Matthew 23:13 says, But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.  Jesus begins to pronounce woes on the scribes and Pharisees, who saw themselves as morally superior to others and deserving of their praise.  There are some who profess to be followers of Christ today who feel morally superior to others who are followers of Christ.  They seem to feel that their sins were not as great as those of someone else's, so they are somehow more forgiven than others.  When as person's sins, no matter how big or small, are forgiven by God, then we as followers of Christ cannot separate ourselves from any other believer because we feel morally superior.  Jesus said the scribes and Pharisees shut up the kingdom of heaven for others by their self-righteous attitude.  We cannot decide who is worthy of salvation and deny some the right to that salvation.  Verse fourteen states, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.  Jesus continues to denounce the scribes and Pharisees.  Jesus said they devoured, or took away, the widows' houses while at the same time making a pretence of following God's will through their long prayers.  When we are doing something that is spiritually wrong, we cannot cover it up by prayer, no matter how long the prayers may be.  Verse fifteen declares, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.  Though the scribes and Pharisees worked hard to prevent others from coming to Christ, they also worked hard to have others follow them.  Jesus said this made them twice as doomed.  Leading others away from Jesus is much worse than just not leading them to Him.  Verse sixteen states, Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!  Jesus was in effect saying that the scribes and Pharisees valued the gold in the temple more than the temple itself.  They saw nothing wrong in swearing by the temple, but said it was wrong to swear by the gold in the temple.  The temple represented the spiritual presence of God.  We cannot put material things above spiritual things, or we are the blind guides.  Verse seventeen asks, Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?  Jesus called the scribes and Pharisees both blind and fools, and asked if did they not understand that God, Who sanctifys all things, was greater than the gold that was sanctified.  We can never afford to put things given to the church ahead of God.  In verse eighteen Jesus continues, And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.  This is a continuation of the idea that the material things brought to God are more important than the places that are set aside to worship God.  Verse nineteen asks, Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?  Jesus was speaking to the scribes and Pharisees, who considered themselves to be the religious authorities.  He again called them blind and foolish.  Jesus asked how they could fail to see that material things, or gifts, were nothing in themselves but only had value to God when they were placed on the altar.  In verse twenty Jesus declares, Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.  Jesus said swearing by the altar could not be separated from swearing by the things placed on the altar.  The altar, the place set aside for presenting sacrifices to God, is what gives anything spiritual value.  Verse twenty-one states, And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.  Once more, Jesus is telling us that we cannot separate the temple, the building itself, from those who worship there.  Then in verse twenty-two Jesus states, And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.  I believe that the key to all these verses is summarized here.  We cannot separate the things God created or consecrated from God Himself.  The temple, the altar and the heavens all belong to God, as does everything found there.  Verse twenty-three says, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.  Jesus again pronounces woe on the scribes and Pharisees.  He said that they were good about paying tithes, but they forgot the weightier, or more important thing's about following God, such as judgment, mercy and faith.  God is not satisfied with worship based on empty rituals and tithes, but expects us to worship Him in the way we live our lives daily.  We can be in church every time the doors open and give well above the tithe, but if we have no mercy on others and no faith in God's guidance in our lives, then we as did the scribes and Pharisees have God's woe pronounced on us.  In verse twenty-four Jesus declares, Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.  Jesus pronounced the scribes and Pharisees to be blind guides, and they were supposed to be the religious guides of God's people.  Jesus said they strained at the keeping of the small points of the law, but missed the failure of the people to keep the much larger points of the law.  When we become judgmental of others based on ritualistic worship, we will miss the true nature of worship.  We are not to just go through the motions, but we are to worship God in spirit and truth.  Verse twenty-five says, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.  Jesus once again denounced the scribes and Pharisees for being more concerned with appearances than with what was inside a person's relationship with God.  It is not enough to clean up our actions, the outside, if our thoughts, the inside, are filled with self righteousness.  Verse twenty-six continues, Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.  Jesus told the scribes and Pharisees, and us today, that we must first clean the inside, or our thoughts and belief about God, and then our actions, the outside, will become claim also.  Verse twenty-seven states, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.  Jesus compared the scribes and Pharisees to well maintained graves, pretty on the outside, but full of dead men's bones and uncleanness on the inside.  We need to make sure that we live our lives by a right relationship with God and not by a faithless, ritualistic worship based on material things.  Verse twenty-eight says, Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.  Jesus summed up the worship of the scribes and Pharisees here.  They looked good in the eyes of the world, but were full of hypocrisy and iniquity within.  Let's pray that we are never guilty of the same thing.