Taking Jesus’ warning to Peter, “Simon, Simon, Satan has demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail” (Luke 22:31-32), alongside God’s own promise in Amos 9:9 to “sift the house of Israel among all the nations as one sifts with a sieve, but no pebble shall fall to the earth,” the sermon frames trials and tribulations as God’s own specific purpose for his people: not to destroy them, but so that the stones and troubles of this life, working patience and humility, might separate the chaff from the wheat.
Because God’s kingdom cannot be shaken, his people are strengthened to continue in the faith through many tribulations, entering the kingdom of God, and to endure being pressed on every side, perplexed, and persecuted, yet never crushed, driven to despair, or forsaken, since the life of Jesus is being made known even in their mortal flesh.