Questions from Mark:

Did the OT Israelites got saved through faith plus works?

Natan’s answer:

The answer is no. The biblical “formula” for initial salvation has never changed: it is and always has been salvation by grace through faith in Yeshua the Messiah.. Paul addresses this issue in Rom 4 in his discussion about Abraham being justified by faith. He also addresses it in his oft-quoted Eph 2:8 passage. But in verse 10 he goes on to say that the proof or fruits that we are actually saved is the “good works” that we are called to “walk in.” This may sound to some people like a grace plus works-based equation, but man-made labels of any kind are not helpful in explaining the deep mysteries of the gospel. All I can do is to point people to the Bible verses and then let the Word of Elohim speak for itself. Either people have the heart and mind to receive the truth or they don’t. I have no control over that. If people don’t agree with the Bible, then their argument is with the Bible, not with me. 
Moreover Yeshua said, “if you love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:6). We also have numerous other passages along similar lines that we could quote as well in this regard.
In several places in Romans, Paul said that we’re not justified by works, but then James goes on to say that faith without works is dead and that man is justified by works (Jas 2:14–26). So are Paul and James opposed to each other? Is the Word of Elohim divided? May it never be so. Paul is talking about one’s initial salvation, while James is talking about once one is saved they have to back up their salvation with righteous works. Sounds exactly like what Paul is saying in Eph 2:8 and 10 and in Rom 2:13. It’s also what Paul is saying about the fruits of the Spirit in Gal 5 being evidence of one’s life in the Spirit (i.e. that one is saved and in relationship with Yeshua). It is also what Each of those fruits of the Spirit are a Torah-principle, while the works of the flesh are also a violation of a Torah principle. All of this may all seem confusing to those who understand works, justification, salvation and faith from a typical linear and singular dimensional Christian viewpoint, but the apostles are discussing various facets, dimensions, aspect and levels of salvation that seems to have escaped many biblical teachers who have crammed the concept of “salvation” into a neatly labeled Greco-Roman theological box that, quite frankly, missed many of the finer points of the subject, and a result, has made many false converts to Christianity (as Yeshua discusses in the Parable of the Wheat and Tares and the Good Fish and Bad Fish Parable. The supernal and uninvestigatable concepts of the Creator of the universe don’t fit so neatly into our pathetically small man-made theological boxes. 
The bottom line is that the Bible teaches that one who knowingly and willfully disobey’s the commandments of Elohim either wasn’t saved in the first place, or lost their salvation along the way as Yeshua’s Parable of the Sower illustrates. So we aren’t saved by our good works, but our good works determine two things: whether we retain our salvation (for our good works are the very fruits of the Spirit’s activity in our lives) after being saved initially, and our good works secure our rewards in YHVH’s kingdom (Matt 5:19 and many other Scriptures). 
These are some important biblical truths that are often not taught in the mainstream church.