Hi Priscilla,
You asked, "Carson, do you believe that Jesus came to this earth with the intent of setting up a sacramental system, upon which salvation is dependent?"
Of course I do. I'm a Catholic.. and as a Catholic, I believe that the Life, Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the efficient cause of our salvation. No matter how "good" we are, we could never "merit heaven". Even if we were perfect and lived without ever committing one sin, we would still not merit heaven; we would merely merit Earthly Paradise. With that said, even one sin would merit eternal damnation. This is why we are in need of the free gift of salvation won for us on Calvary's Cross.
Because God works through salvation history by means of the covenant, in the New Covenant, we experience the blessings of the covenant by partaking in the covenant oaths (Latin: sacramentum). Baptism entails our entry into the Family of God (John 3:5), and the Eucharist is our opportunity to renew the covenant by partaking in the sacrificial covenant meal (John 6:54.
The sacraments - because we are saved through the covenant forged by the blood of Jesus Christ - give us a participation (Gk. oikononia; See 1 Cor 10:16) in the blessings Christ has won for us (See Romans 6). They are the instrumental cause of salvation, as clearly evinced in Scripture (Cf. 1 Peter 3:18-21).