have made, you will be merciful to others.

Thus, the kingdom people are strict in dealing with themselves, but very merciful in dealing with others. Once again, this is not an outward matter, but a matter related to our inward being.

<Excerpts from “Life-study of Matthew”, Message 14, “The Decree Of The Kingdom’s Constitution (2)”>

​

It is easy for us to be either strict or sloppy. But we must learn to be strict on the one hand and merciful on the other. If we give others a strict dealing, we must immediately be merciful toward them. This is an important lesson for elders to learn. The kingdom people are both righteous and merciful. When you are righteous, you must be absolutely righteous; and when you are merciful, you must be very merciful. Although righteousness and mercy are two opposite poles, they must meet in your experience. Your righteousness must come together with your mercy.

<Excerpts from “Life-study of Matthew”, Message 15, “The Decree Of The Kingdom’s Constitution (3)”>

2025 ITERO-F 4c