3 Nephi 11:37-41

After proclaiming his doctrine to the people, he told them they must repent, become as a little child and be baptized.  If they don’t they cannot receive the things He offers.

This echoes the words of Christ in Jerusalem.  ”Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein” (Mark 10:15).  In King Benjamin’s great sermon, he taught:

For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.

Mosiah 3:19

Christ then repeated what He had said, but in a different order.  In verse 37, the order was repent, become as a child, and be baptized.  In verse 38, the order is repent, be baptized, and become as a child.  Richard Rust discussed repetition.

[R]epetition intensifies and confirms in memorable ways. Jesus does not simply say that the multitude assembled at Bountiful must "repent, and become as a little child, and be baptized in my name, or ye can in nowise receive these things" (3 Nephi 11:37). He immediately follows this statement with a rearrangement of the three parts and intensifies the result: "And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and be baptized in my name, and become as a little child, or ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God" (3 Nephi 11:38).[1] 

Christ told the multitude the parable of the house being built on a rock and sand.  Mark explains, “he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine” (Mark 4:2).

Christ likens the man who hears His words and does them to a man who builds his house upon a rock.  With this firm foundation, the gates of hell will not prevail against him.

The rock is used frequently as a metaphor for the gospel.  To Peter, Christ said, “[T]hou art Peter, and upon this rock [Here is a subtle wordplay upon "Peter" (Greek petros = small rock) and "rock" (Greek petra = bedrock). Christ is the Stone of Israel]. I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).

In his epistle, Peter wrote:

To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,

Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded [GR ashamed, disappointed].

Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,

And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.

1 Peter 2:4 - 8

As a part of Nephi₁’s great vision, he quotes “the Lamb” as saying, “And in them shall be written my gospel, saith the Lamb, and my rock and my salvation” (1 Nephi 13:36).  In a revelation give to Joseph Smith before the three witnesses saw the plates, the Lord said, “And if you do these last commandments of mine, which I have given you, the gates of hell shall not prevail against you; for my grace is sufficient for you, and you shall be lifted up at the last day” (D&C 17:8).

John Welch comments about the effect Christ’s words would have been to the multitude.  “How poignantly relieving these words would have been to those who had just recently witnessed the floods and destructions of cities all around them! How grateful they would have been for the eternal stability of the temple and its doctrines of Christ that open the doors into his eternal house!”[2]

Having taught His doctrine, Christ tells them that anyone who declares more or less than His doctrine is preaching evil and his doctrine is built upon a sandy foundation.  “[T]he gates of hell stand open to receive such when the floods come and the winds beat upon them” (3 Nephi 11:40). 

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[1] "To Show unto the Remnant of the House of Israel" - Narrators and Narratives, Richard Dilworth Rust, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed December 8, 2012.

[2] Seeing Third Nephi as the Holy of Holies of the Book of Mormon, John W. Welch, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed December 7, 2012.